[1497] in peace2
JANITORS RISK ARREST: Tues, Feb 26 * 4:45pm * Harvard Sq
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (roona)
Mon Feb 25 17:36:39 2002
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 17:36:03 -0500 (EST)
From: roona <rray@fas.harvard.edu>
To: <peace-list@mit.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.33.0202251734470.27675-100000@is04.fas.harvard.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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hey mit
hope you can make it. janitor here at harvard are stepping it up and need
community to support them... roona :)
They have rallied. They have marched. On Tuesday janitors are
____ _________ __ __ _____ ________
/ __ \/ _/ ___// //_// _/ | / / ____/ 4:45 p.m.
/ /_/ // / \__ \/ ,< / // |/ / / __ harvard sq
/ _, _// / ___/ / /| |_/ // /| / /_/ / february 26
/_/ |_/___//____/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/\____/ this tuesday
___ ____ ____ _________________
this tueaday / | / __ \/ __ \/ ____/ ___/_ __/
february 26 / /| | / /_/ / /_/ / __/ \__ \ / /
harvard sq / ___ |/ _, _/ _, _/ /___ ___/ // /
4:45 p.m. /_/ |_/_/ |_/_/ |_/_____//____//_/
to protest Harvard's refusal to negotiate a fair contract.
Last month, Harvard President Lawrence Summers promised to usher in a
new era of labor policies. But now in contract negotiations Harvard is
offering wages that won't support a family and health insurance that
workers can't afford.
.---------------------------------------------------------------.
| SUPPORT HARVARD JANITORS AS THEY ENGAGE IN CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE |
`---------------------------------------------------------------'
THIS TUESDAY * FEBRUARY 26 * 4:45PM * HARVARD SQUARE * BE THERE!
==========================================================================
WHY ONE JANITOR WILL PARTICIPATE IN CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ON TUESDAY
It's been since 1992 that many janitors at Harvard have seen a raise. I
was making more as a janitor ten years ago than I am now. That's a
disgrace. Despite all the attention created by the Living Wage Campaign,
Harvard management still thinks they can get away with offering us a few
cents at the bargaining table.
I clean up after the world famous Harvard economics department. I think of
the civil disobedience action I'm participating in this Tuesday as a type
of economics lesson that I can teach to the higher ups at Harvard. It's a
lesson that Harvard doesn't like to teach in classrooms. For me, it's
about what happens when a group of people is treated like 3rd class
citizens by management. Civil disobedience is a way of telling the big
shots at Harvard, including the alumni, that playing with peoples' lives
isn't something Harvard managers are going to get away with anymore. We're
fighting back this time.
I know from sitting at the bargaining table that Harvard still wants to
pretend that janitors don't really exist, that they don't have real lives.
They don't really give a damn.
Harvard stonewalls you until you take action that makes people take
notice. Then they start saying the right things when wealthy alumni start
calling. At the end, you win something. What we're going to do on Tuesday
will make people think about our problems and that's why I'm taking part.
I have a professor friend in the building who knows a lot about economics.
What I don't think she knows about is keeping track of every penny so you
can put food on the table. That's what I did when I was ten years old and
that's what I'm doing now.
Janitors can't win this fight alone. We're asking for your support on
Tuesday and all the way until our contract is signed.
- Frank Morley, Harvard custodian
====================== D I D Y O U K N O W ? =======================
o After four sessions of bargaining, Harvard has offered a wage increase
of only 1 dollar an hour for janitors, and have offered nothing in
terms of affordable health insurance.
o Harvard negotiators have spent more than 40 hours of bargaining time
lecturing workers about how great Harvard is and how its offer is so
good that the "only thing left for [Harvard] to do is bend over."
o Janitors have asked Harvard to pay wages comparable to those paid by
other Boston area universities with much smaller endowments: BU pays
at least $14.50, MIT pays at least $15.49, and Wellesley pays over
$15.26. Workers at Harvard typically earn $9.75.
o Although Harvard has quadrupled its endowment and increased tuition
by more than 50% since 1992, the University has cut janitors' real
starting wages by more than 30% over this period.
o The money Harvard saves by paying substandard wages and benefits
amounts to less than 0.25% of annual University expenses.
=========================================================================
www.livingwagenow.org * www.livingwagenow.org * www.livingwagenow.org
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