Houston guards get new contract

Last weekend, SEIU Texas – which represents more than 3,000 custodians working for contract cleaning companies – secured a new contract for full-time and part-time workers. As reported by Fox 26 Houston, contract details include an hourly wage increase to $15 per hour for full-time janitors and a minimum of $14.10 for part-time janitors by the end of the new contract of four years.

The agreement represents the highest salary increase in SEIU Texas history. Other notable details of the contract include a higher guaranteed minimum hours for workers. In the previous agreement, only 30 percent of the guards represented were guaranteed at least 25 hours per week. Under the new framework, this figure rises to 70 percent. In addition, workers were able to benefit from additional flexible leave each year.

SEIU representatives were pleased with the outcome, emphasizing that it will help guardians better provide for families and give them the opportunities and flexibility they deserve. The ratification of the new contract comes after several months of protests in the streets by Houston’s front-line workers for better working conditions. The new agreement also ended the possibility of a strike – which was planned for May 31 if a new agreement was not reached.

Read more about the implications of the new deal here.