HOUSTON (AP) -- A group of Houston janitors on Wednesday celebrated their formation of a union, part of one of the largest successful labor organizing efforts in the private sector in Texas.þþAfter months of campaigning by the Service Employees International Union, more than 4,700 janitors who work for four of the five largest cleaning companies in Houston agreed to unionize. The decision was certified late Tuesday by the American Arbitration Association.þþ''With our union, janitors have a way to fight for better insurance benefits, full-time jobs and better pay,'' Ercilia Sandoval, 38, a janitorial worker for the last eight years, said in Spanish during a news conference. ''We work hard and we deserve a fair living.''þþMost of Houston's janitors are immigrants who are paid $5.30 an hour and earn about $100 a week, work only part-time and don't receive health insurance or other benefits.þþJanitors in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., earn anywhere from nearly $11 to more than $21 an hour and all receive health insurance.þþA majority of janitors who work for Sandoval's employer, GCA Services Group, as well as ABM Janitorial Services, Sanitors Inc. and OneSource Facility Services agreed to form a union with the SEIU.þþOfficials said that janitors with a fifth company, Pritchard Industries Southwest, had tentatively agreed to also join the union but their decision still needed to be certified.þþSEIU representatives said once this happens, 5,300 of the 7,000 janitors in Houston will have union representation.þþThe SEIU's work in Houston is part of its nationwide efforts to organize additional numbers of janitors and other service workers.þþMarlena Reed, spokeswoman for Atlanta-based OneSource Facility Services, said her company had no comment on Wednesday's announcement.þþOfficials with West Conshohocken, Pa.-based GCA Services Group, San Francisco-based ABM Janitorial Services and San Antonio-based Sanitors Inc. did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.þþ
Source: NY Times
