Chip Galagaza Quoted in The Houston Chronicle

Chip Galagaza is quoted in the August 13, 2005 issue of The Houston Chronicle in the article "Union begins sign-ups: Members sought after deal with janitorial services" which reports that now that it doesn't need to conduct an election to unionize the city's janitors, the Service Employees International Union will quickly turn its attention to signing up new members[ in Houston]. Under the terms of the agreement negotiated earlier this month, the SEIU can win the right to represent the janitors in collective bargaining if a majority of them simply sign cards indicating their interest in joining the union. Unions typically are more successful with a card campaign than with an election, said Chip Galagaza, a labor and employment lawyer with Seyfarth Shaw in Houston. It's also faster and easier to build membership. He said most unions will conduct an election ending in a secret ballot if they don't already have a majority of the workers signed up. But when a neutrality agreement is in place, employees probably feel there's not much of a risk in signing.

SEIU said Friday that thousands of janitors in Houston have signed cards saying they support the union, but an exact count was not available.