a change of focus

Dear readers of picketline,

This blog was born as a response to the spring 2006 strike of the groundskeepers and janitors of the University of Miami. This strike, which ended successfully and earned the UM janitors the right to unionize, better wages, health insurance, seniority, more holidays, and other basic workers and human rights, is amply covered in earlier posts on this blog. We will not delete these posts. They contain the history of an important time in our lives and a series of valuable documents that might come useful for future fights in similar areas. Please read through our archives and share the joy! Indeed, se puede!

Now the focus of picketline turns to the sorry situation at Nova Southeastern University. As I write, more than 100 workers are out of a job as a consequence of joining a union. This is a crying shame and a blight on South Florida's record in the areas of workers' justice and human rights. These people fought long and hard only to see themselves turned away at the gate when they showed up for work. These are men and women with families. Some of them are not young. Some of them have worked at Nova for decades. Please see Ana Mendendez's column from March 4 Miami Herald below, and keep tuned. We need to win this fight: for the workers, for justice in the America workplace, for the health of our community, for ourselves.