11.20.06
The Houston Janitors Strike - UPDATED
Just like during the Civil Rights Movement it wasn’t until something horrible happened that the American people started to pay attention to the injustice that was occurring. Like what happened in Birmingham - attack dogs, waterhoses and church bombings. Once it got horrible enough and was seen on TV the injustice became obvious. And as a nation, mostly, we realized that if we still wanted to call ourselves a moral country something had to be done.
Hopefully that’s same thing will happen after the nation sees what happened in Houston last week, Justice for Janitors is a good place to start reading up on this. An overreaction by the powerful against the powerless should get this strike over with fast. Hopefully the media, in Houston, Texas and the nation, will allow the American people to see this. Janitors being attacked by mounted police for picketing is outrageous. The H-town blogs are all over this: Brans and Eggs and here, Easter Lemming, and Off The Kuff has more links and a nice explanation:
Raise your hand if you think you could live on less than $105 per week. I made more than that as a graduate student in the 1980s, and I had access to a free clinic. Bear in mind that $8.50 an hour, forty hours a week, translates to $340 per week, or $17,680 per year. We are not talking king’s ransom here. How much is it worth to you to have clean toilets and regularly removed trash where you work?
America loves the underdog and there’s no doubt, in this fight, who that is. It’s not the huge corporations with the billion dollar profits that can’t afford to pay the people who clean their toilets and trash cans a sustenance wage.
[UPDATE]: Told it would be resolved fast now, Victory For Janitors! Nothing like a little public shaming to do the trick.