High and fast water rising in Bayou River with downtown Houston in background under cloud blue sky. Heavy rains from Harvey Tropical Hurricane storm caused many flooded areas in greater Houston area.

The janitors that work at Houston’s George R. Brown (GRB) Convention Center will receive up to two paid days in case of a natural disaster, according to an article from Houston Public Media. The workers will get the paid days if a natural disaster occurs and they can’t get to their workplace.

Their new contract also includes a series of pay increases that will have them earning a minimum wage of $12 per hour by the year 2021.

The Texas chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released an announcement when the workers recently ratified the collective bargaining agreement. Roughly 100 workers, many of them immigrants, will benefit from the new contract, which will be valid until March 1, 2021.

The workers are hired by Midwest Maintenance, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a contract with Houston First, a corporation the City of Houston created in 2011 to manage several city venues, including the GRB, Jones Hall, the Miller Outdoor Theater and the Wortham Theater Center, among others.

The majority of workers covered by the new contract are custodians, but it also covers custodial supervisors, floor technicians, floor supervisors, customer service representatives and porters.

The pay increase will be from the current minimum wage of $9.35.

The new contract also includes a reduction in the monthly out-of-pocket healthcare premium contribution for the workers, which will drop from $111 to $67.

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