FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006

CONTACT:
Lynda Tran
202-907-1172

“Freedom of Speech is Common Sense” say janitors

City Ordinances on Parades, Noise, and Meetings Unconstitutional, Discriminatory According To New Lawsuit

Days away from a strike and increased public demonstrations, new lawsuit filed Wednesday by low-wage janitors, and their union, SEIU

HOUSTON –- Local janitors are taking a stand this week for one of America’s most-cherished values: freedom of speech. Three Houston city ordinances putting restrictions on public gatherings, public speech, and parades violate the First Amendment because they impermissibly limits citizens’ right of free speech, according to a new lawsuit filed Thursday by office building janitors and their union. The janitors, who clean the city’s most prestigious office buildings, are on the verge of going on strike and conducting major demonstrations, rallies, and other public activities. The lawsuit was filed October 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division by janitors Tomasa Compean and Austraberta Rodriguez of Houston and their union, Houston-based SEIU Local 5 (Service Employees International Union).

“It is important to be able to speak out for what you believe in,” said Austraberta Rodriguez, a Bargaining Committee member who cleans an office building owned by Lincoln Properties and a janitor in Houston for the past 27 years. “It’s not American to pick and choose when, where and who has the right to be heard.”

The plaintiffs are asking for the court to declare the three ordinances unconstitutional and to issue a temporary injunction allowing janitors and others to engage in public demonstrations and rallies.

During strikes in other cities, including Miami earlier this year, Boston in 2002, Los Angeles and Chicago in 2000, janitors and their allies have led activities including massive public marches in public parks and down sidewalks and city streets, picket lines outside major office buildings, prayer vigils, hunger fasts, and other forms of non-violent protest.

As part of strike preparations in Houston, union and worker organizers “have planned a series of marches and demonstrations to bring [the janitors’] plight to the attention of their employers, the tenants in the buildings the janitors clean, the city government, and people who live and work in Houston, benefiting from the services the janitors provide,” according to the lawsuit.

Background on the Ordinances

The City’s Parade Ordinance (Houston Code of Ordinances, Chapter 45, Article IX §§45-231 to -246) regulates parades and processions on city streets and prohibits such parades and processions without a permit.  The Parade Ordinance, “is unconstitutionally overbroad and vague, and it impermissibly regulates speech on the basis of its expressive content and its time, place, and manner,” according to the lawsuit.

The City’s Sound Ordinance (Houston Code of Ordinances, Chapter 30, §§30-1 to -10) regulates the level of sound that any person may produce in the City and prohibits the use of sound amplification equipment without a permit. The city’s Sound Ordinance interferes with Americans’ freedom of speech as protected in the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit. The Sound Ordinance, “is unconstitutionally overbroad and impermissibly regulates speech,” according to the lawsuit.

The City’s Parks Ordinance (Houston Code of Ordinances, Chapter 32, Article III §§32-61 to -70) regulates meetings and public gatherings in public parks and prohibits meetings in certain areas without a permit. The Parks Ordinance interferes with Americans’ freedom of speech as protected in the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit. The Sound Ordinance, “is unconstitutionally overbroad and impermissibly regulates speech,” according to the lawsuit.