Ada
Edwards, a St. John's member and former Houston city councilor, spoke
along with the church's pastor. She ikened the strike to a war and urged
the workers to be a winner. When you win, we all win, she said.
The strike, which started here, has now spread to eight other cities. The workers are demanding higher wages from cleaning contractors,
which are hired to clean buildings that house some of the largest
corporations in the world, including JP Morgan Chase, KBR and Exxon
Mobil.
The
cleaning companies have been forced to go back to the bargaining table
this week. There are 3,200 union members. They are paid $8.35 an hour
and average 30 hours a week. They are striking for $10 an hour.
The
average janitor makes less than $9,000 a year. The U.S. government
defines the poverty level at $22,314 for a family of four, and $11,139
for an individual. In contrast, Houston has more millionaires than any
other city in the nation, along with 10,000 homeless and 870,000
families that go hungry every day.
In
a blatant attempt to intimidate the workers, contractors have
threatened to call immigration, speakers said. Employers have harassed
union members at home, they said.
But
the strike is growing both in numbers and support. The unions strike
fund of $10,000 grew by another $3,200 donated by the NAACP at their
national convention held here.
St.
John's too answered the union's call for help. The church has 9,000
members, including 3,000 who are - or were - homeless. The church serves
7,000 hot meals each month and distributes more than 9 tons of fresh
food weekly.
--Mark Simpson
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