Houston Janitors Win!

Striking Houston janitors (see my post below) reached an agreement today! The Houston Chronicle reports:

Houston janitors ended a month-long strike today against the city's five major cleaning companies after reaching a tentative agreement that will guarantee higher wages, more work hours and medical benefits.

The settlement was hailed as a major victory for the 5,300 janitors who last year organized under the Service Employees International Union. It is the first citywide union contract since janitors formed a union last November.

"We're very happy, and our members are ecstatic," SEIU spokeswoman Lynda Tran said. "It's an incredible, incredible day and this is a major victory."

Under today's agreement, the SEIU janitors will get a 50.5 percent pay raise over the two-year contract. On January 1, pay will increase to $6.25 an hour, a 21 percent increase over current wage of $5.15 an hour. That will go up to $7.25 an hour on January 1, 2008, and $7.75 on January 1, 2009.

"I consider this a milestone in the city of Houston," Mayor Bill White told reporters. "And more importantly, something that will lift the lives of hard-working residents trying to get by each day."

The new contract also guarantees more hours of work for janitors, many of whom are currently limited to 4 hours of work a night. The settlement calls for that to go up to six hours a night within the next two years. Janitors will also receive health insurance starting January 1, 2009. Individual health insurance will cost $20 a month, while family insurance will be available for a cost of $175 a month.

If they worked full-time - that is 8 hours a day - that would be$16,120 instead of the $5,512 (or $11,138 if they were among the few actually allowed to work full-time) they're making now at 4 hours a night for $5.30. Even at 6 hours at the new salary rate they'll be making over $12,000 a year, depending on how many nights a week they work.

This is a triumph for labor, working folks, and America.