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The city’s cleaners, paid just $9,000 annually, often clean 90+ toilets every night and work in some of the most exclusive real estate in the city. While they have asked for a raise of just $1.65 per hour to be phased in over four years, employers have responded with an offer of $.50 over five years – a wage certain to keep them in poverty. If you would like to learn more watch this video.



UNI Global Union is backing its affiliate the SEIU which is spearheading the janitors’ fight back. Christy Hoffman, UNI Global Union Deputy General Secretary said, “The contractors are not playing fair with the janitors and neither are the companies who own the real estate. These cleaners take on jobs many other people are not prepared to do and deserve a decent wage. What we see in Houston is symptomatic of the wage squeeze across the US. We urge the contractors, including ISS, to respond fairly and meet the justifiable demands of the Houston janitors.”



The Mayor of Houston, Annise D. Parker has told UNI that her administration wants to see a “fair and just” settlement. Mayor Parker was replying in response to a letter from UNI which urged the Mayor to support the Houston cleaners in their struggle for justice.



Houston cleaners have been on strike since July 10 to demand fair pay, an end to discrimination of Latino workers and union activists and no further efforts to undercut provisions in the current collective agreement. These workers’ courageous efforts to stand up for a living wage have been met with retaliation and threats to withhold healthcare benefits. SEIU has filed legal claims to protest the illegality of these actions and the number of striking workers continues to grow.



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. Despite record profits by these companies, and paying inflated CEO compensation, janitors who clean Houston’s office buildings are paid less than $9,000 a year—less than half the US federal poverty level.



· Hundreds of workers marched through downtown Houston’s energy corridor where fifteen activists blocked an intersection in an act of civil disobedience, harkening back to the civil rights movement. Reesha Thomas, Political Director of the Texas Organizing project was one of the fifteen activists arrested – she explained that the fight for Houston’s janitors is an, “Example of a tale of two cities and there is a clear line between the haves and have-nots.” Learn more about the protest, and watch footage from the protest.



· According to news survey released in Houston last week, 63 percent of Houstonians believe janitors should be paid more for their work. The poll came just days before hundreds of janitors and their allies came together at a special mass held by Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Fiorenza. Watch footage from the mass.



· Hundreds of janitors in Boston, Seattle, Denver, Washington, San Ramon and Los Angeles joined the Houston strike, refusing to cross the picket lines setup by Houston janitors in those cities. When the strike began on July 10, nine buildings went on strike – now the strike has grown to more than 475 workers across more than forty buildings.



· Already, the strike has garnered local and national support including activist/actor Danny Glover, Rep. Al Green (D-TX), Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Fiorenza and NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous. Earlier this month, Glover joined Green and Jackson Lee to announce the establishment of a task force to protect the janitor’s first amendment rights, while Jealous lifted the plight of the janitors’ during his keynote address at the NAACP Convention in Houston on Monday.