News

With the backing of UNI affiliate SEIU and the support of the international labour movement in which UNI Property Services and its affiliates played a significant role, the Houston janitors successfully concluded their strike action last week and won an improved pay deal. The janitors won a 12% wage increase over four years.



The Houston Chronicle – the city’s major newspaper – ran an editorial which underlined the contribution of the union in winning a fairer deal for low wage workers. The article recognises that collective bargaining is the best means for low wage workers to raise the value of labour.



The editorial concludes, “…at a time when we so often see the rich getting richer and the poor scraping by, we're glad to see a proper exercise in labour negotiation.

Houston is an economic powerhouse, and a rising tide should lift all boats.”



Read the full article here.



Houston cleaners took strike action to demand fair pay, an end to discrimination of Latino workers and union activists and to prevent further efforts to undercut provisions in the current collective agreement.



Some of the richest corporations in the world, including JP Morgan, Brookfield, Hines and Barclays, as well as a number of energy giants such as Chevron, Exxon Mobile and Shell Oil, are the largest real estate owners of commercial office space in Houston. Office rents in cities like Chicago are roughly the same as Houston but cleaners are paid double the hourly rate, and 3 times the annual pay in Chicago.