Issue and Opponent: The Service Employees International Union under the movement name, “Justice for Janitors,” targeted the United States Government.
Dilemma Action: Few sources discuss the specifics of this Dilemma Action. Justice for Janitors held a strike on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge. Strikers blocked all lanes on the bridge affecting at least 100,000 commuters and bystanders. There, they set up a classroom with desks, and blackboards, and blocked off the highway with school buses. This presented their employers with a dilemma action (either ignore the janitor’s union and continue not giving them fair wages and working conditions or listen to the unions and provide the janitors with better wages).
Outcome: As a result, the US Congress’ Committee on Government Reform and Oversight held a meeting on Friday, October 6th, 1995 to discuss the events on the day of the strike. During the meeting, many Congressmen expressed this displeasure to the protesters. They said, “The people who planned and participated in these events did much more than interrupt the orderly flow of traffic in and out of our Nation’s Capital; they placed at risk the safety and security of hundreds of thousands of people.”