HOUSTON, TX -- As Strike by Thousands of Houston janitors Continues to Spread ...
* Tonight, Houston Picket Lines Going Up Outside a Dozen Buildings in Chicago, L.A., and Manhattan
* Next Week, Union Janitors Headed to Houston to Engage in Acts of Non-Violent Civil Disobedience to Protest Poverty Jobs
* On Nov. 15, Protests Planned Outside Chevron Gas Stations in at Least 20 Cities in National Day of Action
A three-week strike by thousands of poverty-wage Houston janitors continues to spread nationwide as increasingly militant actions in support of the Houston workers are planned for this week and next. With the janitors paid just $20 a day with no health insurance, the strike is turning Houston into a national testing ground in union workers' efforts to halt the spread of the poverty-wage economy.
"We cannot accept the low wages paid to workers in Houston. Twenty dollars a day is inhumane," said Alexandra Figus, a downtown Chicago janitor and member of SEIU Local 1 who works for ABM, one of the five firms in Houston whose workers are on strike. Alexandra is traveling to Houston to participate in actions next week. "If our companies think they can get away with low pay in Houston, they could try to cut our wages. I am willing to risk getting arrested in Houston because there is more risk for my family if I do nothing."
* Tonight, Houston picket lines will be set up outside a dozen major
office buildings in Manhattan, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In all,
hundreds of SEIU janitors in those cities are expected to honor the
picket lines of their striking Houston co-workers who work for the same
national cleaning companies. Details are available from SEIU local
unions in those cities.
* Next week, dozens of SEIU janitors and union leaders from around the
country will travel to Houston to call on national commercial landlords
there to put an end to the poverty conditions and poor treatment of
Houston workers. The delegations are planning to engage in non-violent
acts of civil disobedience next week in Houston and could face arrest
for their actions. Details about the actions will be announced next
week.
* Next Wednesday, November 15 is a nationwide Chevron Day of Action.
Workers and community supporters will hold actions outside Chevron or
Texaco gas stations in 20 cities -- one for every dollar that
Houston janitors who clean Chevron buildings are paid each day for
scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets. Despite $14 billion in profits
last year, Chevron is refusing to use its power to settle the strike and
direct the cleaning firms in its office buildings to provide janitors
with fair wages and health insurance. More info at
www.chevronwontyoujoinus.org
"The support we are getting from workers outside of Houston is giving us so much strength," said Flora Aguilar, a striking Houston janitor who is setting up picket lines in New York this week. For cleaning 60 offices in four hours every weekday night, Aguilar is paid just $5.25/hour with no health insurance or other benefits. "We are committed to struggling as long as it is necessary for us to secure a better future for our families."
The Houston janitors' effort already has won broad support. Since last week, dozens of SEIU janitors in Los Angeles, Chicago, Sacramento, Jersey City, NJ, Rockville, MD, and Walnut Creek, CA have honored Houston picket lines set up at more than a dozen buildings in those cities. Internationally, there have been actions by union activists in Mexico City, Moscow, Berlin, London, Panama, and the Netherlands calling on Hines and Chevron to stop opposing Houston janitors' efforts to move out of poverty.
Background:
More than 1,700 SEIU janitors in Houston have been on strike since October 23 over civil rights abuses and a failure to bargain in good faith by their employers, the five national cleaning companies ABM, OneSource, GCA, Sanitors, and Pritchard.
With five of the most influential players in Houston's commercial real estate industry refusing to intervene in the dispute, the workers' strike against five national cleaning firms is increasing in scope and intensity. In the highly competitive market of contract cleaning, it the building landlords that hire the cleaning firms that negotiate and set rates for janitors' wages and benefits. These five major landlords, Hines, Transwestern, Crescent, Brookfield Properties, and the oil giant Chevron, have the power to settle the strike by directing the cleaning contractors they hire to provide higher wages and health insurance all workers need to support their families.
In every city, the janitors work for many of the same national cleaning firms in buildings owned by the same national commercial landlords. But, while janitors in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and other cities make more than $10 an hour, have health insurance and full-time work, Houston workers are paid an average of $20 a day, with no health insurance for part-time work.
Last fall, 5,300 Houston janitors made the historic choice to form a union with SEIU (Service Employees International Union). Their decision capped one of the largest successful organizing drives by private sector workers ever in the Southern half of the United States. Since forming a union with SEIU, Houston janitors have been seeking a raise to $8.50/hour, more hours, and health insurance in a citywide union contract. For more info, visit www.houstonjanitors.org
More than 225,000 janitors in 29 cities are members of SEIU.
Source: SEIU
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| Notes:
CONTACT: Andrew McDonald of SEIU, +1-202-256-5990
Web site: http://www.seiu.org/
http://www.houstonjanitors.org/
http://www.chevronwontyoujoinus.org/
About This Release
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