Janitor Confronts CEO

July 17th, 2013 • BY

The following was released by the Service Employees International Union:

On June 19, 2012, following JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s testimony in front of the House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Committee regarding his company’s recent banking loss, Adriana Vasquez, a janitor who cleans the JP Morgan Chase tower in Houston, Texas confronted him with a question: “Despite making billions last year, why do you deny the people cleaning your buildings a living wage?”

Dimon told her to, “Call his office,” to arrange a meeting.

Each night, Vasquez cleans 24 bathrooms across 11 floors in the JP Morgan Chase tower in downtown Houston. “I work hard each and every day scrubbing 24 bathrooms just to support my children, to keep food on the table and a roof over my head – but it still isn’t enough,” explained Vasquez. “I traveled to Washington, DC to confront Jamie Dimon because it is not acceptable that…he denies the people cleaning his buildings a living wage.”

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) raised the critical issue of income inequality rippling through communities across the country and secured a commitment with Mr. Dimon to meet with him to discuss the issue. “The average janitor in Houston is making less than the poverty level,” Green explained, “I want to meet with you….”

“Houston has been named the nation’s #1 city for annual growth in millionaires…. Despite this, Texas is tied with Mississippi for the highest proportion of minimum wage jobs in the nation. In fact, one in five people working in Houston–cooks, cashiers, janitors, baggage porters and security guards–make less than $10 per hour.”

SOURCE Service Employees International Union