The San Francisco Chronicle, MARCH 27, 1996, WEDNESDAY, FINAL EDITION
Census Shows a Turning Point -- Hispanics Increasing the Fastest
Ramon G. McLeod, Chronicle Staff Writer
The number of Hispanics being added to the U.S. population now exceeds that
of non-Hispanic whites -- the first time whites have trailed another group
since at least the 18th century.
The historic turning point happened in the 1993-'94 fiscal year, when the
Hispanic population increased by 902,000 and the non-Hispanic white
population increased by 883,000, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report
being issued today.
The pattern was repeated in 1994-'95 and is expected to continue well into
the 21st century, when the nation's non-Hispanic white population will be
less than half the population, given current immigration and birthrate
projections.
''We are locked in the largest demographic change in U.S. history,'' said
Charles Kamsaki, a vice president at the National Council of La Raza, a
Latino public policy research organization in Washington, D.C. ''Nothing is
going to change that, and we ought to begin to have some rational debate
about what we need to do as a nation to deal with these changes.''
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New York Times, April 9, 2000
Janitors March in Los Angeles After Voting to Begin a Strike
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
LOS ANGELES, April 8 -- In the 15 years Maria Santania has worked as a
janitor here, her pay has increased $2 an hour, to $6.50. To earn it, she
vacuums, dusts and scrubs two floors of an office building on South Hope
Street in downtown Los Angeles -- 100 law offices and consulates filled
with thick carpeting and cherry wood desks that she is regularly warned not
to damage.
At night Ms. Santania, who came to the United States from El Salvador 18
years ago, goes home to a one-bedroom apartment in the Koreatown section of
mid-Los Angeles that she shares with her two children; she separated from
her husband six years ago. The rent, $550, amounts to more than two weeks
of her salary before taxes. So on Friday, she joined thousands of striking
janitors -- police and union officials estimated a crowd of 3,000 --
marching 10 miles down Wilshire Boulevard in search of a larger pay increase.
Multiyear janitorial contracts are lapsing in several major American cities
this year, including San Francisco, San Jose and Chicago, but Los Angeles's
was the first to expire with no agreement in sight.
The strike came after janitors voted to reject a pay plan put forward by a
group of building maintenance companies that would have offered a 50-cent
raise the first year and 40-cent raises the next two years. The workers are
seeking a $3 increase in their hourly pay over the next three years.
"I don't like to be here," Ms. Santania said. "I'd like to be working. But
I can't accept 50 cents."
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and other civil rights leaders and political
figures led marchers on Thursday and Friday. And leaders of the union, the
Service Employees International Union, which represents about 8,500
janitors in Los Angeles, said workers would not go back until they got a
better offer.
"There needs to be a dramatic increase in order for them to move above the
federal poverty line," about $15,000 annually for a family of four, said
Blanca Gallegos, a union leader. "They're not going back until the
contractors come back with an offer they can accept, that would be a
livable wage."
Full article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/janitors-protest.html
Louis Proyect
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