Members of Service Employees International Union Local 26 in Minneapolis were among the people who participated in a nonviolent sit-in at a downtown Houston intersection Thursday that resulted in several arrests. Video footage posted on the Houston Justice for Janitors website, www.houstonjanitors.org, shows mounted police surrounding the protesters and pushing and dragging them as helicopters circled overhead.
About 40 people were arrested, including Local 26 President Javier Morillo Alicea and six others, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
"These are the very same issues that we face here in Minnesota with our contract negotiations," Morillo Alicea told the newspaper. "We are now faced with a question: Do we move forward and improve the lives of janitors in Houston and Minnesota or do we go backwards to the conditions of Houston where janitors make $20 a night and have no health insurance?"
The Minnesota protesters, charged with trespassing, were released on bond after spending several hours in jail and have returned home, the union said.
Negotiations resumed Saturday between five major cleaning contractors -- ABM, OneSource, GCA Services, Sanitors, and Pritchard – and the Service Employees International Union, representing 5,300 Houston janitors. The union said Thursday\'s protest, combined with similar events in recent weeks, is putting a national focus on the low pay and benefits for Houston janitors, who went on strike five weeks ago.
In the last two weeks, more than 80 people have been arrested "for participating in acts of conscience challenging the poverty conditions and lack of health insurance faced by thousands of Houston workers and their families," the union said, adding that it plans to organize a National Day of Action to support the strikers.
"We call on Houston\'s building owners and managers to use their power to settle the strike and commit to using only responsible cleaning firms willing to help janitors and their families rise out of poverty," said Tom Balanoff, president of SEIU Local 1 in Chicago, and the Houston janitors\' chief negotiator.
Janitors in Minnesota kicked off their "Justice for Janitors" contract campaign in mid-October. The janitors – members of SEIU Local 26 – said health insurance is a key issue in contract negotiations for 5,000 area janitors. The janitors\' current contract expires Dec. 31.
For more information
Find out more about the Houston janitors\' struggle and view video from Thursday\'s protest on the workers\' website, www.houstonjanitors.org
Support the janitors through LabourStart\'s e-mail campaign:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=161
Read coverage of the protest in the Houston Chronicle:
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4341820.html
and Pioneer Press:
www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/16042338.htm
Related article
Rally, march launch \'Justice for Janitors\' campaign in Minnesota, https://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_2749
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Members of Service Employees International Union Local 26 in Minneapolis were among the people who participated in a nonviolent sit-in at a downtown Houston intersection Thursday that resulted in several arrests. Video footage posted on the Houston Justice for Janitors website, www.houstonjanitors.org, shows mounted police surrounding the protesters and pushing and dragging them as helicopters circled overhead.
About 40 people were arrested, including Local 26 President Javier Morillo Alicea and six others, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
"These are the very same issues that we face here in Minnesota with our contract negotiations," Morillo Alicea told the newspaper. "We are now faced with a question: Do we move forward and improve the lives of janitors in Houston and Minnesota or do we go backwards to the conditions of Houston where janitors make $20 a night and have no health insurance?"
The Minnesota protesters, charged with trespassing, were released on bond after spending several hours in jail and have returned home, the union said.
Negotiations resumed Saturday between five major cleaning contractors — ABM, OneSource, GCA Services, Sanitors, and Pritchard – and the Service Employees International Union, representing 5,300 Houston janitors. The union said Thursday\’s protest, combined with similar events in recent weeks, is putting a national focus on the low pay and benefits for Houston janitors, who went on strike five weeks ago.
In the last two weeks, more than 80 people have been arrested "for participating in acts of conscience challenging the poverty conditions and lack of health insurance faced by thousands of Houston workers and their families," the union said, adding that it plans to organize a National Day of Action to support the strikers.
"We call on Houston\’s building owners and managers to use their power to settle the strike and commit to using only responsible cleaning firms willing to help janitors and their families rise out of poverty," said Tom Balanoff, president of SEIU Local 1 in Chicago, and the Houston janitors\’ chief negotiator.
Janitors in Minnesota kicked off their "Justice for Janitors" contract campaign in mid-October. The janitors – members of SEIU Local 26 – said health insurance is a key issue in contract negotiations for 5,000 area janitors. The janitors\’ current contract expires Dec. 31.
For more information
Find out more about the Houston janitors\’ struggle and view video from Thursday\’s protest on the workers\’ website, www.houstonjanitors.org
Support the janitors through LabourStart\’s e-mail campaign:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=161
Read coverage of the protest in the Houston Chronicle:
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4341820.html
and Pioneer Press:
www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/16042338.htm
Related article
Rally, march launch \’Justice for Janitors\’ campaign in Minnesota, https://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_2749
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