Eleonora Parada

For the past two years, Eleonora Parada worked the night-shift cleaning the offices of Sterling Bank in Westchase as a janitor with Professional Janitorial Service (PJS). She worked hard, but she had no health insurance at work and her hourly pay of only $5.15 meant she had to depend on her second job at a daycare center to cover basic expenses like rent and food and to help support her two daughters, 7 year old Michelle and 9 year old Astrick Carolina.

"It's very hard to have two jobs. I work at the daycare from 8am until 5pm and then I go straight to my night job, which is very physically demanding. Often I don't have time to stop to eat before I start work at my night job so I have to go on just my lunch for the entire day."

Eleonora was unprepared her for the kind of treatment she and her co-workers have experienced on the job in Houston. "I always heard that in the United States they took people's rights into account. But from what I'm seeing, there are lots of violations against the immigrant workers."

During her regular four-hour cleaning shift, Eleonora was responsible for cleaning several bathrooms, mopping the entrance to the office building, and cleaning the building's entry doors. She also had to vacuum, dust cobwebs off the ceilings, empty garbage cans, and clean the tables and windows in the offices. On Fridays, she was expected to complete the same workload but was paid for a half hour less time.

Recently Eleonora and other immigrant janitors filed a lawsuit against PJS for instructing them to work "off-the-clock" and withholding pay. Meanwhile, other janitors have filed unfair labor practice charges against PJS for unlawful behavior including firing and intimidating workers for participating in efforts to form a union. "All we want is to be treated as human beings, but our supervisors treat us like we're animals."

Eleonora also became ill after exposure to the chemicals she was given to clean the bathrooms. Although she began having eye allergies, nosebleeds, rashes, and other ailments soon after starting her job, Eleonora wasn't given gloves or other protective gear and received no instruction on how to use the chemicals safely. Unable to get an appointment with the company doctor, she ended up in the emergency room for severe nosebleeds on several occasions.

This month, as a result of her working conditions, Eleonora decided to leave her job as a PJS janitor. Despite her experiences at work, Eleonora continues to have high hopes for a better future in the United States. She is taking English classes and dreams of following in the footsteps of her father and sister, whom are both lawyers in her native Colombia. "To stand up and defend the rights we have as human beings, that's in my blood."

"I spoke at the rally with other janitors on June 15th because I wanted to show my co-workers that we can unite and make the changes we all need. Now I know there are other people who have fought and succeeded in uniting and the people who are working in PJS can too."