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November 21, 2006
A Holiday Victory
Yesterday afternoon the news broke in Houston that striking janitors and building management had reached an agreement to end a month-long strike over increasing wages and benefits. Just days before Thanksgiving, the agreement is a victory.
Currently, janitors in Houston make an average of $5.30 per hour, work only four-hour shifts and receive no health benefits. The deal, which apparently was brokered with help from Houston Mayor Bill White, will incrementally increase wages to $7.75 per hour over the next three years. Additionally, longer shifts will be implemented and janitors will become eligible to purchase health insurance for themselves and their families beginning in 2009. Today's Chronicle gives the rundown on the new deal.
Aided by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), janitors began striking a month ago, and employed some disruptive tactics -- like blocking traffic near the Galleria -- to draw attention to their situation. Their plight is but an example of the dire circumstances faced by millions in this country who work low-wage jobs.
The federal minimum wage -- $5.15 per hour -- has not been raised since 1997. Meanwhile, the costs of housing, health care, fuel and other basic staples of life have risen precipitously, leaving millions of working poor on the edge of bankruptcy, homelessness, and total despair.
Several states around the country have passed increases to the minimum wage in the last few years -- polls show about 75-80% of the American public supports a miniumum wage raise. Sadly, Texas has not yet followed suit. State Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) plans to introduce a minimum wage bill in the next legislative session. Whether that bill ever sees the light of day in the Republican-controlled legislature remains to be seen (don't count on it.)
More promising is a likely attempt in the new Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $7.25 per hour. Would President Bush veto such a bill, which is likely to pass both houses of Congress? Will this "compassionate conservative", who loves to preach about responsibility and morality turn his back on those Americans most in need? We certainly hope not.
We also hope the Republicans in charge of the Texas Legislature surprise us and let a state minimum wage increase bill come to the floor for a vote, and that they allow rural members, most of whom are Republicans but who represent districts where people are really struggling economically, to vote the interests of their constituents rather than the party line.
People who work hard every day deserve to be paid a living wage -- no ifs, ands or buts about it. Will the political leadership, at the state and federal level, regardless of party, do the only moral thing and require employers to pay people a decent wage for honest work?
Let's hope they think long and hard about it during this season of giving.
Posted by houtopia at November 21, 2006 03:17 PM