HOUSTON—After a one-month strike against five major cleaning companies, janitors here reached an agreement November 20 on their first union contract. The agreement will cover the 5,300 cleaners who organized into the Service Employees International Union last year. It stipulates wage increases from $5.15 per hour to $7.75 over three years; guarantees an increase in minimum work hours to six per night, up from four, over the three-year contract; and includes six paid holidays, two weeks of vacation, and medical coverage over the course of the next two years. Flor Aguilar, a janitor and founding leader of the organizing effort and the strike, told a rally celebrating the victory, “Today we can lift our heads up very high.” The crowd of 2,000 responded by chanting “¡Sí se pudo!” —Spanish for “Yes, we did it!”

—STEVE WARSHELL