At today's hearing of the House Financial Services Committee regarding JP Morgan's recent massive banking losses, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) secured a commitment from CEO Jamie Dimon to meet with him to discuss the issue of poverty wages paid to janitors who clean his company's office buildings in Houston.
"The average janitor in Houston is making less than the poverty level," Representative Green explained. "I want to meet with you about something I call, 'too small to live off.'"
--> See video at C-SPAN of Congressman Green's question.
Janitors in Houston make just $10,000 annually - some make even less - and have been offered only a $.50 raise across the next five years.
JP Morgan Chase is a major player in the real estate industry nationwide, including in Houston, where more than 3,000 janitors have voted to authorize their bargaining committee to strike.
Houston has been named the nation's "#1 Millionaire City" for annual growth in millionaires. Last year, the city's 15 largest employers reaped more than $178 billion in profits -more than 50% increase over the previous year.
Despite this, the state of Texas is tied with Mississippi for the highest proportion of minimum wage jobs in the nation. In the wake of huge profit margins, working Houstonians' wages have remained stagnant or fallen behind - in fact, one in five people working in Houston--cooks, cashiers, janitors, baggage porters and security guards--make less than$10 per hour.
Join the campaign to support the good jobs in Houston we need to rebuild the middle class, grow our economy, and make the American Dream real again for all of us.
