HOUSTON—Today, on the day the janitors’ contract expires, 250 janitors and supporters are marching from Reliant Energy Plaza to the site of contract negotiations to rally for good jobs and to deliver strike pledges to employers signed by more than 1,800 janitors. Janitors are urging business leaders to reach a fair agreement that improves jobs for working families, strengthens our city’s economy and avoids repeating the struggles of 2006.
“We need to improve the quality of life of our families,” said Arturo Cruz, a janitor who works for ABM at Pennzoil Place. “And we know that these companies have the key to solve the problems that are affecting the Houston community.”
It would only cost less than a penny per dollar of rental income to lift janitors and their families out of poverty. Houston’s corporate leaders can afford to do better for our city. Some are making record profits even through the economic downturn while janitors and other working people are tightening their belts. For example, Barclays, the largest building owner in Houston, made $15.4 billion in profit last year—a 92% increase from 2008—and paid $4 billion in bonuses to its executives.
Though Houston has one of the strongest real estate markets in the country, janitors are paid significantly less than janitors who work for the same cleaning contractors and clean buildings owned by the same corporations in most major metropolitan areas. For example, in Chicago where the average rental rates are about the same as in Houston at about $23 per square foot, janitors are paid $14 an hour—nearly twice as much as janitors in Houston—and have full-family health insurance, a pension and other benefits. Janitors in Houston, by contrast, pay $20 a month for single coverage.
In 2006 after contract talks broke down, Houston janitors were forced to go on strike for a month to win good jobs. Janitors made progress in that first union contract, but they still take home less than $1,000 a month. Janitors are negotiating today with the largest cleaning contractors in Houston—ABM, Pritchard, ISS/Sanitors, GCA, UBM and Aztec.