Houston—As contract negotiations between 3,200 Houston janitors and their employers start today, janitors will be proposing improvements in wages and health care in order to help create good jobs for a stronger and fairer economy.
“At issue today is really what type of economy we’re going to have here in Houston,” says Lidia Aguillón, a janitor who cleans Williams Tower in the Galleria District. “Is it going to be an economy that works for only a few people at the top or is it going to be an economy that works for all of us?”
The talks begin just days after Business Week ranked the Houston Metro Area as the nation’s ninth most robust economy. As the magazine reported on October 23, “Texas…has been bolstered by its oil and gas industries” and “The Houston metro, one of the nation's most robust economies, is home to the U.S. headquarters of Shell Oil, BP, and ConocoPhillips.” With strong profits, rising prices and steady demand in Houston’s key industry, business leaders can afford to support good jobs for Houston’s working families, who are struggling to pay for groceries, rent, and health care.
Janitors are currently paid $7.75 an hour and have access to quality health care for $20 a month. They hope to reach a new agreement that brings justice to all stakeholders before the current agreement expires on November 20. Stakeholders include the cleaning contractors ABM, GCA, ISS/Sanitors, Aztec, and Pritchard, as well as building owners, workers, and our community.
Last week Houston janitors marked the third-year anniversary of their historic 2006 strike with a museum-style exhibit near downtown. As in 2006, the janitors enjoy the support of dozens of community, religious, and elected leaders in Houston and backing by janitors in 30 U.S. cities as they negotiate job improvements.
The 2006 strike led to the creation of the Houston Service Workers Clinic, which has been praised as a model for delivering effective, low-cost health care to Houston workers. The strike also allowed workers to double their income through increased wages and working hours and created a path to prosperity through future negotiations.
Not every cleaning contractor in Houston supports the contract talks. Absent from the table is Professional Janitorial Services, who in an October 2006 statement declared that by increasing the pay of some of their janitors to a mere $6.00 an hour, “We are already providing a better future for our employees.” Janitors today are calling on PJS to allow its workers the freedom to form a union and join the negotiations.