Ecolab has received a perfect score of 100% on the 2022 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), designating it as one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality.” The CEI is a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. This is the 10th consecutive year that Ecolab has received a perfect score on the CEI, according to a news release.

TRSA will kick off its 12th Annual Legislative Conference & Annual Industry Awards with committee meetings that will allow industry leaders to assemble in Alexandria, VA, to set committee goals and agendas for 2022. In addition to convening with their fellow committee members to discuss key industry issues, attendees also will get the opportunity to prepare a unified message for legislators.

Venus Group, Foothill Ranch, CA, is celebrating its 50th year in business. Founded in 1972, brothers Kirit and Raj Patel started Venus by selling imported towels from the back of their VW Bug.

Wagg’s Ltd., Orillia, Ontario, Canada, recently announced that it has acquired Grainger Uniform Rental, Peterborough, Ontario.

As part of an important step in the company’s next phase to expand its North American operations, Christeyns USA, East Bridgewater, MA, has completed an agreement to invest in Las Vegas-based Applied Chemical Innovations (ACI). Founded by Chet Van Orden, ACI specializes in supplying premium quality specialty cleaning chemicals and services to commercial, industrial and institutional end-users across the western U.S., according to a news release.

Additional recent headlines from consumer media of interest to linen, uniform and facility services operators, and especially readers of Textile Services Weekly.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the availability of 20,000 additional H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2022. These visas are for U.S. employers that are facing irreparable harm without additional workers and seeking to employ additional workers on or before March 31, according to a news release.

Factors ranging from pent-up demand going back to the onset of the COVID-19 lockdowns to concerns about tax hikes, labor shortages and the precarious state of the hospitality and restaurant industries, have fueled a recent uptick in laundry mergers and acquisitions (M&As), according to three consultants who work with both buyers and sellers of laundries.

TRSA kicked off its 2022 webinar offerings with a Jan. 18 presentation titled “Interns & the Industry,” providing an overview of the association’s internship program and how it has benefited several TRSA operator and supplier partner members.

ImageFIRST Healthcare Laundry Specialists, King of Prussia, PA, recently was contacted by G’s Giving Gowns, a foundation based in New Jersey that provides handmade pediatric gowns for children fighting pediatric cancer. Giuliana D., the 11-year-old president and CEO, sought out ImageFIRST to sanitize and package 50 hospital gowns so they could be delivered to pediatric patients safely, according to a news release.