The Houston janitors and their high-profile, successful campaign to organize downtown office buildings were a hot topic at a conference of human resources managers in Houston this week. The SEIU victory came as a surprise to large companies accustomed to doing business in the predominantly non-union South.
The Houston Chronicle reports:
Another concern on the minds of HR types — especially those from the Houston area — was union activism.
The big organizing push by the Change to Win coalition, especially the Service Employees International Union, drew dozens of human resources managers to a seminar on union organizing.
The subject, which used to be fairly dull in Houston, has taken on new importance here for two big reasons: the SEIU's effort on behalf of janitors and City Hall employees and the recent passage in the House of the Employee Free Choice Act.