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Re: Rundown 11-21-06
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The Next Act: Will the Republicans’ Mid-Term Loss Hurt
Chances of a War on Iran?
Justice for Janitors: Houston Janitors Claim Victory in Landmark
Strike
The Next Act: Will the Republicans’ Mid-Term
Loss Hurt Chances of a War on Iran?
In a new article for the New Yorker, investigative journalist
Seymour Hersh reports Vice President Dick Cheney told a White
House meeting one month before the mid-term elections that
a Democratic victory would have little effect on the administration’s
decision to go to war. But plans for a military option were
made “far more complicated” by a secret CIA report
which has found no conclusive evidence that Iran is developing
nuclear weapons. Hersh joins us from Washington. [rush transcript
included]
With the Democrats winning control of Congress is the White
House and a lame duck president more or less likely to launch
an attack against Iran? That’s the subject of a new
article by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
Hersh writes in the latest issue of the New Yorker magazine,
that Vice President Dick Cheney told a White House meeting
one month before the mid-term elections that a Democratic
victory would have little effect on the administration’s
decision to go to war. But the article goes on to report that
any plans for a military option were made “far more
complicated” by a secret CIA report which has found
no conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Seymour Hersh joins me now from a studio in Washington DC.
Justice for Janitors: Houston Janitors Claim Victory
in Landmark Strike
In Houston, janitors have ended a month-long strike and
have agreed to a contract that could double their salary within
two years. On Monday, an agreement was reached between five
major cleaning contractors and fifty three hundred janitors
who are represented by the Service Employees International
Union or SEIU. The striking janitors were mostly female and
mostly Latino.[rush transcript
included]
In Houston, Texas, janitors have ended a month-long strike
and have agreed to a contract that could double their salary
within two years. On Monday, an agreement was reached between
five major cleaning contractors and fifty three hundred janitors
who are represented by the Service Employees International
Union or SEIU. The striking janitors were mostly female and
mostly Latino.
Under the deal, the janitors’ hourly wages will increase
from five dollars and thirty cents on average to seven dollars
and seventy five cents over the next two years. In addition,
the cleaning companies have agreed to offer longer hours,
paid holidays, vacation time and health insurance starting
in 2009.
However the companies refused to guarantee full-time work
to the janitors or to fully pay for their health benefits.
Labor analysts have predicted that this organizing victory
will make it easier for SEIU to win similar campaigns in other
Southern cities. Stephen Lerner is the Director of the SEIU’s
Justice for Janitors campaign - and he joins me now from Washington,
DC. We invited representatives of the five cleaning companies
to come on the program but they either declined our request
or did not respond.
- Stephen Lerner. Director of Justice For Janitors Campaign.
In a moment we will go to Houston to speak with two janitors
involved in the organizing campaign. But first - the story
of Ercilia Sandoval. She is a Salvadoran immigrant who works
a nightly four-hour shift cleaning a large office building
in Houston. She earns five dollars and twenty five cents an
hour and has no health insurance or other benefits. Earlier
this year she learned she had breast cancer.
- Video featuring Ercilia Sandoval, produced the SEIU’s
Houston Justice for Janitors.
In the last three weeks, Houston janitors have staged demonstrations
and engaged in civil disobedience. Their efforts have attracted
supporters from all over the country who have traveled to
Houston to join the protests. Last Thursday, 46 protesters
were arrested when they blocked a downtown intersection. As
the janitors began to sit down peacefully in the intersection,
Houston police officers on horses charged at them trying to
break up the demonstration. Photographs show police officers
on horses trampling protesters. At least one protester, Hazel
Ingram, an 83 year-old janitor from New York City, was hospitalized.
Mercedes Herrera and Nelson Canela join me now from Houston.
Mercedes is a Houston janitor and a member of the bargaining
committee for the union and Nelson is a New York janitor who
was arrested at the protest in last Thursday. He is also a
former U.S. Marine. We invited a representative of the Houston
Police Department to join us but they declined our request.
- Mercedes Herrera. Houston Janitor and part of the bargaining
team that negotiated contract
- Nelson Canela. New York janitor who is in Houston to
support the campaign. He was arrested at last Thursday’s
direct action.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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