To the people who work at these companies: why don’t you stick around until 8 p.m. or so, then drop off your trash in front of the CEO’s office? I guarantee if you do that this problem will get solved by Tuesday morning.

He points out that the janitors currently make $23,000 a year, which works out to about $11 an hour. This in one of the most expensive places for housing in the US. He’s not sure about unions. In this case, I am. Without unions, they’d probably be making minimum wage.

In the 70’s I worked the oil fields in West Texas and got to see what happens when there’s no union (or the threat of a union.) We worked 7 days a week at low wages. There were no days off. The rigs were generally at least a 60 minute drive from town each way. Work and sleep, that’s all you did. I’m sure it hasn’t changed. Had there been a union there, things would have been much different.

Can unions sometimes be corrupt and counter-productive? Sure. But no union on the planet would allow workers to be worked 7 days a week 365 days a year as happens in West Texas.

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