Tuesday, June 23, 2009

RALLY TO FIGHT BACK!

RALLY!!

Thursday, June 25
Noon
John Harvard Statue, in front of University Hall
Harvard Yard


Today was the worst day I've experienced in my 21 years at Harvard. Clerical workers who keep in touch on an email list reported more layoffs every few minutes. Our union brothers and sisters, non-union workers who we've known for years, & many others are facing the unemployment line. It's so unfair that an employer like Harvard, with an endowment still larger than the GDP of many countries, is subjecting hundreds of workers who have provided faithful service to economic insecurity, possible homelessness, etc. As a major landlord, Harvard benefits from the high rents in this area, rents that workers will not be able to pay when their unemployment runs out. Harvard gets so many special deals! They don't have to pay taxes like other businesses. They lay off hundreds of workers in the dining halls every summer, who aren't even eligible for unemployment benefits. The reason for this is that Harvard and other schools got an exemption from the government so that these workers can't collect unemployment. Harvard never suffered any consequences from their covert buying-up of Allston; they've let properties sit empty and depreciate. Rats are overrunning the neighborhood because Harvard's huge construction projects, giant holes in the ground, aren't being completed. Students will no longer get hot breakfasts in a lot of locations because Harvard doesn't want to pay cooks to fry the eggs. There was even a proposal to cut shuttle-bus services that keep the students safe--right around the time someone was shot dead in a dorm! And now, as a further body blow to the community, 275 clerical and administrative workers are to be laid off, with a further 40 to suffer cuts in hours or the "seasonal" status that the dining hall workers have--summers off with no pay and no unemployment benefits. Harvard may not realize it but they are going to reap a bitter harvest from all this. It's becoming crystal-clear to students, workers and community members that Harvard only cares about its narrow institutional objectives, to the total exclusion of any concern for the community. I believe a powerful coalition is possible, which will rock Harvard's house big-time! Let's begin the fightback:

RALLY!!

Thursday, June 25
Noon
John Harvard Statue, in front of University Hall
Harvard Yard

3 comments:

  1. Chop from the Top!

    I work at the University of Minnesota, which has also announced that they will be laying off hundreds of workers. Our union (AFSCME 3800 - clerical workers who have been on strike twice since 2003) is also organizing a no-layoff campaign. Our message is simple - chop from the top! Cut bloated senior administrative positions and cut the salaries of top administrators, not frontline staff positions. This University works because we do!

    in solidarity,
    Cherrene Horazuk
    Chief Steward, AFSCME 3800
    University of Minnesota

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unfortunately, our union leadership is facilitating layoffs for management. The Reform HUCTW group, who do not currently occupy elected union leadership position, is organizing actions and rallies for the no-layoff campaign.

    Desiree Goodwin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Desiree,

    The lay offs have happened, where I worked, they got rid of five great and hard workers, four are over 50 and one over 40. Will the criteria used be investigated at some point by the union? At HLSAC, per say, they got rid of one manager that I know who's worked there for twenty-five years and was very close to retirement because she said NO to RACISM as well as the politics played in that office. This must be investigated and Drew Faust must be made aware of what perspired. It is not FAIR.

    Sincerely

    ReplyDelete

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