The Houston Chronicle, November 23, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
The Houston Chronicle

November 23, 2006 Thursday
2 STAR EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1


HEADLINE: Contract just might attract members

BYLINE: L.M. SIXEL, Staff

BODY:
THE SEIU got the janitors a contract. Now comes the hard part: The Service Employees International Union has to sign up members.
When the nation's second-largest union came to town two years ago to organize 5,300 janitors, it did it on faith.
Union officials figured if they got a good deal from the five largest cleaning companies, the janitors would join as dues-paying members.
It's a gamble because Texas is a right-to-work state.
The state law, which is common in other Southern and Mountain states, has kept many unions from establishing a foothold because employees can't be forced to join the labor union at their company.
However, those free riders, under federal law, must still be represented by the union in grievances, benefit negotiations and other matters.
"When you aren't getting dues from all the people you represent, it's not as profitable," said Michael Muskat, an employment lawyer with Muskat, Martinez & Mahony who represents companies involved in labor disputes.
"Unions are businesses themselves, and they have to look out for their own bottom line," Muskat said.
Richard Hurd, a labor studies professor at Cornell University, said, "It's definitely a challenge to sign up members in a right-to-work state."
If it's a private-sector workplace, typically about 60 percent of the workers end up joining the union, he said.
Experts cite deal
Despite that built-in impediment, some labor experts believe the SEIU will prevail because of the deal it negotiated for the janitors, who earn an average of $5.30 an hour.
By the end of the three-year contract, the janitors will be earning $7.75 an hour, working more hours and, beginning in 2009, receiving individual health insurance.
"I don't think it will be very hard at all," said Richard Shaw, secretary-treasurer of the Harris County AFL-CIO. "The janitors are hungry, and they really want a union."
Shaw said that when he represented janitors working for the Houston Independent School District, they were some of the most loyal union members he had.
"They desperately want to move up and provide for their families, and they see the union as the way to increase their economic security," he said.
And it's not just an economic issue.
Michael Lotito, an employment lawyer with Jackson Lewis in San Francisco, predicts the SEIU will focus its membership campaign around the new voice employees have at work and that they have a mechanism in which to bring concerns forward to management.
That is valuable, Lotito said.
Quickly signing up
Shortly after SEIU officials announced the details of the contract Monday night, the union began signing up new members.
SEIU spokeswoman Lynda Tran estimated that 1,000 to 1,200 janitors joined the union on Monday night, and she expects the union to launch an outreach effort to encourage more to pony up.
"We don't expect it to be a problem," she said.
Dues haven't been set yet by the janitors' negotiating committee, she said, but 60 cents a day is being considered as a possibility.
On Jan. 1, janitors will earn $6.25 an hour and work four hours a day. Sixty cents a day works out to 2.4 percent of the daily wage.
Union dues typically run 1 to 2 percent of wages, Hurd said.
To encourage employees to join, the union will probably encourage key employee activists who are committed to the union and respected by others to approach each employee, Hurd said.
An ongoing effort
They'll promote what the union got for the employees and let them know union representatives are available if they have problems on the job, he said.
It will be an ongoing effort, which is especially important in such a high turnover industry such as cleaning.
Often, grievances are a good selling point, Hurd said. When nonmembers see how well the union has represented them, they typically join because they appreciate the effort.
It can be a way to build the union, he said.
"But the union has accomplished so much in its first contract," Hurd said. "I think they'll be successful in recruiting a clear majority of the workers they represent."

NOTES: lm.sixel@chron.com

GRAPHIC: Mug: Richard Shaw (p. 5)