Hoffa Statement on SEIU Card Check Victory for Houston Janitors

Hoffa Statement on SEIU Card Check Victory for Houston Janitors

November 30, 2005

On behalf of the entire Teamster membership, I want to personally congratulate SEIU and the 5,000 Houston janitors on their recent card-check majority at ABM Industries. This victory will not only bring a tidal shift of economic security and dignity to Houston’s low-wage workforce, it sends a message to workers across the South—“Yes you can!”

The Teamsters and other members of the Change to Win federation are proud to stand in solidarity with these workers in their fight for the American dream. More than 350,000 Teamsters from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles stood ready to honor picket lines during the toughest bouts of this campaign. That is because we understand it can take more than one union to topple a company like ABM, and that partnership among workers is the only way to compete against today’s corporate juggernauts.

For far too long, the South has been a bastion of low-wage labor, and corporations continue to profit from its exploit. The Teamsters union is currently engaged in an arduous battle on behalf of Southern waste workers who are fighting for good jobs and safer working conditions–something their counterparts in California, Illinois, New York and numerous communities across the nation already cherish through strong Teamster contracts. We have already won significant victories in the South in a wide array of industries, including transit, the public sector, law enforcement and package delivery.

The race to the bottom in our own country must stop. By using the kind of strategic, multi-faceted campaign SEIU has employed in Houston to empower workers, it can and will be done. Such victories not only improve the lives of Southern workers, they protect the livelihoods of workers throughout our great nation.