[789] in peace2
HARVARD LIVING WAGE UPDATE
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (harvard living wage campaign)
Sun May 13 12:24:13 2001
From: "harvard living wage campaign" <harvard_livingwagecampaign@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 16:22:31 -0000
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Message-ID: <F473E1ioWwr2UAaTzvb0000556a@hotmail.com>
Living Wage Update
May 12, 2001
http://www.livingwagenow.com
1. Listserves to subscribe to
2. How to help students who sat in recieve amnesty
3. Vigil tonight, 8PM, Mass Hall
4. Statement on the Conclusion of the Sit-In
1. This is the very last message going out to this list. If you would like
to subscribe to a permanent listserve, read the following options:
* low volume permanent listserve of the Harvard Progressive Student Labor
Movement, with about the Living Wage Campaign and Harvard Students Against
Sweatshops, e-mail:
HarvardPSLM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* Living Wage Announcements: harvardlivingwage-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* Higher volume organizing list for all who are active in the campaign:
livingwageplanning-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
If you are active in the campaign or would like to be, you should be
subscribed to all of the above lists. For further information, please
contact pslm@hcs.harvard.edu.
2. The Harvard Administrative Board will meet on Tuesday to decide on
punishment for the students who participated in the sit in. If you are a
Harvard Student or tutor, please write your House Senior Tutor to support
amnesty or symbolic punishment, such as a letter of admonisment, for these
students.
3. Come to remember and reflect on the actions of the last 3 weeks
Come to pledge your support for all the work that is left to be done
__ __ ___
/\ \/\ \ __ __ /\_ \
\ \ \ \ \/\_\ __ /\_\\//\ \ Massachusetts Hall
\ \ \ \ \/\ \ /'_ `\/\ \ \ \ \ Sunday at 8:00 pm
\ \ \_/ \ \ \/\ \L\ \ \ \ \_\ \_ Scroll down for
\ `\___/\ \_\ \____ \ \_\/\____\ more information..
`\/__/ \/_/\/___L\ \/_/\/____/
/\____/
\_/__/
4. What We've Won
The Living Wage Campaign ended our sit-in this Tuesday with a remarkable
victory. After 21 days of action by students, workers, unions, faculty,
alumni/ae, parents, community groups, and political figures, the Harvard
administration was forced to make several immediate concessions, and to
institute a process that, properly carried out, should bring a living wage
policy to our entire university within a year. This outcome is nothing
short of amazing when one considers that a month ago, Harvard administrators
promised us that a living wage would never even be considered again at
Harvard. The concessions they made on Tuesday are testaments to the
extraordinary power of our community's collective action.
The specific victories that we won on Tuesday are as follows:
o The university will create a committee composed of workers, faculty,
students, and administrators. The committee is charged with improving the
lives of Harvard's lowest-paid workers by examining precisely the issues
raised by the Living Wage Campaign: the creation of a wage floor, guidelines
for subcontracting, and the availability of benefits. Unlike the Mills
committee which Rudenstine appointed in 1999, the new committee is required
to collect information from all members of our community, including service
workers, and it requires investigation into the cost of living in the Boston
area. Moreover, the presence of three workers on the committee, selected by
their unions, as well as students, makes this a committee unlike any
previously seen at Harvard. The committee must submit its findings and
proposals by December 2001.
o Until the committee submits its findings, the university will place a
moratorium on subcontracting for all security guard, dining service, and
janitorial jobs. The existence of this moratorium assumes the subsequent
adoption of progressive restrictions on subcontracting.
o As soon as the committee releases its recommendations, the university will
reopen its contract with SEIU 254, the union that represents both
directly-hired and subcontracted janitors at Harvard. The wage increases
that result will be retroactive to May 1, 2001.
o Harvard's dining hall workers won important concessions, including an
assurance that their contract negotiations, which conclude in June, will be
satisfactory to workers and the union. This clause all but guarantees
dining hall workers a living wage in their contract.
o Harvard has agreed to improve implementation of the Mills committee's
report. Improved implementation should extend health benefits and ESL
classes to hundreds of Harvard workers.
These victories were supplemented by several others along the way:
o Roughly a week into the sit-in, Harvard agreed not to reclassify 100
dining workers at the Business School. For months, these workers had been
slated for reclassification, which would have cut their wages and benefits
below the living wage standard without altering their duties.
o During the course of the sit-in, supporters donated $10,000 to the
Harvard Workers' Center. The Workers' Center is an organizing center and
legal resource for campus workers begun this year by students at the Law
School.
o The unified commitment of our community emerged as one of the greatest
victories of the sit-in. During the last three weeks, the coalition built
through two-and-a-half years of organizing came together with extraordinary
power and focus. We received support from every campus union, more than 400
faculty members, hundreds of national unions and community organizations,
every House Master, the AFL-CIO, graduate students at every school, four
U.S. Senators, the Boston and Cambridge City Councils, and individuals from
Robert Reich to Noam Chomsky. The commitment of this coalition is the
greatest assurance we have that the promises the university made on Tuesday
will come to fruition.
The victories brought by the sit-in promise to improve the lives of hundreds
of Harvard workers, and to permanently shift the administration's
assumptions about university decision-making. These gains-especially when
extracted from a $19 billion corporation-are truly cause for celebration.
Throughout the sit-in, we were overwhelmed by the support and commitment of
our entire community, and today, we could not be more proud of what we have
won together.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Our task today, and for the next year, is to see that the initial victory we
won this spring becomes the full victory we have sought for nearly three
years: a living wage with benefits for all Harvard workers. We need to
ensure that our student representatives on the committee have strong
relationships with workers and will firmly advocate a living wage. And once
the committee is formed, we must continue to work as a coalition-students,
workers, unions, faculty, and community-to see that its research is
comprehensive, and that its recommendations reflect the consensus of our
community that every worker at Harvard needs and deserves a living wage with
benefits.
Organizing for these goals is beginning now. Please join us at the
following events to learn more and get involved. For more information,
contact us at <pslm@hcs.harvard.edu>.
Vigil and Open Discussion
Sunday o May 13 o 8 p.m. o Mass Hall, Harvard Yard
Living Wage Campaign Meeting
Wednesday o May 16 o 7 p.m. o Phillips Brooks House, Harvard Yard
Thanks for your support!
The Harvard Living Wage Campaign
www.livingwagenow.com
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
