Oil Giant Chevron to Be Subject of SEIU-Sponsored Nationwide Protests for Turning Its Back on Hard-Working American Families.

November 15 is National Chevron Day of ActionC*

Despite $14 Billion in Profits, Chevron Refusing to Insure Janitors Paid More Than $20 a Day or Have Health Insurance

WASHINGTON -- With SEIU (Service Employees International Union) members fed up with big oil companies turning record profits and then turning their backs on American families, workers and community members will join together nationwide on Wednesday to protest the behavior of Chevron Corp., the fourth largest company in the U.S.

After a year in which both oil company profits and gas prices saw record highs, groups now are protesting Chevron's refusal to ensure 5,300 Houston janitors, including those who clean its office buildings there, have wages of more than $20 a day or health insurance. The Houston janitors are in week four of a strike that has spread nationwide and made Houston a national testing ground in efforts to halt the spread of the poverty wage economy.

"Chevron is failing to hold up its end of the bargain for hard-working Americans," said Andy Stern, International President of SEIU, the janitors' union. "Corporations like Chevron have a responsibility to use their power to make sure the American Dream stays within reach for working people. Instead of squeezing low-wage janitors, Chevron should be a leader in making sure we have an economy where every worker has fair wages and health care."

Participants in Wednesday's national Chevron Day of Action activities will distribute leaflets and display banners outside Chevron and Texaco gas stations around the country (Chevron is the parent company of Texaco). Major protests are planned outside Chevron's corporate headquarters in Houston, TX and San Ramon, CA. More information and materials are available at chevronwontyoujoinus.org.

Last year Chevron reported $14 billion in profits. Last month it reported a company record $5 billion profit for the last quarter. The janitors who clean Chevron's buildings in Houston are paid just $20 a day for almost exclusively part-time work and do not get health insurance. In just one second, Chevron makes 70 times more than the entire annual earnings of all 5,300 Houston janitors combined.

As a major building owner and office tenant, Chevron controls the most office space of any company in Houston. As a leader in the Houston real estate market, Chevron has the power to help 5,300 janitors lift their families out of poverty. Janitors are calling on Chevron to direct all the cleaning firms it hires to provide janitors with a modest raise and health insurance.

Background:

More than 1,700 SEIU janitors in Houston have been on strike since October 23 over civil rights abuses and a failure to bargain in good faith by their employers, the five national cleaning companies ABM, OneSource, GCA, Sanitors, and Pritchard.

With five of the most influential players in Houston's commercial real estate industry refusing to intervene in the dispute, the workers' strike against five national cleaning firms is increasing in scope and intensity. In the highly competitive market of contract cleaning, it the building landlords that hire the cleaning firms that negotiate and set rates for janitors' wages and benefits. These five major landlords, Chevron, Hines, Transwestern, Crescent, and Brookfield Properties have the power to settle the strike by directing the cleaning contractors they hire to provide higher wages and health insurance all workers need to support their families.

www.chevronwontyoujoinus.org