HOUSTON—Some 200 janitors, members of Local 1 of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), met here January 30 to discuss their fight for a contract with six cleaning companies.

About 3,200 workers in the Houston area are affected by the dispute. The janitors explained they are fighting for a pay raise and to keep their hours guarantee, as well as for improved health-care benefits. A 2006 contract included pay raises from a pre-union $5.30 an hour to the current $7.75, as well as a guarantee of six hours of work a day, up from four.

On Nov. 16, 2006, Houston cops on horseback attacked striking janitors, arresting 44 unionists and their supporters. The attack, designed to bolster the companies, backfired. Support for the janitors increased and they won a three-year contract the following week.

“We have to be prepared to do what we did in 2006 with rallies and marches and hard work,” said Mercedes Herrera, a Local 1 janitor who spoke at the meeting.

—JACQUIE HENDERSON