(MintPress) – A four-week strike by a group of janitors in Houston, Texas has picked up steam ahead of a series of negotiations as politicians and supporters from 17 of the nation’s largest cities are expressing support for the movement. The Houston janitors have taken to the city’s streets during protests that have resulted in seven total arrests earlier in the week during what witnesses said was a peaceful demonstration that included a sit-in at a downtown Houston intersection.
The group is striking to raise awareness for what it calls unfair pay and some of the lowest pay rates for janitors in the nation. A group of 475 Houston janitors employed by the Houston Area Contractors Association are responsible for cleaning around 50 buildings – many of them high-profile firms that make millions or billions of dollars in profits.
While cleaning the offices, the group of janitors is paid an average yearly salary of $9,000, considerably less than the national poverty line of $23,050 for a family of four. The group, which can currently earn a top wage of $8.35 an hour, is asking for a raise to $10 an hour. The lead negotiator has once said the $10 an hour rate was “unrealistically high.”
“We’re striking because we have no other option,” Houston janitor Lidia Aguillon told Common Dreams. “We can’t make ends meet on what we are paid, and when we stand up for ourselves, we’re punished and harassed.”
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) expressed support and solidarity with the group’s efforts, calling the movement a “just cause” and noting that the protests in Houston could spur further janitorial protests in other cities in the future.
“The Houston area janitors engaged in negotiations are our neighbors and friends. All they are asking for are fair wages for a fair day of work. I have met senior citizens who are making less $9 and hour,” Lee said in a statement. “Houston cannot be engaged in denying those that clean major corporate buildings where billions of dollars are made from earning a fair pay. I support the efforts of the janitors to negotiate peacefully, to strike peacefully and to engage in civil disobedience peacefully.”
Building a coalition
Earlier in the week, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) started an online advertising campaign that called upon JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to meet with Houston janitor Adriana Vasquez, who is leading the strike. The ads are running in cities such as Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Washington.
At a June Congressional hearing, Vasquez confronted Dimon about the low pay janitors received for cleaning his offices. She asked the CEO why he denied the people cleaning his office a living wage, to which he responded “call my office” to set up a meeting. Vasquez called, but never heard back from Dimon.
“I don’t want or expect to be rich like Jamie Dimon,” Vasquez said. “I don’t want luxuries. I just want to be treated with respect and paid a fair wage for my hard work.”
JPMorgan is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. Ads against the firm will run on more than 1,000 websites, including large sites such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe.
Janitors in 17 cities around the country such as Chicago, Denver, New York City and Seattle have also come out in a show of solidarity for the janitors in Houston and the intimidation they faced when they initially approached their employers over fair pay.
According to employment search engine Indeed, the average salary for a janitorial position is $22,000 per year. It’s for that reason that Denver janitor Celia Guizado Gomez is marching to support the Houston janitors who face a far lower salary than the national average.
“I cannot imagine the impossible decisions that Houston janitors must make earning only $9,000 a year,” Gomez said. “My union job as a janitor allowed me to raise three children in a stable and loving home. I’m out here today because no working parent should be forced to choose between spending time with their family and working a second job just to put food on the table and clothes on your kids’ backs.”