Janitors walk out in Houston
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5) Reduce the workweek to 30 hours with no cut in pay, and cut the retirement age to 55. Provide unemployment and retirement payments at We propose an EMERGENCY CONGRESS OF LABOR to discuss and 6) To combat inflation: A sliding scale of wages and pensions that match 1) Bail out the people, not the bankers! Open the account books of the es the rises in comsumer prices. To combat high medical costs: A free, banks to full public inspection. Nationalize the banks to be supervised by 7) Immediate citizenship for all undocumented workers. No job discrimi 2) No foreclosures! No forced evictions! Cancel usurious debt payments, nation; equal pay for equal work — regardless of gender, sexual orienta and reduce mortgage payments in proportion to their capitalist-caused 8) Nationalize manufacturing, big agribusiness, energy, and transporta 3) Full employment at union wages! An emergency public works program tion corporations and place them under the control of elected committees to employ all jobless workers and youth! Employ people to build what we need — low-cost quality housing, efficient mass transportation, cheap and 9) To mobilize support for the demands it adopts, the EMERGENCY renewable sources of power, schools, clinics — and to conserve our water, CONGRESS should organize ACTION COMMITTEES in every workplace and neighborhood threatened by the crisis. These committees can draw up 4) Immediate and full withdrawal of U.S. troops and mercenaries from Iraq & Afghanistan! Close all U.S. bases abroad! No money for the military 10) To put all these measures into effect, we need a LABOR PARTY — — use funds instead for public works! Convert the war industries to mak based on a fighting union movement and all people who are oppressed Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.
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Support for striking Houston janitors spread accross the U.S. in late July, as solidarity rallies took place in 17 cities.
The janitors walked off the job on July 10 and started night picketing outside key downtown buildings in Houston. These workers clean the offices of some of the richest corporations in the world, including Chevron, Hines, Shell Oil, and J.P. Morgan. They are paid less than $9000 an nually, which is less than half the poverty level.
The janitors are calling on all workers to “take back millionaire city.” Houston is the home of more millionaires than any other city in the United States., while the janitors are among the most poorly paid in the country. This is a city where one in five workers make less than $10 an hour.
Elsa Caballero, SEIU Local 1, said, “The story of Houston’s janitors is the story of every hardworking man and woman in this country who has stood up and fought for a better life for their family from the historic Bread and Roses strike to the Flint sitdown strikes. Houston janitors are on the frontline, fighting for justice.” According to a Fox News poll, 63% of Houstonians believe janitors should be paid more for their work.
The workers’ contract expired on May 31. They are asking for a raise from $8.35 an hour to $10, which would be phased in over four years. The building owners and contractors offered a raise of fifty cents over five years. After the union members refused the offer, they were harassed and intimidated by their employers. Some workers said they were told they would be fired. That is when they called for a citywide strike.
Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder Name Address City State Phone E-mail The union had been preparing by holding rallies and one-day strikes. In addition, they gathered the sup port of community organizations and individuals. The NAACP’s President Ben Jealous, actor/activist Danny the level of union wages and benefits.
universal, public health-care system.
tion, skin color, or national origin.
of workers.
Zip • Ashland, Ore.: [email protected] • Boston: [email protected] (781) 630-0250 • Carrboro, N.C.: (919) 967-2866, [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • Florida: [email protected] • GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.: [email protected] • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE / LEXINGTON, KY.: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:
[email protected] • Mankato, Minn.:
[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] Glover, and faith-based organizations are standing with the strikers.
On the first Sunday of the strike, Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza held a prayer vigil at Tranquility Park, where he supported the janitors and their union: “Some are not supportive of the janitors because they belong to SEIU, a union which organized these janitors. If it were not for the union, we would not know their desper ate situation, and the janitors would still be working for $5 an hour; we would not know that janitors could be fired without a just cause or that their work hours would be reduced but their workload would not be lessened. The cause of janitors is right and just. Stand in solidarity with the janitors in their time of need.”
Fifteen activists from across the country were ar rested on July 18 in downtown Houston. They came to support the Houston janitors from Ohio, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. The activists were surrounded by 250 supporters carrying brooms and banging drums. Reisha Thomas, from the Texas Orga nizing Project, was arrested with out of state support ers: “I stand with janitors because they will raise the floor for all families. Throughout history people have engaged in protest and civil disobedience to stand up for civil liberties.”
Two days earlier, SEIU announced that the strike would spread across the U.S. Janitors who are mem bers of Local 1 fanned out across the country to estab lish picket lines in Washington, Minneapolis, Seattle, Boston, Oakland, and San Ramon, Calif. On July 18, Los Angeles and Denver joined in. Janitors in these cities have said that they will not cross the picket lines. SEIU represents more than 150,000 janitors in the United States.
In Chicago, where walkouts by union janitors are taking place, city officials are threatening to give jobs to non-union contractors at O’Hare International Air port. Sarah Hamilton, spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that the city is evaluating its options, but must award the contract to the lowest “responsible bidder.” n • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 419-1706 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:
P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94610 (510) 268-9429, [email protected] • WASHINGTON, DC: [email protected], (202) 286-5493 National Office
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