Houston Worker Stories

In 2006, Houston janitor Rosalinda Rocha turned on the television set. She was amazed at what she saw.

“There was a huge crowd of janitors in purple t-shirts marching through the streets downtown,” Rosalinda says. “The announcer said that they were on strike. I said to myself, I’m a janitor, why am I not on strike?”

Rosalinda, paid just $5.15 an hour, would have liked to stand with her coworkers. What she did not know at the time was that her employer, cleaning contractor PJS, did not recognize the union that Houston janitors had formed throughout the city. All she could do was watch the four-week strike unfold.

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In 2008, Houston janitor Rafaela Gómez took the first paid vacation of her life. “It felt great to finally get a vacation after all these years,” says Rafaela.

Rafaela, a mother of four, has always worked hard, with no break to rejuvenate. “I was a dishwasher in restaurants,” she says. “Then I started having pain in my hands from the extreme temperature changes from cold water to scalding hot water.” When Rafaela finally saw a doctor about her condition, the doctor was surprised she had lasted that long in the job.

For the past 10 years, Rafaela has worked in office cleaning—the last five at 3040 Post Oak Boulevard. In 2008 Rafaela took a week’s paid vacation, which Houston janitors fought for during their historic 4-week strike of 2006. (more…)

Houston’s Mary Garza began working as a janitor for national cleaning contractor ABM at Houston’s 36-floor Pennzoil Place in September of 2006. The work was hard and the pay was miserable.

“We were only paid $5.15 an hour, no benefits,” Mary says. “The manager was strict and we didn’t get any respect. Everybody was scared to speak.”

Mary recalls how one day she and her coworkers celebrated a birthday. “They made us eat our cake in the bathroom,” Mary says. “I will always remember the humiliation we felt.” (more…)

Through the Houston Service Workers Clinic, janitor Maribel Ross gets the medical care she needs.

Maribel works for national cleaning contractor ABM cleaning the offices at 1 Allen Center, a skyscraper in downtown Houston. In 2006, Houston janitors went on strike for good jobs with healthcare. The strike resulted in the creation of the janitors’ clinic, which provides primary healthcare at a cost of just $185 a month to employers and $20 a month to employees.

For the first time, Maribel has access to quality affordable healthcare. (more…)

Houston janitor María González needs a doctor now.

“I feel tingling and numbness in my fingers,” María says. “And I have to go to the bathroom all the time.” While this may not sound like an emergency, María’s health is in danger.

Last year María went to a free clinic for a check-up. She was diagnosed with pre-diabetes, a condition that occurs when blood glucose levels are high, but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. Many people with pre-diabetes develop diabetes within 10 years.

María has at least five diabetes risk factors: she’s 40 years old, she’s overweight, she’s Hispanic, she has high cholesterol, and, perhaps most importantly, she’s poor. (more…)

When companies deny their workers health coverage, everybody suffers. But few have suffered more than Houston janitor Elena Delgado.

In 2006 Elena noticed a boil growing on her lower back. A holder of the Harris County Hospital District’s “Gold Card,” she made a medical appointment and got medicine to treat the boil.

The medication did not work. The boil grew inward, leaving a concave hole in Elena’s back. She sought more treatment. Months would elapse between appointments and she saw a different doctor each time. The boil got infected.

Unable to fall asleep because of the pain, Elena would often succumb to exhaustion. She would fall into a deep sleep from which it was hard to awake. On an October night in 2006, Elena’s mother could not rouse her. She dialed 911. (more…)

When the economy is working right, productivity leads to growth.

But these days the economy is not working right. Although 38-year-old Houston janitor Edilberto Ordoñez is plenty productive, he’s not seeing a lot of growth.

Edilberto needs room to grow—literally. “I share a 1-bedroom apartment with two other people,” he says. “It’s a little tight in there but it’s a lot cheaper than a two-bedroom apartment.”

Edilberto and his roommates pay $623 a month in rent. As a janitor working for New York-based Pritchard Industries at El Camino Center I, Edilberto is paid just $7.25 per hour. He also works at a local car wash. He contributes heavily to the local economy by cleaning and scrubbing at two jobs all day long. (more…)