HOUSTON
-- June has been a month of fierce struggle for janitors in Houston.
They make only $8.35 per hour and often only get four-hour shifts each
day. They make only $9,000 dollars per year and live in poverty.
Many
of the janitors employed by big corporations such as Exxon Mobil,
Chevron, Shell, Penzoil, Centerpoint Energy, and Reliant, do not make
enough to provide food for their families and live in one-bedroom
apartments with three other family members. Most cannot afford
healthcare and often have to choose between food and medicine. Most of
the janitors cannot afford to pay the high price of gas and most can
barely even afford to take the bus to work.
One
of the janitors, Rita Soto, says that "we are left with nothing at the
end of the month," and is unable to afford Internet or even a new pair
of shoes for her daughter. She works two other jobs and barely has any
time left at the end of the day to spend with her children.
Houston
janitors are paid the lowest in the country, with workers in other
cities making much higher wages: Cincinnati ($9.80), Cleveland ($10.30),
Detroit ($10.97), and Chicago ($15.47). With the cost of living
continually rising, $8.35 is not enough to support a family of four and
provide for the means of subsistence.
Some
3,200 janitors in Houston are members of the Service Employees
International Union and have a contract agreement with their employers.
The janitors, sick and tired of the total impoverishment created by
their low-wages, rose up to demand a wage of 10 dollars per hour
(incrementally over the next three years). The employers denied the
proposal, offering the workers only an increase to $8.85 by 2016.
When
the companies broke off contract negotiations with SEIU on May 31, 11
janitors at Pritchard Industries walked off the job and went on strike.
The company fired them immediately.
Many
of the other janitors in the SEIU were harassed by their managers and
threatened with firing. Izabela Miltko, spokeswoman for the SEIU, says
that the employers who have fired the workers for striking are in
violation of federal labor law.
On
Tuesday, June 5, all janitors with the SEIU voted to go on strike until
their employers renew their negotiation contract and pay them a living
wage of 10 dollars per hour.
In
order to prevent the bosses from crushing their strike effort, the
janitors have called strikes at random locations each day for the coming
two weeks. Whenever the janitors walk out, their bosses call in scabs
to walk across the picket line. Many of the janitors have lost their
jobs, despite the fact that by firing strikers their employers are in
clear violation of federal labor law.
On
June 14, during a march with the janitors as well as over 450 activists
from progressive organizations, one of the janitors was arrested. One
of the janitors, Hernan Trujillo found himself suddenly trampled by a
group of mounted police officers.
Trujillo's
fellow co-worker rushed to the scene to help him get free from
underneath the horses. When she attempted to help Trujillo, one of the
cops handcuffed her and threw her into a police van.
The
janitors have received much support from the progressive community in
Houston, as well as from their fellow janitors across the U.S. At a
rally on June 12, Texas Rep.Al Green, D., gave an inspirational speech
in support of the striking workers. At this rally, Richard Shaw, head of
the Texas AFL-CIO, was there in solidarity with the janitors, as well
as the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston. Even Mayor Anise Parker called
on the employers to pay the workers a living wage and fulfill their
demands.
Every afternoon the
janitors organize at Tranquility Park in Downtown to try to get the
bosses to fulfill their demands. The union sends a delegation a few
times a week to the corporations where the workers are employed to try
to work out a deal with the employers. When the delegation arrives,
they're met by mounted police, who do not allow them to enter the
building. Police harass both the activists and the workers, following
them around after demonstrations and threatening them with arrest.
--Fabian Sneevliet
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