Edilberto Ordoñez

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.

Good thing Edilberto likes to work. “As a janitor I take out trash, vacuum, dust, clean bathrooms, and wash windows in an office,” he says. “Then I pretty much do the same thing with cars.”

How is Edilberto’s health after years of working so hard? “I’ve never really been sick,” he says. “Thank God.”

A man of great religious faith, Edilberto also has faith in his coworkers and the union he has formed with them on the job. “I’m proud of what we’ve won in the last few years,” Edilberto says. “I’ve read our contract cover to cover and I think it’s important that we all know our rights.”

For Edilberto, being active in his union is also a way to improve the economy for working people like himself. “When workers have more money, there’s more purchasing power,” he says. “And when workers have good health care, there’s no bill for the government to pay."

Houston janitors are now going to the bargaining table to negotiate better working conditions with their employers—five large cleaning companies who are hired to maintain Houston’s wealthy office buildings. Edilberto is hoping for some wage growth to create the room he needs to make progress. “I would like to move out and start a family,” he says. “But if I were married, there wouldn’t be enough money to live on.”