NOW "Janitor Justice?" | PBS

Watch this NOW web-exclusive complete report profiling a major movement in Texas to establish better wages for hard-working people in America.

The Lone Star State is home to the highest number of minimum wage workers in the country - 176,000 people - earning as little as $5.15 an hour. In fact, the janitors in Houston earn less than janitors in any other big city in America. But with federal minimum wage bills stalled in Congress and no minimum wage initiatives on the Texas ballot this year, many workers feel stuck in a cycle of economic desperation.

Last year, over 5000 Houston janitors signed up with the SEIU, the Service Employee's International Union, to press for living wages and benefits that at least match those found in other states. They named their cause "Justice for Janitors," and they called a strike just this week to fight for a living wage. But joining a union is a risky move for someone in a low-skill job when your entire livelihood is on the line and your employer has little incentive to change.

Watch NOW on PBS Friday night (check local listings) for a full report on minimum wage politics in Missouri and around the country:
http://www.pbs.org/now

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• labor
• union
• minimum
• wage
• NOW
• PBS
• Houston
• janitor
• janitors
• strike

[rainbowwlover]

ifranqui58, dear God, your parents should of used a condom. She didnt choose to be born in another country she came here for a better life, she didnt come here to shoot your house down, to steal your TV or to harm you in any way. Didnt you hear?.. they killed her housband, hes the one that was working while she was at home taking care of her son, you cant honestly say she had children she cant take care of because shes doing it AND with minimum wage.

[pr0gm3r]

Maybe mass suicide will give the lesson to the few elite.

99% of world population should commit suicide then the rich can not make any more money.

[timbosforporn]

Do you know how to earn a living wage? Get a job that pays it.

[timbosforporn]

People get fired when min wage goes up. Just look what happen when many states in US increased it a couple of years ago. Unemployment went up slightly and their prospective economies begin to decline.

[timbosforporn]

Like income taxes.  Thanks!

[AlexDCl]

Yeah, about £3, far below anysort of living wage, cleaners are essential, but what do you expect, it's Republican lead.

[missyouhoo]

I believe yoou to a certain point however in Michigan being a college student for most jobs I am either over or under qualified so something needs to change. i believe in a living wage that would help people.

[sherriffvaginamcpott]

Someone's got the money...someone's got the money.

[jtnorg]

Increasing the minimum wage increases unemployment and does not provide any type of poverty relief.

[timbosforporn]

Another reason why the govt shouldn't be funding media outlets.