For striking janitors, a full slate of protests

Remember the striking Houston janitors who protested in other cities and blocked the Westheimer/Post Oak intersection? They've been busy this week, too: Yesterday they rolled buckets and trash bins through downtown during rush hour and returned to Uptown — and today they stormed the Houston Club, disrupted a speech and gathered outside HPD headquarters.

Wednesday morning, some of the janitors held a rally outside the Houston Club, where the Greater Houston Partnership and business leaders were meeting; at lunch, two janitors posing as lunch guests disrupted a speech by Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister. "What are you doing about the janitors who clean your buildings for $5.15 an hour?" Peter Hanrahan, Service Employees International Union Local 3 of Cleveland president, shouted at the audience. "You spend more money on lunch than they earn all year." Hanrahan and the other man, Joseph McLaughlin of the local SEIU branch, were removed from the room.

Later in the day, about 500 janitors gathered outside HPD headquarters downtown to protest the arrest of two janitors; the crowd chanted "Up with the protest" and "Arriba, revolution." And, as the Chronicle notes, they were careful to throw away their snack wrappers and empty water bottles — possibly because some of the janitors may be in trouble for dumping garbage in some downtown buildings earlier this week.

SEIU represents 5,300 janitors locally, but it's not clear how many are striking to get a payraise and benefits. Janitors in Houston earn an average of $5.30 an hour, less than half what janitors in some other cities make; the striking janitors want a raise to $8.50 an hour.