Houston Janitors Conduct Peaceful March For A More Fair Wage—Video Of The Arrest By Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s Police
There was a peaceful protest in Houston this afternoon asking for no more than that janitors in Downtown Houston’s big office buildings be paid a more fair wage.
Below is a picture I took of these peaceful protesters marching under the Flag of the United States on this Flag Day.
What could be more patriotic and more American than the belief that a fair day’s work merits a fair paycheck?
What could be more patriotic and American than the right to assemble and to put forth our grievances?
Here is the website for these Houston janitors who are asking for a raise.
11 Houston janitors have already been fired for advocating for higher wages.
The great liberal magazine The Nation has written about this issue.
From The Nation—
“Yesterday, the contract between the janitors and the cleaning contractors expired. SEIU Local 1 spent the past month trying to reach an agreement to raise the janitors’ hourly wage to $10 over the next three years. (They currently make $ 8.35 an hour.) But the contractors countered with an offer of a $0.50 pay raise phased in over five years and—according to SEIU spokesperson Paloma Martinez—said that they “wouldn’t budge.” The contractors claimed that the building owners and tenants—the aforementioned corporations—aren’t willing to pay anything close to a living wage…the city’s janitors are among the lowest paid in the nation, with workers in cities with far weaker real estate markets earning a significantly higher hourly wage: Cincinnati ($9.80), Cleveland ($10.30), Detroit ($10.97) and Chicago ($15.45) are a few examples.”
Here is what Houston Mayor Annise Parker- –a Democrat— recently said on her official Facebook page.
“Houston continues to be a leader in job growth!”
Everything is wonderful. Or at least everything is wonderful so long as you are content with $ 8.35 an hour.
(Below–Another picture from the rally.)
There was one arrest at this peaceful rally.
The Houston Chronicle has reported this arrest.
I counted at least 21 Houston police officers watching over this rally. Many of these officers were on horseback.
There was no need for this excessive presence. This was a peaceful march.
The only tension came from the excessive police presence. These were peaceful demonstrators.
Police officers are working people just like anybody else. I belive that most police officers are good honest people. At the same time, Houston police are mistaken if they see janitors making $ 8.35 an hour as the enemy.
Here is a video of the arrest—
Below is a another video of the arrest at the march that was taken by Occupy Wall Street: Houston. The arrest is at around the 2 minute point of the video.
Houston City Council–with the near unanimous consent of Council Democrats as well as Mayor Parker, recently voted to criminalize many acts of sharing food with the homeless.
Not a single Council Democrat was at the rally today. Mayor Parker was not at the rally today.
What good are these Democrats if they don’t stick up for working people?
The bottom line is clear.
The freedom of all people is connected and the work of freedom is up to each of us.
The fate of all working people is connected.
Houston janitors merit better wages and we all should consider taking up their just cause.
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Interesting that not one of the marchers HAD an American flag. guess they are not as proud as you? Also missing at the rally was janitors. They’ve been missing at most of their own rallies. They are not very supportive of this union which makes this entire thing a big scam. Hardly newsworthy. And, these out of town organizers who like to shut down our streets are why HPD is out in force. Not excessive, necessary. It would be more peaceful without the Chicago union thugs pulling stunts like they did yesterday.
There were janitors at the march. Maybe there would be more if some had not been fired in recent weeks for marching. There was no blocking of streets. In any case, blocking a street is less an offense than not paying a fair wage to hard working people. The police presence was excessive. We hear often about a tight city budget in Houston. We sure do though seem to have enough money to send many police out to any type of protest.
[…] attended a march of Houston janitors looking for nothing more than a more fair wage for the work they do. This post has two videos of the arrest of one of these peaceful marchers by aggressive Houston […]
What does this do to people who would work for less than the union wage?
Just more evidence that Occupy Houston has been co-opted by Radical Leftists and Labor Unions such as SEIU and AFLCIO
If only Occupy Houston had worked out well enough to be a big part of this march. Then maybe they could have helped pull the unions you mention more to the left and to more effective advocacy for our fellow working people.