I was in college when the state AFSCME struck. A lot of the students went on an orgy of littering to drive the point home that we needed to pay the janitors more.

Ironically while my father was a part of that and struck, I was a student janitor worker and helped organize with the other student janitors (every single one but me from Bangladesh, Nepal, or Pakistan) to do the minimum to keep the classes operating since we were students.

Awesome!! The SEIU is doing a lot of innovative organizing. I'd also like to point out that I love the SEIU's strategy to start to rebuild unions in the South. Way to go.

email from my friend this morning:

Well, it feels like death.  I'm so sick and tired.

Anyway, we won a 3 year contract, a 135% wage increase, health insurance by year 3, 2 weeks paid vacation, 6 paid holidays, protection from being illegally fired, a grievance procedure, now we have access to the buildings...

We've been on strike for just over a month.  Its been awful. We've had 80 people arrested total.  We've had to sue the city for their parade and sound permits.  What saved us I think was the fact that the same contractors and owners of office buildings here are in other cities like Chicago, LA, NYC, Boston, DC, Miami, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, etc.... and so workers from those cities came here and fought for Houston janitors, got arrested, protested, organized the workers in those buildings.  We've been fighting for this contract for over 2 years.  Its been a really, really long struggle.

This was designed by the SEIU to be a high profile campaign.  They wanted to make a big show out of organizing in Houston to help leverage other negotiations.  All of the bad press should help other companies find their way to the bargaining table.  This is a big victory.

Great news!!..and kudos to Andy and the on-the-ground heroes who bravely made it happen.  

As I watched Webb and Tester on MTP, I found myself thinking that these are the next generation of Democratic leaders, who are strong and smart and that "get" the fundamental issues we face as a country.

Later on Sunday I started reading a book I highly recommend to every citizen and political leader--"Capitalism 3.0", by Peter Barnes.  

A paper copy is available for about $15 at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-3-0-Rec laiming-Commons-Currents/dp/1576753611
A Creative Commons pdf is available free online at:
http://onthecommons.org/files/Capitalism _3.0_Peter_Barnes.pdf

Having only read a little of the book and an essay on the same topic by Barnes (a former president of Working Assets), I'm already convinced that this book's basic premise and core argument should be part of a Democratic "vision and values" foundation for policy development.  

Barnes focuses on the three key elements of "the commons"--nature, community and culture--all broadly defined to include a wide range of interrelated policy isssues.  

He calls for an "upgrade" of the operating system of capitalism, and lays out some key enabling steps for that to happen.

Though Barnes builds on concepts I've heard elsewhere, I get the feeling that Capitalism 3.0 is one of those important paradigm-shifting books that can help political leaders and citizens begin a basic conceptual shift that can and should be tied to a new generation of Democratic leadership, "message" and policy.

I think this issue is only second to the travesty in Iraq. The presidential candidate that embraces this the most will get a good look from me. The only one that has it as the foundation of his platform right now is John Edwards.

Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwww!!!!!!!!! !!

This is BIG.  Houston's a tough nut to crack.

Kudos to Andy Stern and all the folks on the ground, especially those who got arrested, trampled by horses, and thought they were going to have to find $888,888 in order to get out of jail.

I swear, you can practically see the tide turning in this country right now.

I have lived in Houston my whole life.  This is a big deal.  

Currently, the judicial system in Texas is a complete mess because surprise nearly every judge on the Texas Supreme Court is in the pocket of business interests.  Furthermore, the judges in Harris County are even worse.  Every single one of them is a Republican (however many of them barely won their elections 51-48 this year).

I am sick and tired of seeing decent people endure reduced/no access to the justice system because Republicans have essentially decided that clearing their dockets is more important than actually hearing legitimate cases.  They require costly arbitration in every case, sometimes twice before it can go to trial.  This causes attorneys who simply cannot afford to litigate cases on contingent fee basis to turn away clients who they would otherwise represent.

Texas should be a huge bullseye for Democrats.  So much has gone wrong here that I can only hope we regain the majority sometime in the next decade.

Hopefully, this victory will be a turning point.  I was just thinking that the only "labor dispute" that easily comes to mind was Reagan's breaking the Air Traffic Controller's Union 25 years ago. It's been a long chapter of (mostly) labor defeats ever since.  It's time to turn the page.  Viva Houston Janitors!

Good job, Matt, on reporting on this. This is an important going for the labor movement and progressives everywhere.