News

In a reminder of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, 25 activists engaged in acts of civil disobedience which led to the arrest of over a dozen supporters. These acts of conscience are designed to protest employer misconduct and the growing divide between the super privileged and the 1%. A news poll in Houston showed that 63 percent of Houston’s citizens believe janitors should be paid more for their work.

Alice Dale, Head of UNI Property Services said, “The poll shows that the average citizen in Houston, seeing this worker struggle unfold, clearly understands the injustice and supports workers standing up to gain fair treatment on the job and decent pay for their work. These are not difficult issues to understand or to solve. Workers deserve better treatment and more pay, cleaning contractors need to end the mistreatment and pay a decent wage…it is only fair that employers and clients step up and do the right thing.”

“The struggle for economic justice led by janitors in Houston is deplorable,” said Johnny N. Mata, of the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice and one of those arrested. “Especially when we have to engage in civil disobedience just to reach the conscience of the corporate executives.”

Those arrested have come from all over the country to support the janitors . They are working side by side with the striking janitors and Houston-area activists to help the janitors win a fair settlement that raises standards and provides janitors with a toe-hold in the middle class.

Over the last week and a half, the strike has continued to grow. More than 475 janitors in 36 buildings have now joined the strike to protest employer unfair labor practice strikes. Janitors are on strike against national and transnational cleaning contractors such as ABM, GCA and ISS.

“I’m a proud Houstonian; born and raised in this city. This fight is an example of a tale of two cities and there is a clear line between the haves and have-nots, ” said Resha Thomas, leader with the Texas Organizing Project and one of those arrested. “I stand with janitors because they will raise the floor for all working families…”

Throughout our history as a nation, people of good will have courageously and nonviolently engaged in protest and civil disobedience to stand up for civil liberties—including the Boston Tea Party, Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad, the fight for women to gain the right to vote, to have employment opportunity and equal access to an education. These important and proud fights show the importance of standing up and standing together for what is right.

America is in crisis. There aren’t enough good-paying jobs. And while the middle class is disappearing, a small percentage of the population is getting rich beyond belief—fueling a gap in income equality that is the worst it’s been since the 1920s. The U.S. economy has grown by more than 80% in the past 30 years, but a majority of those gains in wealth have gone to the richest 1% of Americans while income for 95% of Americans has either stayed the same or has fallen since 1970.

In Houston, one in five people earn less than $10 an hour, and Texas is tied with Mississippi for the highest proportion of hourly workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage. Janitors in Houston are paid as little as $9,000 a year and many have to work two or three jobs just to survive. Meanwhile, the Houston commercial real estate market is the best performing market in the United States in terms of demand. Average commercial rental rates in Houston are higher than rates in Chicago where janitors are paid more than three times as much as Houston janitors.