Houston—With contract negotiations for 3,200 janitors less than a week away, Houston janitors are commemorating the third anniversary of their historic 2006 strike by opening a museum-style exhibit downtown.  The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, includes video, photos, news clippings, leaflets, personal testimonies and other artifacts and documents from the strike.

“I’ve religiously saved all the materials from the strike in a folder at home,” says Houston janitor Mercedes Herrera, who donated her materials to the exhibit. “They’re like relics. It was such an important moment for me personally and for our city.”

Entitled “¡Huelga! The Houston Janitors’ 2006 Strike for a Better Future,” the exhibit is opening with a reception from 6-9pm this evening at 3229 Milam (at Elgin) and runs through Friday, October 30, from 10am-2pm each day.

By focusing on history from the perspective of ordinary Houstonians, the show is very much in line with contemporary approaches to historical narration. Included in the exhibit are powerful personal testimonies detailing the events that captivated Houston in the fall of 2006. Never before had Houston seen this level of social protest. 

At the time, most Houston janitors were paid just $20 a day, with no benefits. These exceptionally low wages represented a real threat to the economic viability of the city. The strike enabled workers to double their income through increased wages and working hours and 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.

On October 28, Houston janitors will sit down to forge a new collective bargaining agreement with their employers, five leading cleaning companies including ABM, Pritchard, ISS/Sanitors, GCA, and Aztec. More than 80 community, elected, and religious leaders in Houston, as well as janitors from 30 U.S. cities, will stand with the workers as they bargain to create the better jobs that Houston needs to strengthen its economy. The current agreement is set to expire on November 20.