All workers in educational institutions.
Submitted on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 4:06am
New York, NY After walking at the Pace University undergraduate commencement on May 23rd, Lauren Giaccone and John Cronan have been notified by the Pace Administration that their degrees will be withheld pending the resolution of charges stemming from a November 2006 campus protest. The peaceful protest, calling for the resignation of embattled President David Caputo, was broken up by police who were called to campus by Pace administrators citing a permit requirement for student gatherings. President Caputo has since resigned under a hail of criticism.
Pace University Withholding Two Student Degrees Over Free Speech Fight
Outgoing President Caputo's Tenure Stormy Until the End
Submitted on Thu, 05/03/2007 - 3:02am
By Tristan Bunner, Bay Area IWW
(Tristan is an IWW member, a Cal student and a worker at Foothill Dining Commons. He is a founding member of Student Worker Action Group.)
At the University of California, Berkeley, student workers are fighting for equal pay. Cal students who work for the school's dining facilities, run by Cal Dining, get paid over $2/hr less than their coworkers who do the same work. The starting wage for Cal students under the classification "Student Food Service Worker" is $9.11/ hr, while the starting wage for "Food Service Workers", including high school and community college students working part time, is $11.25/hr, and another raise may be coming soon.
The difference began in August 2006, when a new union contract raised the wage of full time workers from $9.11/hr to the new rate. This raise was then applied to unrepresented part-time workers, but not to Cal students. When Cal student workers found out about the pay difference they got together and began to organize. In December 2006 they formed the Student Worker Action Group (SWAG), and began their fight for equal pay.
Submitted on Thu, 05/03/2007 - 2:55am
By Jose San Mateo - City on a Hill Press, May 2, 2007While thousands of students and Santa Cruz residents rallied for immigrant rights on May Day--marching from the quarry plaza all the way to the beach flats--this group raised glasses of dark lager at The Poet and the Patriot before unfurling their red and black (Industrial) Workers of the World (IWW) banner and setting out for their own march down Pacific Avenue to the Veterans Hall for the sixth annual Reel Works Film Festival.
Paul Ortiz, a Community Studies Professor at UCSC, an organizer for the event since its inception in 2001. He said that the goal of the event was to give workers a voice.
“In our schools and within the community, we are taught a vision of society where workers pay more and get paid less,” Ortiz said. “We believe that people have the capability to have a voice at the table.”
Submitted on Sat, 03/31/2007 - 3:03pm
Dear friends and fellow workers,
We recently have been informed that a fellow worker of ours from the cafeteria in the basement of the business school, James Kirk, has sadly passed away Friday afternoon. Aswould be expected, a lot of the workers are absolutely shocked at the news of his passing. We took it upon ourselves to inform you all about the news, as I know that most of us (at least laptop support) go down on our 15 minute breaks to get a bite to eat, some snacks, or even a hot meal from the kitchen. But it's not just the workers who get their food prepared by these workers every day, it's students as well.
We are planning to host a candle lit vigil on the M in the diag (in front of the Grad Library and shapiro) and have a moment of silence for James sometime this week which would include all of the Ross Business school employees and also the students organizing in the temps campaign to show appreciation for his work here at the University. This is an issue near and dear to us, not only because James was a fellow worker, but because James might have been able to receive a proper diagnosis and treatment for his condition had he been given access to UHS; a struggle closely tied to the temps campaign.
If you are interested in attending or have any other ideas of ways to have a remembrance for our fellow worker and friend go ahead and let us know. You can call an IWW organizer at (734) 272-2321.
This is a very sad time for all of us, so I believe staying together and staying strong is a rather important for us at this time. We will keep everyone posted.
Rest In Peace
The Temps
Submitted on Wed, 03/14/2007 - 2:40pm
Originally posted from the Michigan Temp Workers blog.
The temps at the business school just want to give an update to the community on what's happening so far. We've received phone-ins and email support from the Ann Arbor community, around the country, and around the globe. We've had students come forth and assist with signature collection and engage fellow students on campus about the organizing drive. We've had other workers and other unions lend their thanks and support as well. You're feedback has been essential to keeping this organizing campaign all together. Without you, it wouldn't have been possible. Pat yourselves on the back.
And now for a quick update. We've been running back and forth and emailing management for the last two days trying to bring them to the negotiating table to discuss the issues we raised on Monday. Communication from management has been sporadic. We are under the assumption right now that the Business School wants to frame this as an HR (The Business School's Human Relations department) issue and try to avoid management having to deal with the very policies they have a hand in implementing. We are fully aware that administrators within the business school have the capacity to make the changes we are asking them to make. We just have to convince management of their own capacity to enact them.
So, once again, at this point in the campaign we're trying to put management to task and meet up with us to discuss implementing the issues we've raised. Management seems hesitant to act without HR's approval. That's where we are at as we lead into Wednesday.
We will be sending a few organizers to speak on the 15th at the Campus Unite! rally on the diag. We've got a 5 minute spot and we will engage everyone there on the campaign and give a quick update. Campus groups are calling for the rally to occur at the cube at 2:30PM on the 15th. Look for us there.
The Temps