HOUSTON - October 11 - A low-paid Houston janitor with breast cancer is a finalist for Glamour Magazine's annual "Woman of The Year" contest. Ercilia Sandoval, a mother of two, was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and does not receive health insurance from her employer. She is leading a courageous struggle by thousands of low-wage Houston janitors, most of whom are Latina women, to win health insurance, higher wages and more hours on the job as part of their union contract. Late last year the janitors chose to form a union with the 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

"I'm dying of cancer and my daughters may grow up without a mother because I had no health care, no early detection or other treatment," says Sandoval, a member of her union bargaining committee. "Houston janitors are fighting for access to affordable health care for all working families in Houston so no one else has to go through what my family and I are facing now." Dubbed "The Advocate" by Glamour, Ercilia's story can be found on Glamour's website at www.glamour.com/news/woty/slideshows/2006/10/09/womanofyouryear?slide=1.

Like most Houston janitors, Sandoval is paid $5.25 an hour, works part-time and gets no health insurance or any other benefits on the job. Janitors in other major cities who work for national cleaning companies in buildings owned and managed by national real estate landlords are paid more than twice as much, work full-time and have employer-paid health insurance thanks to their SEIU union contracts.

Negotiations over a contract in Houston, which would affect 5,300 janitors and their families, are in the final stages and may be headed for a strike. At the last bargaining session, the janitors' employers refused to respond to the janitors' contract proposal. One day later, janitors voted to authorize their bargaining committee to call a strike if necessary.

The outcome of contract talks - which will determine whether or not Ercilia gains access to health insurance -- is largely dependent on wealthy building landlords, like market leader Hines Interests and tenants like oil company Chevron, who own and occupy Houston's office space and who hire the cleaning contractors that employ the janitors.

A more detailed version of her story, as well as a video podcast of her struggle can be downloaded and viewed at www.houstonjanitors.org or on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=8P3_dUXY2BM.

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