Angelina Quintanilla is a single parent and has worked as a janitor in Houston for the last 26 years. During that time she has worked for ABM, Sanitors, One-Source, ABS (now GCA), and currently works for Pritchard -- all the major office cleaning companies in the area.

Still, she only makes $5.15 an hour, has no paid holidays or sick days, and has no health insurance. She has struggled to raise three children, all of whom are adults now, on poverty wages. She now needs to find a second job again to make ends meet.

Not making enough to buy a vehicle has been a major problem for Angelina -- and it almost cost her life many years ago. When leaving work late at night she was attacked and severely beaten by a group of thugs as she made her way over to a bus stop. "It was horrible, just horrible. I thought I was going to die," she said.

Angelina sustained extensive damage to her face and had her jaw was wired shut -- she would not eat solid food for a year. She has permanent damage to her left ear and eye. Angelina was also three months pregnant at the time. "I think convincing them I was carrying a child is what saved me." Angelina believes that if she had been making more money she could have had a car and the terrible incident might have been avoided. "There are many workers, especially women, whose safety is at risk still today."

Angelina believes affordable health insurance will be the biggest benefit, not only for her family, but for all of Houston -- especially for all of those that currently depend on the public hospital for their health care needs.

Recently Angelina's mother was feeling very ill and they rushed her to the public hospital. "There were so many people there," says Angelina, "they were overwhelmed. My mother felt like she was dying and all they gave her was Motrin." After a three hour wait they decided to leave and take her to a private hospital where she was diagnosed and treated for kidney stones. Her mother is doing better but they now have a $9,000 unpaid bill. "If I had health insurance, and another few thousand workers had health insurance, less of us would have to go to the hospital and then they could treat fewer patients and give them better care. Now we're stuck with a bill I don't know how we're going to pay."

In the 26 years she's been cleaning office buildings, this is the first time that she knows of that janitors are getting together to form a union so that they can better their lives. "I feel really motivated to work hard for this because I know it's going to be worth it." She's very thankful for all the support she has received from workers in other cities, other unions and community and religious leaders.