The past two months have been unprecedented, filled with victories and actions that have proven to be successful in bringing real change to our communities.
The first victory for working class people was the passage of the Student Aid reform. This bill will take away subsidies given to loan companies and invest them into programs such as the Pell grant and community colleges. “Students across the country were able to see their amazing direct-action organizing payoff with comprehensive student aid reform becoming the law of the land,” said USSA President Gregory Cendana. “This is especially critical for working class students and families who have struggled the most in affording their education.”
The second victory was the agreement reached between for the Coalition of Immokalee workers, the Student Farmworker Alliance, and giant food service provider Aramark. Marc Rodriguez of the Student Farmworker Alliance said:
Aramark becomes the 8th major food corporation to agree to work with the CIW to improve wages and root out modern-day slavery in its tomato supply chain. This is a huge step forward for our campaign, because it means that the CIW now basically has the top players in both the fast food and food service industries on board, and because this is a victory that again proves the effectiveness and clout of the alliance between Florida’s farmworkers and students and youth throughout the U.S. Aramark didn’t just wake up one day in a benevolent mood — this agreement comes in the wake of several successful campus campaigns resulting in Student Senate resolutions calling on Aramark to work with the CIW everywhere from the University of Florida to Florida Gulf Coast, from Chicago to Houston. Victory by victory, we’re carving out a new world of fair wages, human rights, and dignity from the shameful history of exploitation in Florida’s fields. And with each new victory, the justifications on the part of corporations like Sodexo and Publix to not work with the CIW ring ever more hollow.
All these victories opened the National Student Labor Week of Action that occurred from March 28th to April 4th. During this week, students and workers from across the country came together to take actions on several issues such as the Dream Act, fair contracts for campus employees, and sustainability on campus and living wages for all.
Examples of actions that took place during the National Student Labor Week of Action:
- Students at Temple University held a silent march signifying the silencing of the voices of workers and students by the administration in regards with the current fight for a fair contract with the nurses at this university’s hospital.
- Students at Miami University held a panel connecting the issues of environmental sustainability with the need for a sustainable workforce through living wages and benefits for campus employees.
- At Rollins College, students held a whole week where they focused each day on a “ism”. From classism to ableism, SLAP held events such as a panel about living wages on campus and other activities where they tackled solutions to these problems facing their community
The national student labor week of action prove once again to be a time to commemorate our labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King through the creation of change by direct action and solidarity between students and workers across the country.
Check out some media from the National Student Labor Week of Action:
[...] 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment from Jobs with Justice blog: By Maria Escobar, on April 26th, [...]