FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 3:00 p.m.
CONTACT:
Lynda Tran, 202-907-1172
Contract talks for 5,300 office building janitors end today…
National cleaning companies again refuse to provide good jobs with health care for Houston workers
Janitors, left with no alternative, to decide in coming days when to walk off the job
HOUSTON –- Houston’s five largest cleaning companies -- who pay higher wages and provide health insurance for janitors in other big cities – are refusing to provide good jobs with health care for workers in Houston. At a bargaining session today with union janitors in downtown Houston, the companies -- ABM, OneSource, GCA, Sanitors, and Pritchard -- again refused to even make a proposal to the janitors about wage and benefit increases despite months of negotiations. The companies did not offer a proposal at the last bargaining session either, on September 22. In the last several weeks janitors also have begun reporting incidents of harassment by their supervisors on the job over their support for the union.
The companies’ failure to bargain in good faith over even a modest increase in pay for workers who live in total poverty makes it a near certainty that janitors will be forced to go on strike to protest the companies’ failure to bargain in good faith and their treatment on the job.
“No one wants to have to strike, but we have no other choice,” says Aurora Reyes, a member of janitors’ bargaining committee who works for Pritchard. “No one in Houston who works hard should have to live in poverty and endure unfair treatment. A better future is worth fighting for.”
More than 5,300 janitors who clean the majority of Houston’s office space work part-time, are paid $5.30/hour and do not receive health or other benefits. They are seeking a raise to $8.50/hour, more hours, and health insurance. They are represented by SEIU, the Service Employees International Union.
Speaking about the possibility of a strike, ABM janitor and Bargaining Committee member Mercedes Herrera said, “These large companies are refusing to make even a single proposal. It is no longer a question of if, it is a question of when.”
On September 23, at a contract convention attended by more than 1,000 janitors, community, religious, and elected leaders, Houston janitors overwhelmingly voted to authorize their bargaining committee to call a strike at any time.
Janitors in cities such as Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Chicago who work for the same companies cleaning buildings owned by the same national commercial landlords are paid more than $10 an hour, work full-time and have health insurance.
“These companies should not treat Houston workers like second-class citizens,” said janitor and Bargaining Committee member Flora Aguilar, who works for OneSource. “Houston workers should have the same opportunities as workers in other cities. We can’t afford to live like this.”