picketline

Story from today's Herald on the contract.

2010-09-01T08:07:00.002-05:00

University of Miami janitors avoid a strike

The University of Miami's janitors threatened to strike again, but agreed to a new contract at the last minute.

University of Miami janitors are demanding a cost-of-living pay increase or they will strike. Here, Hector Riera cleans glass doors on campus on Tuesday, August 31, 2010.

AL DIAZ / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ

mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com

Averting another strike at the last minute, janitors and landscapers at the University of Miami struck a new labor contract Tuesday night that provides for cost-of-living increases while improving employee benefits such as sick days and vacation time.

At around 9 p.m. Tuesday, the eve of a potential janitor's strike, the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, agreed to terms with university contractor UGL Unicco Services.

The tentative three-year agreement, which still must be ratified by the workers themselves, provides a 7.5 percent wage increase over the next three years to UM's nearly 400 janitors and landscapers. The deal also improves benefits, including sick days and holidays, and increases employer contributions to the healthcare fund up to 23 percent.

For UM President Donna Shalala and other school administrators, the agreement also neutralizes an issue that has proven quite controversial in the past. In 2006, prior to forming a union, UM's cleanup workers created a national media storm by protesting their low wages and lack of health insurance through a months-long labor strike that also grew to include hunger strikes.

Earlier this week, as the expiration of the janitors' current contract grew closer, it appeared another clash over wages was imminent. On Monday, dozens of UM students and faculty participated in a rally in support of the janitors, concluding with a letter being delivered to Shalala's office.

``Students are really responsive because they have heard about this issue before,'' said UM senior Stephanie Sandhu, who participated in the rally.

Shalala played a crucial role in securing higher wages and health insurance for the workers in 2006, although for five straight years before that, she took a more hands-off approach. UM has long prided itself on the cleanliness and beauty of its lushly-landscaped Coral Gables campus.

DISPARITIES

Technically speaking, the janitors don't work for UM, they work for Unicco -- a murky arrangement that leads to disparities such as janitors earning less vacation time than is given to actual UM employees. Janitors earn two weeks of paid vacation after five years' employment, for example, while UM employees only have to put in two years to receive that perk.

As part of their demands, the janitors sought the same vacation schedule as official UM employees. They didn't achieve that, but they did make substantial gains -- qualifying for three weeks vacation after eight years instead of 10, and gaining Martin Luther King Jr. day as an additional paid holiday. Personal days were increased from three to four.

One thing workers asked for and didn't get: a 30-minute break when working outside in temperatures above 100 degrees.

Though UM doesn't directly pay its janitors, pressure from the university can significantly affect Unicco's posture in negotiating with its workers.

Publicly at least, Shalala showed no interest in wading into the thorny issue for a second time. The letter delivered to her office this week asked for a presidential statement in support of the janitors' cause, but no such statement has been made. Nor did Shalala respond to a Miami Herald request for comment relayed through a university spokeswoman.

NATIONAL FIGURE

The janitors' strike four years ago sparked a torrent of negative media coverage for UM, as media outlets across the country were drawn to the issue -- in part because Shalala, a former U.S. secretary of health and human services, is a national figure.

Though Shalala was repeatedly blamed for not doing more -- sooner -- to help the janitors, union organizers were also faulted during the months-long standoff.

The union praised this latest agreement as ``an important victory for our members and for all the working families of Miami.''

Contract agreed on - strike averted!

2010-08-31T21:30:00.002-05:00

Great news! The UM janitors and groundskeepers have agreed on a contract with UNICCO. No strike. Here's the press release from SEIU:

CLEANERS AND LANDSCAPERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI REACH NEW CONTRACT WITH WAGE HIKES AND IMPROVED BENEFITS

– New Contract Averts Strike at UM Campus and Hospital –

Coral Gables, FL—Nearly 400 cleaners and landscapers at the University of Miami reached a tentative three-year agreement this evening that provides 7.5% in wage increases over the next three years, maintains employer-paid health care coverage and improves sick days and vacation time.

“In a tough economic environment the workers who keep UM clean and beautiful are moving closer to the middle class, securing benefits and gaining wage increases that will help our community prosper,” said Eric Brakken, Director of 32BJ SEIU Florida. “The contract is an important victory for our members and for all the working families of Miami.”

The three-year agreement between 32BJ and UNICCO improves benefits, including sick days, holidays and increases employer contributions to the health care fund up to 23%.

“I am happy for this agreement,” said Clara Vargas, who has been working at UM for more than 8 years. “Now I can continue helping my son finish his studies and put food on the table.”

The deal was reached at 9:00 PM between the Boston based contractor UNICCO and 32BJ SEIU and will be presented to the workers for ratification.

Cleaners and landscapers gained wage increases and improved benefits in their second union contract, the first one was ratified in the spring of 2006 after a nine-week strike because of unfair labor practices, substandard pay, lack of health benefits and workplace safety issues. The strike ended with recognition of the workers’ union, which ultimately led to a union contract that increased wages and provided health care and other benefits.

With more than 120,000 members, including cleaners, landscapers, security officers and laundry workers in South Florida, 32BJ is the largest property service workers union in the country.

UM students rally as janitors prepare to strike over wages

2010-08-31T18:16:00.002-05:00

From the New Times, by Tom Elfrink:

Four years ago, the 400 janitors who keep the University of Miami's campus clean went on a lengthy hunger strike and inspired two months of student protests in a fierce battle to earn a fair living wage. Looks like round two might be right around the corner.

The janitors are poised to strike again unless a last-minute deal is struck tomorrow over a cost-of-living increase. Meanwhile, dozens of students and faculty are protesting in support outside the student center this afternoon. "We just want a better life for our families," Maria Isabel Angel, a 57-year-old cleaner, tells Riptide.

In 2006, the janitors voted to join the Service Employees International Union and then went on strike when Unicco -- the contractor employed by the university -- refused to meet their demands for a wage increase and health benefits.

Everyone from pre-scandalicious John Edwards to national Teamsters presidents came to UM to support the janitors, who eventually won 25 percent raises and benefits and were allowed to elect their own union reps.

That contract expires tomorrow, and Unicco and the janitors are again at odds.

Eugenio Villasante, a spokesman for SEIU, declined to discuss the exact terms the cleaners are seeking. But he says Miami has seen an 8.2 percent cost-of-living increase since the last contract was negotiated and that workers expect their health benefits to continue.

The university declined to discuss the ongoing negotiations, releasing instead a brief statement: "The University of Miami is aware that contract negotiations have begun between UNICCO and SEIU. The University has every confidence that the parties involved will reach a successful resolution."

Angel, who cleans the eighth floor of a medical research center, says she's supporting an unemployed husband and helping her son pay for college. She earns $9.05 an hour and says she can't keep up with her bills.

"We're trying to get this increase because the cost of living is very expensive in Miami," she says. "We'd like to have a better salary for a better life."

A group of students and faculty planned to gather at lunchtime today to support the janitors and then deliver a letter to Donna Shalala, the university president, says Stephanie Sandhu, one of the student organizers. "As inflation goes up, you have to have an increase or you'll be left at a poverty level," she says.

The two sides will meet again tomorrow morning, Villasante says. If no one budges, the strike could begin soon thereafter.

Yesterday's rally: smile, you're on TV

2010-08-31T15:25:00.005-05:00

Story with short TV clip on yesterday's rally at the Rock.

Text of letter to President Shalala signed by students and faculty

2010-08-31T13:37:00.003-05:00

August 30^th, 2010

President Donna Shalala:

We really appreciate your leadership moving the University of Miami forwards to becoming an “Ivy of the South”. As students, we have really enjoyed our university experience, and we are especially proud of your decisions to support the janitors and landscapers who maintain our campus. As students embarking to make a positive impact, we recognize our own histories of working class citizens in the United States. We would like to continue to provide the same opportunities to the workers of today that our own ancestors strove for when they entered the country: to have a living wage above the poverty line. We know you agree that citizens who are able to manage his or her basic necessities can focus on other important endeavors: preparing for times of crisis, spending time with family, and accumulating personal and financial resources to provide for the education of further generations. It is this window of opportunity that we wish to keep open, the same window that our forefathers (and mothers!) diligently strove to climb through.

The UM Janitor and Landscaping worker’s current contract with UNICCO will expire on August 31st, 2010 and we as students are concerned. The initial contract proposal put forth by UNICCO completely ignores the basic requests of these hardworking employees and does not account for the increasing cost of living in Miami. We appreciate the efforts UNICCO workers put into maintaining our beautiful campus all year long and we firmly support the workers as they attempt to negotiate a fair contract. Considering you have a strong history of supporting the students and employees of the University of Miami, we expect you do as well. We are asking you to please publicly and vocally support the worker’s basic requests. Not only would the workers and students greatly appreciate your support, but you influence would have a tremendous impact. We thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely,

University of Miami Students and Faculty

Report on today's rally

2010-08-30T18:47:00.021-05:00

Today, Monday August 30th, S.T.A.N.D. (Students Towards a New Democracy) organized a rally on the UM campus in support of janitors and groundskeepers whose contract expires tomorrow. Currently, the workers' attempts to get a small raise, not to fall below the poverty line, and to achieve a few safety measures, are being rebuffed by UNICCO, the subcontractor who employs them.

The rally, attended by about a hundred students, workers and faculty, began at noon today and included impassioned speeches from a number of workers about their desire for a living wage and safe working conditions.

Then, a large delegation of students, workers and faculty went to deliver a letter to President Shalala, asking for her help on behalf of the workers.

We found access to the Ashe building being controlled by police!

At first we were told that we would not be allowed in to deliver the letter. Finally, it was agreed that the students, but not the workers or faculty, could deliver the letter to President Shalala while the rest of us waited outside.

The letter was delivered, and the delegation returned to thunderous applause!

Rally for the UM workers on Monday August 30th

2010-08-26T19:35:00.003-05:00

A message from STAND (Students Towards a New Democracy):

History shows UM administrators will support the UM Janitor and Landscaping workers if the Students and Faculty speak up! -The last day of contract negotiations is this Tuesday, and the workers are planning to go on strike if their basic requests aren't met - Let's show enough campus support on Monday at 12pm (the Rock) for the workers so contract negotiations start going better! - Please tell your students and other faculty

Join University of Miami Janitor and Landscaping Workers for a Speak Out and Letter Delivery

We don’t want wages below the poverty line on our campus!

Monday, August 30th 12:00 am
The Rock (Across from UM's UC Bookstore)

We will speak out in appreciation of our Janitor and Landscaping Workers and hear from the workers firsthand why a good contract is so important for them to survive. The initially offered contract froze the pay/benefits of these hardworking employees when the cost of food, housing, and everyday items in Miami is up more than 9% since the last contract was negotiated. Use your UM Voice and hold our administration accountable! We will be delivering a Letter to Donna Shalala asking her to support the workers requests afterward. (Cost of Living Wage increase, safety regulations, the same vacation days as faculty/staff, Health benefits, Job Seniority) University of Miami students, faculty and workers fought hard to win the living wage four years ago, let’s make sure it is here to stay!

For more information contact: standuniversityofmiami@gmail.com

UM faculty member talks to a UM janitor

2010-08-26T19:29:00.001-05:00

(From Giovanna Pompele:)

UM janitor i am not familiar with sees me wearing SEIU purple bracelet and brightens up. in entirely ridiculous spanish i say, "i'm with you in this!" in perfect english, janitor replies, "thank you."

she comes to me looking crestfallen. she says, "they are taking away seniority. do you know what that means? that they can do anything they want with us. i've been working here for 23 years."

she says, "i'm sick and HIV positive, but they won't let me take sick leave even with a doctor's note. they force me to take family leave."

she says, "look at all these students. if they understood, if they spoke up, things would change very rapidly."

she says, "they always take money away from the most poor."

Update from SEIU on contract negotiations

2010-08-26T19:16:00.000-05:00

SEIU spokesperson informs that talks between the union and UNICCO over a new contract for UM janitors and groundskeepers are over for the week, but the parties are still far apart on wages and time off.

Workers will be leafleting at Stanford and US1 to let folks know that with living in Miami on a starting wage of $9.05 is becoming harder and harder.

Blocked ad

2010-08-22T12:52:00.003-05:00

Here is the text of an ad that was rejected (by the Board of Student Publications, not by the editorial staff of the Hurricane) for publication in the Hurricane, the student newspaper at UM:

We are nearly 400 cleaners and landscapers who keep the campus of UM clean and comfortable for students and faculty. We work hard every day but many of us can barely make it on $9.05 an hour.

We have been negotiating a new contract with the company UNICCO, but their wages freeze proposal is unacceptable. Food, rent, childcare… all are on the rise and our wages should rise too. Our proposal is fair and affordable and would help us to provide for our families.

We want to keep serving the campus but if left with no other option we may have to stop working as soon as September 1st. A strike would be hard for all, workers and students alike. We hope you understand if we have to stop working to protect our families and our future.

Proposals and counter-proposals

2010-08-21T20:50:00.002-05:00

Here is a summary of the proposals by the UM janitors and groundskeepers and the responses to them from UNICCO. Click on image to enlarge.

Today, at the Episcopal Church.....

2010-08-21T20:44:00.003-05:00

UM workers vote to authorize the bargaining committee to strike!

Deja Vu All Over Again: Four Years On.

2010-08-21T13:17:00.007-05:00

Four years ago, workers janitors and grounds-keepers at the University of Miami, employed by the subcontractor UNICCO, went on strike to be allowed to form a union. After a long hunger strike, and with the support of students, faculty, clergy and local politicians, UNICCO agreed to recognize their membership in the SEIU. A four-year contract, with a living wage and a number of improvements in working conditions, was negotiated.

That was four years ago. Now the contract is up for renegotiation. The bargaining team for the workers have made a number of proposals for the new contract which have been rejected out of hand by UNICCO. Among these proposals are: 1) a new four-year contract; 2) a very modest 75c per hour wage increase to help offset the 9% increase in the cost of living in the last four years; 3) improved safety for workers at night; and 4) mandated rest periods for grounds-keepers when the temperature is above 100F. A further post will reproduce a more extensive list of the proposals.

Today, at the Venerable Bede Episcopal Church, the workers rallied and voted to authorize the bargaining team to call for a strike if a new contract is not agreed on by September 1st.

The strike four years ago was a harrowing experience for all concerned: the workers, students, faculty, and administrators. It is our fervent hope that another strike will not be necessary. But we are reviving this blog to provide information of developments and support for the workers. Should a contract be renegotiated successfully in the next couple of weeks, we will gladly lapse into quiescence again.

Watch this space!

Si se puede!

Story of today's vote on CBS

2010-08-21T13:15:00.000-05:00

"Cleanup and landscape crews OK to strike" CBS 4 TV

SEIU Press Release concerning Contract Renegotiations at UM

2010-08-21T13:00:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, August 5, 2010

CLEANERS, LANDSCAPERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI REJECT PROPOSAL FOR NEW CONTRACT

– 4 Years Ago Workers Won First Union Contract after a 9-Week Strike –

Miami Beach, FL—Contract talks between the cleaners and groundskeepers at the University of Miami and the Boston based UNICCO remained far apart today as the cleaning contractor put forth unfair and unacceptable freezes on wages, health care, and other benefits that the nearly 400 workers and their families rely on to make ends meet.

“The cleaners and landscapers who keep the University of Miami clean cannot accept a wage freeze when the cost of living in Miami keeps going up,” said Eric Brakken, Florida Director of 32BJ. “We must make sure that working people can live in the city where they work.”

In the four years since the last contract, the consumer price index in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area jumped an 8.2 percent. The cost of housing, food and other everyday items is up more than 9 percent.

“We need these raises to be able to live in this expensive city,” says Guido Fluriel, a cleaner who works at the Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami. “Times are tough and the cost of living is still going up.”

The bargaining committee, represented by 32BJ SEIU, is looking for fair wage increases, maintained health care coverage and more paid sick days in the new contract. Under the current contract, the workers receive employer-paid health care, and the starting wages for cleaners are $9.05 an hour, but despite the increasing cost of living in Miami, UNICCO’s proposal offered an across the board wages and benefits freeze.

In the spring of 2006, cleaners at the University of Miami held a nine-week strike because of substandard pay, lack of health benefits and workplace safety issues. The strike ended with recognition of the workers’ union, which ultimately led to a union contract that increased wages and provided health care and other benefits.

With more than 120,000 members in eight states and Washington, D.C., including South Florida, 32BJ is the largest property services union in the country.

Press links concerning the UM janitors contract renogiation (2010)

2010-08-21T12:59:00.013-05:00

"UM janitors avoid a strike" Miami Herald 9/1/10

"Faculty, students rally for UM workers" WSVN TV 8/31/10

"UM students rally as janitors prepare to strike over wages" New Times 8/30/10

"S.T.A.N.D. and RAK speak out" Miami Hurricane 8/29/10

"UM workers reengage the struggle" Political Affairs 8/24/10

"Workers authorize strike against UNICCO" Miami Hurricane 8/23/10

"UM employees to negotiate contract" WSVN TV 8/23/10

"University of Miami cleaners, landscapers vote in favor of strike" Miami Herald 8/22/10

"University of Miami cleaners and landscapers will strike if demands aren't met" Examiner.com 8/22/10

"UM cleaners, landscapers authorize strike" Miami Herald 8/21/10

Miami Herald Announces the Rally of Aug 21st

2010-08-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

Here's a link the Miami Herald story in advance of today's rally.

Press links concerning the UM janitors strike (2006)

2010-04-01T04:11:00.004-05:00

"Shalala says UM will not demand union election" CBS 4 TV 4/23/06

"Janitors end hunger strike at UM - protest continues" CBS 4 TV 4/22/06

"SEIU president Andy Stern to join hunger strikers in Miami" Alternet 4/21/06

"Strike at U. Miami raises local concerns" The Dartmouth 4/21/06

"Surprise" Miami Sun Post 4/20/06

"Let workers decide" Sun Sentinel 4/19/06

"UM student hunger strike hits eighth day" CBS 4 TV 4/19/06

"Let poor workers unionize to attain American Dream" Miami Herald 4/18/06

"Anger Rises on Both Sides of Strike at UM" New York Times 4/18/06

"Union leader finds the spotlight" Miami Herald 4/16/06

"Hunger Strike at UM Enters Second Week" Coral Gables Gazette 4/15/06

"Ex-Aide to Clinton at Center of Labor Dispute" New York Sun 4/14/06

"Who's Really Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place" Yahoo 4/14/06

"Students join in UM workers' hunger strike" NBC6 4/12/06

"Two Workers Hospitalized During Hunger Strike at UM" NBC6 4/10/06

"UM janitors promise hunger strike" CBS 4 TV 4/4/06

"Protesters occupy UM building" Miami Sun Post 3/30/06

"Janitors, students force U of Miami to talk" People's Weekly World 3/30/06

"Striking UM janitors invisible no longer" Miami Herald 3/29/06

"Students End UM Sit-In Supporting Janitors' Strike" CBS 4 TV 3/29/06

"UM students state sit-in to support school's janitors" Miami Herald 3/28/06

"Miami students support striking janitors with university sit-in" AP 3/28/06

"Nova enters janitor pay controversy" Miami Herald 3/22/06

"UM janitors agreement sets positive precedent" CBS 4 TV 3/21/06

"Shalala took the first step; who will follow?" Miami Herald 3/18/06

"UM's low-wage workers to get pay raises, benefits" Orlando Sentinel 3/18/06

"UM: Janitors to receive pay raise" The South Florida Business Journal 3/17/06

"Striking workers at UM to get raise" Miami Herald 3/17/06

Interview on Democracy Now 3/16/06

"UM janitors on strike take message to Star Island" NBC 3/16/06

"Strike is ill-advised, disruptive, just plain wrong" Miami Herald 3/15/06

"Strike is about hope for healthcare and better pay" Miami Herald 3/15/06

"Union gives $500,000 to striking UM janitors" Miami Herald 3/13/06

"UM considers meeting over janitors strike" Miami Herald 3/11/06

"Healthcare concerns need new focus: UM" Miami Herald 3/11/06

"Shalala to push for Haiti's health" Miami Herald 3/11/06

"Union delays expanding UM strike to Miami International Airport" Miami Herald 3/9/06

"Workers Protest at Univ. of Miami" The Harvard Crimson 3/8/06

"Priest Offers to Mediate UM Strike" Miami Herald 3/6/06

"UM Students/ Faculty March with Striking UNICCO Workers to Protest Unfair Labor Practices" Indymedia 3/5/06 (with video of march)

"Support Growing for Striking UM Janitors" CBS 4 TV News 3/5/06

"A Growing Force in Shalala's Home Garden" Miami Herald 3/4/06

"UM Janitors' Strike Turns Park into Classroom" Miami Herald 3/3/06

"Campus Janitors Go on Strike" The Ledger 3/2/06

"While Shalala Lives in Luxury, Janitors Struggle" Miami Herald 3/1/06

"For Donna Shalala, Nice Digs, Lousy Timing" Washington Post 2/22/06 (scroll to 2nd story on page)

fisher island busser fired for demonstrating with union

2007-05-20T08:37:00.000-05:00

in today's miami herald

Posted on Sun, May. 13, 2007

Fantasy Island is anything but for its workers

By ANA MENENDEZ

''Live as the Vanderbilts did, only better.'' That's the motto of Fisher Island, the reality-free zone off the coast of Miami Beach whose marketing describes it as a ``residential community of unrivaled luxury and splendor.''

Fisher Island floats in a world of its own. Rich, inaccessible and exclusive, it has just become the perfect fantasy island of opportunity for union organizers.

SEIU, the union that helped secure healthcare and higher wages for University of Miami janitors last year, has taken up the cause of the workers who keep Fisher Island splendorous.

A week ago, the union helped organize a protest near the ferry terminal off the MacArthur Causeway. And Friday, SEIU filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of a worker who says he was fired for his union support.

OUT OF A JOB

The worker, Jose Rojas had been a busser at the Café Porto Cervo since 2000, he told me Friday. He made $6 an hour plus tips, and though he could pay the $63 bi-weekly insurance, many of his colleagues could not afford to include their children on the plan.

So he took part in the protest outside the terminal May 4.

''I knew it was going to be a problem,'' he said. ''But I thought if I had the chance to get better benefits, I had the right to try.'' When he got to work later that afternoon, a supervisor began to make disparaging remarks, he says.

''He told me I looked like a delinquent and that 'unions are for blacks,''' Rojas said. ``I told him, you can disagree with unions, but there's no need to say that.''

Wednesday, Rojas says he was fired for ''disrespecting'' his superior.

Café management declined comment Friday. Café Porto Cervo, like most of Fisher Island, is off limits to the uninitiated. The Fisher Island website says the café was ''inspired by a superb restaurant in Costa Smeralda, Sardinia.'' A friend tried to make reservations for us Friday night, only to be told it was for members only.

Friday afternoon, I drove to the terminal, hoping to get onto the island to interview Fisher Island Club general manager John Iannotti. I waited in my car while a ferry docked and workers graciously sprayed the disembarking Mercedes and BMWs with water. My car could have benefited from a similar baptism. Alas, I was turned around before I could board the ferry, told that Iannotti was too busy to see me.

His secretary forwarded a statement: ``Even though a charge has been filed, we feel it has no merit and we will vigorously defend it. No further comment.''

POWERFUL METAPHOR

Fisher Island, with its cartoonish wealth, may seem too easy a target. But it's a powerful metaphor for a society where the rich grow more comfortable, the poor sink further and the elected do nothing. For proof, see the property tax hysteria, where legislators sought to appease voters by hiking the sales tax -- the one tax that disproportionally affects the poor.

SEIU has made unprecedented gains across the south by emphasizing the ballooning disparity between rich and poor. Union organizers have succeeded not by duping ''unsophisticated'' workers, but because those workers know they are being duped by a system that promises opportunity and delivers only deeper inequality.

''This is the richest country in the world,'' said Rabbi Rebecca Lillian at a gathering Friday. ``Why do we even have a category called the working poor?''

Unions may not be the solution everyone wants. But its leaders are addressing issues that few others have the courage to touch.

free haleh esfandiari

2007-05-19T22:16:00.000-05:00

from laila lalami's excellent blog:

As you may have heard, Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has been detained in Iran. She had traveled to the country of her birth to visit her 93-year-old mother. She was on her way to Tehran's international airport on December 30, when masked gunmen stopped her taxi and stole her belongings, including her Iranian and U.S. passports. She was then effectively under house arrest for four months, and then on May 8 she was taken to the notorious Evin Prison, where political prisoners are held and sometimes tortured. There have been no news of her since she was taken there. Please sign the petition for her release. More info about her here.

juan cole weighs on this important issue too.

UN official urges US to protect migrant rights

2007-05-19T12:17:00.000-05:00

thanks to jeanette smith of miami quakers for keeping me and others up to date on immigration issues.

U.N. official urges U.S. to protect migrant rights

The Associated Press
Friday, May 18, 2007

WASHINGTON: A United Nations human rights expert urged the United States on Friday to enforce polices to protect the rights of migrants, as he wrapped up a nearly three-week U.S. tour focusing on the plight of migrants.

Jorge Bustamante, the U.N. Human Rights Council's independent expert on migrant rights, expressed concern that the United States has no central system for families to get information about loved ones arrested by immigration officials.

Bustamante, who is from Mexico, also said he was disappointed that U.S. officials canceled his planned visits to two detention centers. Although he visited another detention center, he said the cancellations were an obstacle to getting his job done.

"I didn't have any explanation," he told reporters of the cancelations.

Bustamante is expected to formally present his findings to the U.N. rights council in June.

During his 18-day visit, he toured the U.S. border with Mexico and watched U.S. immigration officials at work. He met with migrants and rights groups in several states and with U.S. officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and the State Department.

The visit, he said, showed migrants' worries about arbitrary detention, bad conditions at detention facilities and racial discrimination.

illegal immigrant about senate deal: "i think i'll stay illegal"

2007-05-17T21:41:00.000-05:00

from the miami herald:

Posted on Thu, May. 17, 2007

Illegal immigrants question Senate deal

By PETER PRENGAMAN

David Guerra wants to be legal, but he says the path to citizenship offered by the Senate on Thursday would be too risky and too expensive, and could end up driving him deeper into the shadows.

Guerra's wife and children in El Salvador depend on the $300 he sends home each month from his job as a day laborer. Key provisions of the legislation would require him to return home to apply for residency, pay a $5,000 fine and spend thousands more in application fees.

That would be disastrous for his family, he said, and, worse, he's not sure he can trust U.S. immigration authorities who have been rounding up and deporting his fellow immigrants for months.

"If I go home, who is going to guarantee that I'll be let back in?" said the 44-year-old who lays bricks, clears weeds and does landscaping.

Across the nation, illegal immigrants, many of whom toil in dirty, low-paying jobs, sharply criticized the Senate's immigration overhaul package as overly burdensome and impractical.

"Where would I find $5,000? In two years, I don't get $5,000," said Daniel Carrillo Maldonado, an illegal immigrant who was looking for construction work outside a Home Depot in Phoenix.

The agreement between the Senate and White House would allow illegal immigrants to obtain a special visa. After paying fees and the fine, they could get on a path to permanent residency that could take eight to 13 years. Heads of household would have to return to their home countries first.

Some illegal immigrants said returning home presented another major hurdle: Applying for residency at U.S. embassies in their home countries.

Amy Ndour, a 23-year-old illegal immigrant from Senegal who lives in New York, said she would be willing to pay the $5,000 fine, but not return home because her family there depends on what she earns as a hair braider.

"I'm helping myself" here, she said. "I'm helping people there too."

Karina Corona, 32, an illegal immigrant from San Diego, works seven days a week at two jobs - one at a delicatessen and another as a seamstress. She said $5,000 is a small price to pay.

"Compared with the better jobs you can get, it's nothing. It's well worth it," she said.

Carlos Velazquez, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant in Los Angeles, said he applied twice for visas in Honduras, and both times had to pay several bribes to local embassy staff.

"Only with money will the monkey dance," said Velazquez, using an idiomatic expression to refer to bribes.

The Senate agreement includes a so-called "point system," which for the first time would prioritize immigrants' education and skill level over family connections in deciding how to award green cards that allow permanent residency.

Family connections alone would no longer be enough to qualify for a green card - except for spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens. And new limits would apply to U.S. citizens seeking to bring foreign-born parents into the country.

Many illegal immigrants said they had little incentive to apply for residency because the process was long and did not offer much hope of bringing their families.

"If I'll never be able to bring my family, why should I apply?" said Jose Monson, a 33-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala who has lived in Los Angeles for four years. "I prefer to just stay here illegally."

"If I get deported and need to cross the border again, that's not a problem," he said.

Several unions, which have many immigrants in their ranks, took issue with the creation of a new temporary guest worker program.

New workers would have to return home after two-year stints, with little opportunity to gain permanent legal status or ever become U.S. citizens. They could renew their guest worker visas twice, but would be required to leave for a year between each stint.

"Temporary workers depress wages and create a second-class work force that is disconnected from the U.S. mainstream and not equal," said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union.

Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network, said the guest worker component would likely exacerbate rhetoric between anti-illegal immigration groups and immigration groups. Groups such as the Minutemen regularly stage protests in front of day labor centers.

"You will still have the anti-immigrant organizations blaming immigrants for depressed wages," Alvarado said.

Still, the agreement gave some hope.

In Houston, Marco Antonio Rodiguez, said he would be happy with a permit that would allow him to work legally and return to Mexico twice a year to see his wife and three children.

"Immigration reform would benefit us so much, both ourselves and families," said Rodriguez, a 48-year-old illegal immigrant who does odd jobs. "We want the law to be approved. I'm praying to God that it passes."

Pascual Bravo, an illegal immigrant who works at a construction company in Middletown, N.Y., was also eager to achieve legal status.

Bravo, 49, last crossed the border in Arizona eight years ago, paying a smuggler $1,800. "I miss my country," he said.

press coverage of yesterday's march

2007-04-15T09:08:00.000-05:00

from the miami herald

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

Nova Southeastern University marchers rally for wages, jobs

Protesters interrupted dinner on Las Olas Boulevard on Saturday, calling for better working conditions and higher wages for workers at Nova Southeastern University.

BY TRENTON DANIEL AND NIALA BOODHOO

tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com

Marching past the al fresco restaurants, galleries and banks on Las Olas Boulevard, about 200 people rallied Saturday to protest conditions for cleaning and maintenance workers at Nova Southeastern University.

''I'm struggling to survive,'' said Fritz Hector, 42, who said he and his wife recently lost their Nova cleaning jobs. ``This is why I'm here today, to get my job back.''

The two-hour rally -- timed to coincide with the peak dinner hour -- aimed to call attention to the plight of workers like Hector and to call for higher wages at the university, whose main campus is in Davie.

NSU workers -- mostly doing cleaning, maintenance and landscaping -- voted last fall to join the Service Employees International Union. Days later, NSU told the contractor that employed the workers, Unicco, that it was rebidding the cleaning contract. It eventually replaced Unicco with several smaller firms, and workers were told to reapply for their jobs.

read the rest of this article

from the sun-sentinel

March on Las Olas

Service workers who lost jobs cry, `Shame on Nova!'

By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted April 15 2007

The evening calm on Fort Lauderdale's most famous street was punctured Saturday when hundreds of chanting, clapping marchers paraded down Las Olas Boulevard to demand that service workers who lost their jobs at Nova Southeastern University be reinstated.

Diners, waiters and others stood on the sidewalks to watch the uncommon spectacle of a workers' protest in the heart of the city's most fashionable dining and shopping district. Some onlookers waved and flashed an approving thumbs up to the 300-plus marchers. One female diner shot them a disapproving gesture.

Some patrons of the many outdoor restaurants on Las Olas watched bewildered, wineglasses in hand, unaware of the plight of the 108 Nova janitors and groundskeepers who lost their jobs in February after they sought higher wages and health benefits. Some had been earning $7 an hour with no benefits.

read the rest of this article

300 people rally and march in support of fired nova janitors

2007-04-14T19:35:00.000-05:00

at the end, al sharpton couldn't make it. but a lot of other people could, including representatives of the united faculty of florida, unite here, seiu local 11, florida healthcare union, the labor international union, fanm, acorn, and naacp.

(captions tomorrow. i want to get the pictures out asap!)

the rally:

the march:

300 people on las olas blvd in downtown fort lauderdale on a saturday evening, chanting "shame on nova" for the ears of unsuspecting diners? powerful.

Rally with Al Sharpton in support of Nova workers, Saturday April 14th

2007-04-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

March with the Rev. Al Sharpton, Bishop Victor Curry and Father Jean-Juste in support of the Displaced Nova Workers and all working families.

300 mostly Haitian and Latino workers are taking on Nova Southeastern University to defend their right to choose a union.

Join us as we call on Nova to re-instate the displaced and instruct its contractors to respect their decision to form a union.

SATURDAY, APRIL 14th at 5 PM IN FORT LAUDERDALE

RALLY IN STRANAHAN PARK (corner of Broward Blvd and Andrews Ave: parking City Park Garage S.E. 1st Ave and 2nd St)

MARCH DOWN LOS OLAS BLVD

For more information call 786 210 9030 or visit www.EyeOnNova.org

Nova Southeastern University + Walmart = exploitation

2007-03-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

from the student-run Nova newspaper, The Current:

Job Fair Held for Employees Laid Off During Contractor Change

Proponents of union call move by university “outrageous”

By Alisha VanHoose
Editor-in-Chief

In an attempt to assist displaced UNICCO employees, NSU teamed up with employment agency Workforce One to hold a job fair on March 23 for. Some of those who pushed for a union and feel that they lost their jobs because of it, however, are not amused.

“I think we continue to make every effort to make sure all the employees are taken care of,” said George Hanbury, Chief Operating Officer for NSU, adding that the university had been working with Workforce One and other agencies, and this was the fourth job fair it had requested to be held.

It was estimated that between 60 and 70 people attended the fair. “I did receive word that it was a very good job fair,” said Hanbury. “It was well received; there were about 15 employers there, including our own contractors.”

The fair was not well received by everyone, however.

“We were rather outraged by the whole thing,” said SEIU organizer Hiram Ruiz. “Some of the contractors are still advertising for the positions that used to belong to these people.” He went on to call the university’s move “outrageous” and “scandalous,” citing in particular that the fair included companies like Wal-Mart, “the king of bottom-dwelling employers.”

Former lead painter Steve McGonigle said that he attended the fair and saw many of the other employees that were laid off there, but the jobs offered there were not in the same vein as his experience.

“I don’t think Ray Ferrero can do anything for me unless I get my job back,” he said.

Hanbury restated that the university “cannot tell people who to hire, but we can make it possible for other employers to see if they want these individuals to work for them.” He also mentioned that the number of laid-off employees still waiting to be hired was diminishing.

McGonigle maintains that this isn’t enough, and continues to blame NSU President Ray Ferrero for the layoffs.

“All of this isn’t curing what Mr. Ferrero has done,” he said. “This isn’t going to get better, it’s just going to get worse until Mr. Ferrero does the right thing.” The right thing, as far as McGonigle and many of the other workers who were laid off are concerned, is to ensure that each employee who lost their job during the contractor job is guaranteed a new one on campus.

Ferrero to janitors: "Get a job at Walmart"

2007-03-23T18:04:00.000-05:00

this is unbelievable.
(all italics mine)

Low-wage jobs no substitution for good, union jobs say displaced workers at Nova Southeastern University

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (SEIU press release)
Davie, Fl—

Workers displaced from their jobs at Nova Southeastern University after a year long fight to transform $7 an hour no-benefits jobs into higher paying jobs with health insurance, spoke out against an University gambit to resolve the crisis by encouraging workers to take temporary low-wage jobs at retailers like Wal-Mart. Nova, in cooperation with Workforce One, will hold a job fair tomorrow morning for displaced workers.

"Nova’s message to the mostly poor and minority workers who lost their jobs is ‘don’t worry, we’ll help you get another low-wage job’ but it should be ‘don’t worry we’ll make sure you are rehired and that you get the union you voted for,” said fired painter Steve McGonigle, “All we want is for Nova to do what other universities in the area have already done—institute a standard that creates good jobs that give back to the community, rather than low-wage jobs that do nothing but breed poverty.”

“We want a future that gives us an opportunity to join the middle class. Nova’s wacky strategy to stop us from having the union we voted for, the union we have a legal right to, does a great disservice to the students, to the board, and to all of Broward County. So we say thank you for the opportunity to look for work, but unless they are good jobs, then we say no thank you.”

Civil rights leaders including a growing list of national leaders, religious leaders and political leaders have now zeroed in on the situation at Nova as the front line of a larger battle—what rights do workers of color truly have, and what do we need to do as a community to safeguard those rights?

BACKGROUND

The University announced that it was putting their facility management contracts out to bid and ending its decade long relationship with Unicco Services, after Unicco workers on campus voted to form a union. The university replaced Unicco with nearly a dozen small contractors forcing the workers to reapply for their jobs with the new contractors.

Displaced workers have filed charges with the NLRB against Nova Southeastern for trying to thwart the workers right to a union. While other Universities in South Florida have raised standards, wages and provided health insurance for the contract workers on campus, NSU has fought the workers on campus trying to secure living wages, health benefits and a voice on the job.

Janitors at NSU earn less and have fewer benefits than their co-workers at other South Florida universities, including the University of Miami and Florida International University. Janitors at NSU earn just over $7.00 per hour, far less than the county living wage of $11.48 per hour. Providing health insurance and higher wages would only cost the University $1.1 million a year.

Labor Troubles in Haiti

2007-03-23T13:03:00.000-05:00

This just in from Batay Ouvriye:

Anti-union dismissals at the brewery in Cap-Haïtien- 17 March 2007

After the dramatic events of 2003, when the management of the Brasserie du Nord (owned by Michael Madsen, a rich businessman of Danish descent and a leader of the Haitian Liberal Party) had several workers beaten and imprisoned for claiming their labour and union rights (see http://www.batayouvriye.org/English/Dossiers1/Brasserieupdate.html and http://www.labournet.net/world/0308/haiti1.html), the same reprehensible and antiquated anti-trade union practices are now being repeated.

On February 5, 2007, the trade union submitted to the company management the provisional registration authorising it to function that had been issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour. Then, in the following few days, first the union's treasurer was dismissed, and then 45 other workers were fired. The near total solidarity of the remainder of the workers at the establishment suggested that they would soon follow.

Then, this week, the Brasserie du Nord closed its doors altogether. Is it a lockout? No notification was given to the Ministry's Labour Office, and consequently the brewery workers consider that it is a clear incident of abuse by the employer and that they are owed all their salaries for this period. They have sent a formal letter demanding the urgent intervention of the Ministry concerned.

At Batay Ouvriye, we are continuing and will continue to stand up against such abuses of the basic rights of workers in Haiti. Remember that the Brasserie du Nord is the distributor of Pepsi-Cola, Prestige beer, and King Cola, for all this area of the country.

LET'S ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE MULTINATIONALS' ABUSES IN HAITI!

DOWN WITH THE EMPLOYERS' ANTI-UNION REPRESSION!
LONG LIVE THE HAITIAN WORKERS' STRUGGLE!

labor games; don't let nova win!

2007-03-22T20:41:00.000-05:00

the website that hosts our petition to nova president ray ferrero contain google-sponsored ads. this means that google picks up key words in the text of the petition and, through its magic and highly effective formula, attaches relevant ads on the side and top bars. the following two are the most prominent ads at the time of my writing:

1) Center for Union Facts -- Facts That Union Leader Don't Want You to Know

2) Nova Southeastern University -- Move your career forward with an accredited online degree!

these two ads have been very visible on the margins of our petition for the last two days, since i put the petition up, and i must say that i find it pleasantly ironic: while we ask that nova honor the union vote of its employees and give them fair wages and health care, something nova is not doing because it has chosen to hire a cheaper contractor (see ana menendez's recent article on this), nova is spending its money advertising on the margins of our petition! hey nova: how about you cut on the advertising and treat your janitors fairly?

and then of course there's the highly profitable and booming business of union busting, offered for a high price by so-called "labor relations consultants" or, in this case, political front organizations (see our story on the Center for Union Facts). businesses love them. for some reason that honestly escapes me (it really does), they prefer to spend their cash on union busting than on living wages for their poorest workers.

when i told a friend about nova's firings of the union leaders, she asked if it was legal. no, actually, it isn't. but large companies like nova have the resources to get away with it. here's an extract from an article published in the april 18, 2005 issue of the nation magazine:

Some 57 million nonunion workers in the United States say they would form a union tomorrow if given the chance, according to new poll conducted in February by Peter D. Hart and Associates. For many of them, especially women and people of color, having a union is often the difference between living in or out of poverty. Yet the truth is that a sophisticated and systematic effort to deny workers their basic freedom of association is rampant in this country.
Employers and antiunion consultants have effectively thwarted the intent and efficacy of the law that supposedly guarantees workers the freedom to form unions, a human right protected by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized by the US government thirteen years earlier in the National Labor Relations Act.

To put it in perspective: More than 20,000 US workers were fired or discriminated against for union activities, according to a National Labor Relations Board annual report. That amounts to a worker in this country being fired or discriminated against every twenty-six minutes for exercising the basic human right to form or join a union. Most employers infringe on workers' freedom to make their own decisions--routinely using legal and illegal tactics to thwart their efforts--according to Cornell University researcher Kate Bronfenbrenner. Fully one-quarter of private-sector employers illegally fire workers. And even after workers jump through all the hoops under current law and win recognition for their union, employers refuse to agree to initial collective bargaining contracts nearly half the time. This is a moral outrage.
Simply put: Our labor laws are so weak that employers routinely get away with breaking them, and when they are punished the penalties are insufficient to deter other unscrupulous employers from breaking the law. Right now the only penalty for most violations of the rights of workers to form unions is that the company must post a notice stating that it violated the law. Sometimes it takes several years before that happens, long after the effort to form a union has ended.

don't let nova win on this one. let our politicians and our community hear that you care. sign the online petition in support of the nova janitors!

sign the petition!

2007-03-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

Dear President Ferrero,

There are 100 families in Broward that have not seen a paycheck for several weeks. Some of these employees have worked at Nova for years and it won't be easy for them to find new employment. It was easier for Nova to abandon these workers to financial insecurity and hardship than to allow for the improved working conditions that union bargaining would have facilitated.

This is a shame and a blight on an academic institution that contends it aims at excellence. Excellence is incompatible with the environment fostered by such blatant disregard of fair and humane treatment of employees.

Even as other South Florida universities such as the University of Miami and Florida International University are now offering fair contracts and higher standards to a body of unionized janitors, Nova persists in its refusal to provide fair wages, access to health care, and justice for its employees.

We ask that you:

* Instruct your new contractors to offer jobs to the ex-Unicco employees who were unfairly fired and are still available for work;
* Instruct your contractors to recognize and bargain with the SEIU;
* Provide sufficient resources for the contractors to negotiate living wages and access to health care.

Sincerely,

sign here

Give 'em hell, Steve McGonigle!

2007-03-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

Even though he had a good job and was making good money, Steve McGonigle, a painter at Nova, fought alongside the other workers for decent wages and a voice on the job. On February 19, he found himself fired along 107 of his colleagues (in this picture, taken on that day, Steve is the tall guy at the back, with grey hair).

Yesterday Steve, who has been working tirelessly to see justice done at Nova, appeared in front of Broward commissioner and asked that they pull NSU funds. The Miami Herald covered it:

Activist urges penalty for NSU

BY AMY SHERMAN

asherman@MiamiHerald.com

A fired painter active in the drive to organize janitors at Nova Southeastern University urged Broward County commissioners to take action against the school, whose decision to switch maintenance contractors squelched the fledgling union.

Steve McGonigle hinted that commissioners could use the power of the purse to respond to Nova, located in Davie. The county pays at least 40 percent of operating costs for the library each year -- likely $5 million to $6 million in 2007-08.

''Nova has no problem coming to taxpayers when they are looking for money but don't have any problem stomping on the workers and low-wage earners,'' said McGonigle, of Tamarac.

The union has said about 100 low-wage workers lost their jobs earlier this year after Nova switched janitorial contracts.

County commissioners have said they will take a closer look at the arrangement with Nova in the coming months, during budget planning. But if Broward cuts off funds, the public would loses access. Most library users are county residents who are not enrolled and Nova employees, according to the university.

Nearly all of the county commissioners have publicly criticized Nova's administration, including its president, Ray Ferrero Jr.

Commissioners Stacy Ritter and John Rodstrom said that, as Nova law school graduates, they are embarrassed by their alma mater.

''I think the commission is quite surprised that such an institution with such a formerly good reputation would decide to do something like this,'' Commissioner Sue Gunzburger said. ``The other university in Miami, they found a solution.''

(link to herald article)

Steve is in for the long haul. Here is what he wrote in an email yesterday:

I have been hearing rumblings that Mr. Ray Ferrero wants to invite us to breakfast and have a job fair on our behalf. He states that he will do anything to help us find work. Why won’t he give us our jobs back? It would be easy on him if he found us other jobs, that way we would go away and he will not have to deal with us, the Union, and the realization that he has violated our rights to organize and, in my own words, “union-busted”. As a past president stated, “Those who would destroy, or further limit, the rights of organized labor – those who cripple collective bargaining or prevent organization of the unorganized – do a disservice to the cause of democracy”. This quote describes what is being done to us; Mr. Ferrero has tried to destroy us, violated our rights to organize, tried to prevent the organization of the unorganized, and is doing a disservice to the cause of democracy, but he does not realize that a breakfast isn’t the food we need. The food we need is to be back at our jobs, providing for our families, and having respect on the job. I do not think that is too much to ask. To be treated like a human being.

The longer this goes on the more support we will get, we will not go away, we will get stronger. And as I told the Broward County Commissioners this morning, “I am a firm believer that the squeaky wheel gets the oil." I am going to keep on squeaking until we get the oil we need.

A message to the Nova faculty

2007-03-20T19:29:00.000-05:00

Dear faculty of Nova Southeastern University,

It is hard to get political in the workplace when one works without tenure, without a union, and without guarantees that one's place at work is secure. This is why I'd like to make you a proposal. Go to the letter below and, if you share its sentiments, click on "comments." If you feel strong in your position, click "other" and write your name. If you don't, click "anonymous." Then tell the world that you are a Nova faculty member and that you don't like the way your university is behaving. Put it into writing. Make it known. The fired janitors don't need your names. They need to know you are with them.

Thank you.

UM and FIU faculty speak out on Nova janitors situtation

2007-03-20T01:16:00.000-05:00

Nova Southeastern University is treating its janitors with a callous disregard of human decency that brings shame to the South Florida academic community. After learning that the janitors had joined the Service Employees International Union, Nova dismissed its contractor, Unicco, and solicited new bids. The janitors worked several months without knowing if they would be rehired. In spite of vague reassurances to the contrary, they weren't. The new contractor, TCB, subcontracted the cleaning and groundskeeping jobs to a number of smaller companies, which splintered the number of employers and made labor organizing all but impossible. On the day the new contractors took charge, more than one hundred janitors were turned away at the gate. They were given no notice and no explanation.

There are now 100 families in Broward that have not seen a paycheck for several weeks. Some of these employees have worked at Nova for years and it won't be easy for them to find new employment. It was easier for Nova to abandon these workers to financial insecurity and hardship than to allow for the improved working conditions that union bargaining would have
facilitated. This is a shame and a blight on an academic institution that contends it aims at excellence. Excellence is incompatible with the environment fostered by such blatant disregard of fair and humane treatment of employees. We are very proud that our universities, FIU and UM, are now offering fair contracts and higher standards to a body of unionized janitors. Our
colleagues at Nova and their students deserve a similarly fair working environment. We would like to express our solidarity with the fired Nova workers, and to voice our strongest objection to the actions of President Ferrero and his attack on workers' rights.

David Abraham, UM, Law
Elizabeth Aranda, UM, Sociology
Traci Ardren, UM, Anthropology
Anthony Barthelemy, UM, English
Marc Brudzinski, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
Steven Butterman, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
Linda Belgrave, UM, Sociology
Sue Ann Campbell, UM, Law
Frank Corbishley, UM, Chaplain
Lina del Castillo, UM, History
Christina Civantos, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
Connolly, Jane, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
Louise Davidson-Schmich, UM, Political Science
Michael Davidson-Schmich, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
Simon Evnine, UM, Philosophy
Roger Kanet, UM, International Studies
Anthony Krupp, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
M. Evelina Galang, UM, English
Green, Andrew, UM, English
Steven Green, UM, Biology
Alan Gummerson, FIU, Economics
Bruce Hauptli, Chairperson of FIU's Faculty Senate
April Mann, UM, English
Lillian Manzor, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures
Ambler Moss, UM, International Studies
Daniel Messinger, UM, Psychology
Bruce Nissen, FIU, Center for Labor Research and Studies
Martha Otis, UM, English
Giovanna Pompele, UM, English
Kate Ramsey, UM, History
Jeffrey Shoulson, UM, English
Harvey Siegel, UM, Philosophy
William Smith, UM, International Studies
Andrew Strycharski, UM, English
Peter Tarjan, UM, Biomedical Engineering
Hugh Thomas, UM, History
Tim Watson, UM, English
Katharine Westaway, UM, English
Richard Weisskoff, UM, International Studies
David Wilson, UM, Professor of Biology
Woshinsky, Barbara, UM, Modern Languages and Literatures

overwhelming support for nova workers & upcoming events!

2007-03-13T18:35:00.000-05:00

The recent attention given to the Nova workers' crisis has been overwhelming! The swell of community support has made all the difference in the world to the workers and their families, and has included financial support, call-ins to radio shows, and physical presence at rallies. We are all truly building a labor and human rights movement in South Florida!

Concerned community members and organizations have partnered together under the title of "Community Project for Displaced Nova Workers" They planned an emergency meeting and picketed in front of Ray Ferrero's and George Hanbury's home. They also set up a protest outside the Signature Grand where Ray Ferrero received an award from the NCCJ-National Conference for Community and Justice (see previous post). They were joined by brothers and sisters from South Florida Jobs with Justice, Teamsters, CWA, the Lifeguard's Union, and UTD.
The clergy of South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice appeared on the Jim Defede show and staged silent protest inside the NCCJ award luncheon at the Signature Grand.
*** UPCOMING *** The Labor Committee of the NAACP Chapter of Miami-Dade County is planning a large Civil Right March on Nova in mid-April. Bishop Victor Curry will be joined by national civil rights leaders. We will be reaching out to you and the members of your organization very soon to mobilize for the Civil Right March.
*** UPCOMING *** On Friday March 30 the Association of Haitian Catholic Priests is planning a special Stations of the Cross in the streets of Little Haiti which will highlight the spirit of the Lenten Season and the plight of the Nova Janitors. Five Haitian Catholic Churches in Dade and Broward will come to Notre Dame Haiti Catholic Church for this religious event. They expect about 3,000 people processing in the streets of Little Haiti.
*** HELP *** Finally, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has launched an Emergency Fund for Displaced Nova Workers.

Please make a donation today as more than 100 families near their 3rd week without a paycheck. Some families are already facing food and gas shortages. Check donations, and Grocery Gift Certificates are welcome. Please make checks payable to:

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami

mail to:

Gloria Luna
9401 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami Shores, FL, 33138
Attn: Displaced Nova Workers' Fund

The workers have been aggressively looking for work, but it has been VERY difficult. Please send any job referrals you may have to:

Kathy Bird of SEIU Local 11
kbird@seiu11.org
786 210 9030.

Most importantly, know that even after all the suffering the Nova workers have endured, THEY ARE STRONG. They are continuing to come out for leadership meetings, mobilizations, radio programs, and union/membership meetings. They know that we can and we will win this fight.

Please let Kathy know if you want a Nova worker to speak about this critical situtation at a meeting or event.

Nova president Ferrero gets diversity award

2007-03-11T11:32:00.000-05:00

Irony is rather rich at this $100-a-plate award luncheon

Sun Sentinel, March 11, 2007

Michael Mayo
News Columnist

Last month, his university helped put 108 low-paid janitors, drivers and maintenance people out of work. On Friday, Nova Southeastern University President Ray Ferrero Jr. accepted an award from the local chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice.

The luncheon was $100 a plate, but it included all the irony you could eat.

According to the organization's national Web site, its role is to "advocate, educate and resolve conflict -- relative to issues of discrimination and oppression."

"Giving him an award just doesn't make sense," said the Rev. Roger Holoubek, a priest at St. Maurice Catholic Church in Dania Beach. "It's a contradiction."

Holoubek was among a group of clergy and community activists who bought a $1,000 table at the Signature Grand in Davie to witness this spectacle. When Ferrero came onto the stage to accept the Leonard L. Farber Corporate Leadership Award on behalf of the university, the group staged a silent protest.

They got up from their rear table, marched single file in front of the stage, then turned and exited the ballroom. University security guards and police monitored the group. Many in the crowd gave puzzled looks as applause quickly stopped.

"It made people notice," said the Rev. Bob Tywoniak, of St. George Catholic Church in Fort Lauderdale. "A lot of the public still doesn't know what's going on. But now President Ferrero knows we're not kidding. We're still here, we're on the high road, and we're not going away."

Outside the banquet hall, a group of about 30 protesters held up mops, brooms and signs that read, "Union busting is wrong" and "Ray Ferrero is the one who should be fired." The protesters included 15 former employees of UNICCO, the contractor that was replaced by a consortium of smaller local firms last month.

Nearly a third of the 330 UNICCO employees lost their jobs in the transition. Workers were given the chance to re-apply for their jobs before the switch. Coincidentally, the ones who didn't get rehired seemed to be those most active in a successful union drive last year.

"I'm here because I want my job back," said Norcia Gabrielle, a cleaner at NSU for 11 years. She called it "a shame" that Ferrero was honored. "He did nothing for us. He doesn't care about us. The union came in through UNICCO, and then he threw UNICCO out."

Ferrero has tried to distance the university from the labor situation, but it's very much his mess. The new contractors are required to pay better and offer health benefits, but until they hire all the old workers and recognize the previously formed union, Ferrero's going to have trouble.

Now that politicians have started talking about cutting grants and other public money to the private university, he'll have to pay attention.

His students have been mostly quiet, and his scared faculty won't protest because nearly all work on contracts and don't get tenure.

"Everybody there is on a short leash," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, who worked at NSU for 10 years and is dismayed by the university's actions and Ferrero's attitude. "We have to apply pressure in other ways."

Wasserman Schultz is still smarting from a meeting she had with Ferrero last fall. She went with state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, and Broward Commissioner Kristin Jacobs to get the university's side and urge fair treatment of the workers. She said Ferrero treated her with "callous disregard."

In an interview last month, Ferrero told me, "I'm comfortable with what we've done." After he picked up the award on Friday, he said, "I'm not going to discuss or get involved with anything that [the protesters] did today."

And what about the funding threats from the politicians? "I think they're just misinformed," he said.

"Misinformed?" Wasserman Schultz said later. "That's the kind of patronizing attitude we encountered in our meeting. He's going to get a healthy dose of what a misinformed politician can do."

Welcome to your worst public relations nightmare, Nova Southeastern.

Michael Mayo can be reached at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.

support nova janitors with 1 click

2007-03-10T10:35:00.000-05:00

The Miami-Dade County Democratic Party has a poll on their website.

Look at the bottom left of the page and vote for the party to stand with Nova workers!

a change of focus

2007-03-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

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.

the shame of NSU

2007-03-06T07:41:00.000-05:00

Miami Herald

IN MY OPINION

Nova's Ferrero ignores plight of janitors

By ANA MENENDEZ
March 4, 2007

Among university presidents in South Florida, Nova's Ray Ferrero Jr. stands in a class apart: the only leader who has proved himself utterly immune to shame.

At least 100 Nova janitors who fought for a union are out of a job, victims of the university's brazen union-busting campaign.

They include several couples like Amparo Correa and her husband Fernei Calderon, who have a small child at home; and Armando Pons and his wife Mayola Pons, who are struggling now to find new jobs at an age when most workers are looking at retirement.

''[Ferrero] has a job and a house,'' Correa told me. ``All we'd like is the opportunity to work honestly.''

Correa, Calderon and the Pons worked for Unicco, the contractor who provided janitors and other low-wage workers to the university for 12 years.

As soon as Unicco's workers voted to unionize, however, Nova administrators decided it was time to look for a new contractor.

It was an astonishingly callous move that, by the union's count, left 108 workers on the street.

KEEPING QUIET

And Ferrero? He has nothing to say, referring all questions to the little people -- the constellation of contractors and subcontractors who have replaced Unicco.

Ferrero's closest thing to a comment, delivered via a spokesman, was: ``We're not co-employers.''

That's just great. Dozens of people who already were living close to the margins now are without a means of supporting themselves, and the university president retreats behind spokesmen and meaningless legal mumbo-jumbo.

What a telling contrast to the way workers ultimately were treated at the University of Miami and Florida International University.

Say what you will about UM's Donna Shalala -- and I did -- but in the end, she proved she could be persuaded to do the right thing.

At FIU, President Mitch Maidique didn't let things get as far as they did at UM. Maidique, mindful of the UM fight, agreed to put FIU janitors back on the university's payroll, where in addition to higher wages, they could join the union.

Of course, at those universities the heavy persuading was done by faculty and students, who consistently and vocally supported the janitors.

That support never materialized at Nova, perhaps because it's an all-contract university. Not only is the faculty not unionized, but many of them don't even get tenure.

Besides, Ferrero, in contrast to his more flamboyant counterparts in Miami, keeps a relatively low profile. His political activity is undetectable. And it's hard to imagine him posing for a New York Times Magazine spread discussing his lavish lifestyle.

NOT THE SAME

And so he's gotten away with much more than Shalala or Maidique ever could.

While the janitor strike lit up the campuses in Miami, Ferrero bided his time. He no doubt counted on janitor fatigue: ``Oh God, not that again.''

His gamble seems to have paid off -- 102 janitors are still locked out of the university.

And, thanks to the triumph of the 24-hour news cycle, public attention has moved on to the latest celebrity exploits.

Fortunately, not everyone in this town is in a moral coma.

Last week, the Broward County Commission, angry about the treatment of the Nova workers, said they might look into the financial support the county offers the university.

The Miami Herald's Amy Sherman reported that the county gives about $5 million a year to help run Nova's library.

If commissioners pull the money, the public might lose library access. But commissioners would get to make a point.

''The power of the purse string is a pretty powerful tool,'' Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. said.

He's right. Ferrero may be beyond shame.

But one thing he does seem to care about is money.

a shanty town has been built in liberty city

2006-11-03T05:33:00.000-05:00

check out the take back the land blog. this is inspiring. here is the miami herald article on it:

Housing activists set up camp in Liberty City
Protesters angry at a lack of affordable housing set up a tent camp on cityowned land in Liberty City.
BY DANI MCCLAIN
dmcclain@MiamiHerald.com

A group of activists pitched camp in the heart of Liberty City on Monday to protest what they called the failure of the city and Miami-Dade County to build affordable housing.

Carrying tents, tarps and banners that read, ''Take back the Land!,'' the group said it was building a shantytown on a vacant, city-owned lot to house hundreds of the neighborhood's homeless.

''The government is an active part of the problem,'' said Max Rameau, spokesman for the Center for Pan-African Development, an activist organization. ``The city and the county have no interest in housing poor black people, so we will do it ourselves.''

About 40 people gathered at the corner of Northwest 62nd Street and 17th Avenue. As they pitched tents and served soup on the trash-strewn lot, passersby stopped to look.

Among them was 20-year-old Roderick Mitchell, a former resident of the Scott/Carver Homes. Mitchell said he and his sister have lived with relatives since their section of the huge housing complex closed in 2004.

Mitchell said he planned to join the group camping out Monday night.

''This statement can help,'' Mitchell said, gesturing at the activity around him.

But Rameau, one of the key organizers, said his intention is not simply to make a statement. The group, including members of Hope for the Homeless and Hopeless and the Fort Lauderdale chapter of Food Not Bombs, intends to provide shelter and food indefinitely, Rameau said.

The group did not notify the city of its intention to take over the lot.

Several city police cruisers -- including one carrying Neighborhood Enhancement Team administrator Von Carol Kinchens -- drove up about 30 minutes after the activists converged on the lot.

The officers warned the protesters they could face arrest but then left.

''As long as there's no criminal activity, we're just letting them vent out,'' said William Moreno, a department spokesman.

Rameau said the group is protected by a landmark legal case, Pottinger v. City of Miami, a class-action suit filed by the ACLU and settled in 1998.

The settlement prohibited Miami police from arresting homeless people engaged in ''life-sustaining conduct'' -- such as sleeping or eating -- on public property when there is no shelter space available.

The people who set up camp on the lot should remain in the clear legally as long as they don't obstruct traffic or damage property, said Ray Taseff, an attorney affiliated with the Miami ACLU.

''I really can't see how the city can argue around it,'' Taseff said of the Pottinger settlement. ``The police did the right thing today.''

you can support "take back the land" by signing their online petition.

what diversity? the nova paradox

2006-10-26T22:11:00.000-04:00

last saturday i went to little haiti for a community meeting about the nova situation. as readers of this blog know, the nova administration decided to put UNICCO's contract up for bid when it heard that UNICCO employees had voted to join the SEIU (the official union announcement came a few days after nova announced that the UNICCO contract had been cancelled). since nova did not commit to retaining the current workers, 340 janitors face being out of work as early as the end of the year. needless to say, these are not wealthy people who can easily find another job. their wages hover around $7 an hour and they get no health insurance and no benefits. the vast majority are minorities -- haitians or cubans or african americans. which makes friday night's celebration sad and pathetic: nova president ray ferrero jr. will be honored by the urban league of broward county as ``diversity champion.''

it is always been hard to separate racism from classism, or the discrimination of people based on race from the discrimination of people based on poverty. one, though, would not expect to see appalling reminders of jim crow in one of today's leading academic institutions: at nova, the haitian groundskeepers are not allowed to go inside air-conditioned buildings to drink from cold water fountains. no: they must drink from water hoses that have been sitting in the heat. this fight is not just for wages and security: this is a fight for basic dignity and human rights. this is a fight for the things most of us take absolutely for granted.

at nova last tuesday, democratic gubernatorial candidate jim davis talked to the janitors before debating republican counterpart charlie crist. it is not clear to me why the republican candidate didn't speak to the janitors too. unions are closer to the democratic than to the republican heart, but guaranteeing that people drink from fountains rather than hoses should be a concern that doesn't stop at party lines. mr davis said that when he's governor of the state of florida "you will not have to take to the streets... .we'll get it done." he didn't make clear how exactly he was going to accomplish that, but i'm sure the janitors liked the sound of these words.

in the meantime, we should make sure that nova president ferrero doesn't think we are not paying attention to the discrepancy between his diversity award and haitian janitors drinking from water hoses. give him a call: his phone number is (954) 262 7575.

ana menendez on nova

2006-10-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

Posted on Wed, Oct. 25, 2006

In My Opinion

Nova's diversity advocacy halts at service entry

By ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@MiamiHerald.com

Friday night, Nova Southeastern University President Ray Ferrero Jr. is supposed to be honored by the Urban League of Broward County as a ``Diversity Champion.''

Meanwhile, back on the Davie campus, 340 janitors and gardeners, most of them minorities, will be winding up another work week making around $7 an hour with no health insurance.

Recently, the workers voted to join a union. But a few days before the vote, the university announced it would be ''reevaluating'' its contract with the company that employs the workers, Unicco.

Now the men and women who had looked forward to more dignified treatment instead face the prospect of layoffs during the holiday season.

Nova's commitment to diversity, it would seem, ends at the service entrance.

STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

Dorval Audanois, an immigrant from Haiti, has been tending the greenery at Nova for almost five years. He works from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and then, after a day in the sun, heads to night school to study English and math. He makes $7.73 an hour and lives next to an auto-repair shop on a dead-end street near Opa-locka Boulevard.

Audanois, 62, has never met President Ferrero, nor does he expect to. But if he did, he knows the first thing he would ask him.

''Is he not a human being like us? If he gets sick, doesn't he have to go to the doctor?'' he said at his home Monday night. ``Just because we are poor, does this mean we do not need the same thing?''

The campaign to organize janitors began at the University of Miami in March.

After janitors walked off the job, UM president Donna Shalala announced a plan to guarantee good wages and healthcare to workers under contract to the university.

The UM janitors finally voted to join a union this summer. A month ago, FIU announced it was bringing its own janitors back home, giving current workers first chance at new jobs that offer living wages and full benefits. At UM, where the fight was more protracted, faculty and students played a crucial role in persuading university administrators to do right by its janitors.

Not so at Nova, where the faculty does not have a union and only law school professors have the option of tenure. Without the security needed to publicly support the aspirations of the janitors, Nova professors have not been in a position to pressure the university.

POISED FOR BETRAYAL

As a result, Nova, unique among the big three regional universities, now seems poised to betray its most vulnerable workers -- 95 percent of whom are African American, Latino or Haitian, according to the union.

It's a sad irony for a university that has tried to be a leader in attracting and graduating minorities, one of the accomplishments for which Ferrero is to be honored Friday.

The Broward League's dinner to honor Ferrero and three others will take place at Marriott's Harbor Beach Resort and Spa in Fort Lauderdale. The invitation says corporate sponsorships start at $3,500 and individual tickets are $200.

Lisa Barker, who helps coordinate special events at the league, confirmed the award but couldn't offer any more information. Two calls to Nova spokesman David Dawson requesting comment went unanswered.

Last week, Dawson told The Miami Herald's Dani McClain that the university is considering a ''range of options'' that include keeping Unicco.

''A private business has the right to run a private business on behalf of its customers,'' Dawson said. ``Our customers just happen to be students.''

Our customers just happen to be students? Wow. As a university motto, it may not quite reach the heights of UM's ''Magna est veritas'' but at least it gets the point across: Ideals are for paying customers only.

There's a fancy party Friday that proves you need not worry about anyone else.

protest gubernatorial debate at NOVA on tuesday

2006-10-21T01:45:00.000-04:00

NO DEBATE ABOUT IT

The Gubernatorial debate should not be held at Nova Southeastern University, an institution that is on the verge of throwing 350 hardworking janitors, landscapers, maintenance workers, and shuttle bus drivers out of their jobs.

This Tuesday, gubernatorial candidates are set to face off in a debate about Florida's future for its families, working people, and communities.

But at Nova, 350 working families may soon be left destitute as Nova has said it is canceling its contract with UNICCO, the cleaning contractor that employs the workers. Nova refuses to commit to retaining the workers, or making sure the new contractor hires them.

The debate for Florida's highest office should be held at a public venue that respects working people, not a private institution which has denied improving jobs and working conditions for its mostly Latino and Haitian workforce.

WE CHALLENGE BOTH THE REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE WORKING PEOPLE OF FLORIDA.

Join SEIU Local 11 in a protest at Nova
Tuesday, October 24th

7:00pm

NOVA JOBS ON THE LINE

2006-10-18T12:45:00.000-04:00

Emergency Community Meeting to Defend Working Families
Saturday, October 21
5:00-6:00 p.m.
Emmanuel Haitian Baptiste Church
7321 NE 2nd Ave. Miami
Call Kathy at 786-210-9030 for more information

NOVA JOBS ON THE LINE
CRISIS IN BROWARD COUNTY

The Latino and Haitian community in Broward County are facing a major crisis as 350 Latino and Haitian workers could lose their jobs and their families could be left destitute. These 350 janitors, groundskeepers, maintenance staff, and shuttle bus drivers employed by UNICCO at Nova Southeastern University voted for a union last week.Within hours of learning that UNICCO was moving to recognize the union, Nova President Ferrero, rather than support a responsible contractor, notified faculty and staff that he intended to put the contract out to bid. Nova did not commit to retaining the UNICCO employees.

95% of those affected are from immigrant and minority communities, predominantly Haitian, Colombian, Puerto Rican and African-American.

WHY WERE NOVA WORKERS ORGANIZING?

* Janitors at Nova earn wages as low as $6.50 per hour, while living in a county with a $10.15 per hour
living wage commitment.[1]
* They receive no health insurance.
* Unfair and unsafe working conditions; dozens of Nova's Haitian landscapers work outside with no
sheltered break area and no access to drinking water

WHY WE SHOULD CARE:

Broward County has exhibited excellent values and standards of caring for its citizens, as evidenced by the living wage ordinance and the $120,338,790 budgeted for community services[2]; why shouldn't Nova University, a premier Broward institution, uphold the same standards?

- Nova received over $18.4 million in federal, state, and local government funding in 2004[3]. By 2010, Broward County government will have spent $22 million on capital improvements at the Alvin Sherman Library on Nova's campus alone.[4]
- Since 1990, Broward County's population has grown by 22%[5], but the number of people in poverty has grown by 89%[6].

________________________________

[1] Broward county Office of Professional Standards
[2] Broward County 2007 Budget
[3] IRS Form 990 filed by Nova Southeastern University for year ending July 2004.
[4] Contract agreement between Nova Southeastern University and Broward County for the Alvin Sherman library.
[5] Broward County Planning Services Division 'Population Characteristics' publication. Available online at: http://www.co.broward.fl.us/planningservices/population_characteristics.pdf
[6] The U.S. Censes poverty figure for Broward county in 1989 was 115,581 people and in 2003 was 217,958 people. This represents a growth of 89% over the ten-yr period. Data available online at http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/saipe/saipe.cgi

wal-mart workers protest in hialeah gardens

2006-10-18T04:26:00.000-04:00

i wish i had known about this. this blog is by liza featherstone, who writes about labor for the nation. also in this blog: starbucks is not a worker's paradise.

Retail Workers Fight Back
by The Nation

Yesterday, more than 200 Wal-Mart workers held a demonstration in front of a Wal-Mart store in Hialeah Gardens, Florida. In the first significant protest ever organized by Wal-Mart employees in the United States, workers objected to managers cutting their hours, and to the company's insistence on employees' "open availability," as well as to a new, more stringent attendance policy. It's courageous of these workers, who are part of a Florida group called "Associates at Wal-Mart," to speak out publicly and demand better treatment. Let's hope their protest is a turning point in the fight for workers' rights at Wal-Mart, and that more workers will be emboldened by the Florida workers' example and begin to organize. Too much of the debate over Wal-Mart takes place without the perspective of the true experts -- the workers themselves.

Speaking of retail workers, the IWW's Starbucks campaign -- which I've mentioned on this blog before -- is growing, and having some encouraging effects. Workers have organized in New York City, and, this summer, Chicago. Last week, the company raised its Chicago workers' wages, increasing starting pay by thirty cents (to $7.80) and promising that if an employee gets a favorable performance review, her pay will go up to $8.58 after six months. New York City workers will make $9.63 an hour after six months on the job (and a favorable review), which means that the IWW campaign will have raised many employees' wages by nearly 25% in two and a half years. The company insists that the raise has nothing to do with the union, but that claim simply isn't credible. As Daniel Gross, who was recently fired for from Starbucks for union organizing, points out, the wage increase "isn't justified by macroeconomic factors, or by any factors other than the union. Real wages for other workers in New York City haven't increased by 25%, or anywhere near that!"

Of course, as Daniel points out, even with the increase, Starbucks workers do not make a living wage. He also stresses that the wage increase needs to be viewed in the context of Starbucks' anti-union campaign: "The company still doesn't recognize the union's right to exist." Starbucks still has a long way to go before the reality behind its counters matches its socially-responsible image.

The War Against Wages

2006-10-06T12:06:00.000-04:00

paul krugman on the erosion of labor protection in the US, especially after tuesday's NLRB decision to expand the definition of supervisor (note: this is the same NLRB which is supposed to administer workers' election for form unions, and which the Employee Free Choice Act would protect our workers from by forcing employers to accept majority sign-up, also knows as "card check." it is now heavily stacked with republican, anti-labor appointees):

The War Against Wages

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 6, 2006

Should we be cheering over the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has finally set a new record? No. The Dow is doing well largely because American employers are waging a successful war against wages. Economic growth since early 2000, when the Dow reached its previous peak, hasn't been exceptional. But after-tax corporate profits have more than doubled, because workers' productivity is up, but their wages aren't - and because companies have dealt with rising health insurance premiums by denying insurance to ever more workers.

If you want to see how the war against wages is being fought, and what it's doing to working Americans and their families, consider the latest news from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart already has a well-deserved reputation for paying low wages and offering few benefits to its employees; last year, an internal Wal-Mart memo conceded that 46 percent of its workers' children were either on Medicaid or lacked health insurance. Nonetheless, the memo expressed concern that wages and benefits were rising, in part "because we pay an associate more in salary and benefits as his or her tenure increases."

The problem from the company's point of view, then, is that its workers are too loyal; it wants cheap labor that doesn't hang around too long, but not enough workers quit before acquiring the right to higher wages and benefits. Among the policy changes the memo suggested to deal with this problem was a shift to hiring more part-time workers, which "will lower Wal-Mart's health care enrollment."

And the strategy is being put into effect. "Investment analysts and store managers," reports The New York Times, "say Wal-Mart executives have told them the company wants to transform its work force to 40 percent part-time from 20 percent." Another leaked Wal-Mart memo describes a plan to impose wage caps, so that long-term employees won't get raises. And the company is taking other steps to keep workers from staying too long: in some stores, according to workers, "managers have suddenly barred older employees with back or leg problems from sitting on stools."

It's a brutal strategy. Once upon a time a company that treated its workers this badly would have made itself a prime target for union organizers. But Wal-Mart doesn't have to worry about that, because it knows that these days the people who are supposed to enforce labor laws are on the side of the employers, not the workers.

Since 1935, U.S. workers considering whether to join a union have been protected by the National Labor Relations Act, which bars employers from firing workers for engaging in union activities. For a long time the law was effective: workers were reasonably well protected against employer intimidation, and the union movement flourished.

In the 1970's, however, employers began a successful campaign to roll back unions. This campaign depended on routine violation of labor law: experts estimate that by 1980 employers were illegally firing at least one out of every 20 workers who voted for a union. But employers rarely faced serious consequences for their lawbreaking, thanks to America's political shift to the right. And now that the shift to the right has gone even further, political appointees are seeking to remove whatever protection for workers' rights that the labor relations law still provides.

The Republican majority on the National Labor Relations Board, which is responsible for enforcing the law, has just declared that millions of workers who thought they had the right to join unions don't. You see, the act grants that right only to workers who aren't supervisors. And the board, ruling on a case involving nurses, has declared that millions of workers who occasionally give other workers instructions can now be considered supervisors.

As the dissent from the Democrats on the board makes clear, the majority bent over backward, violating the spirit of the law, to reduce workers' bargaining power.

So what's keeping paychecks down? Major employers like Wal-Mart have decided that their interests are best served by treating workers as a disposable commodity, paid as little as possible and encouraged to leave after a year or two. And these employers don't worry that angry workers will respond to their war on wages by forming unions, because they know that government officials, who are supposed to protect workers' rights, will do everything they can to come down on the side of the wage-cutters.

UNICCO employees at NOVA vote to unionize

2006-10-05T07:57:00.000-04:00

LABOR

Nova Southeastern University janitors OK union representation

Nova Southeastern University janitors will rally today for their newly formed union, although their company's contract with the school may be in jeopardy.

BY NIALA BOODHOO

nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com

Nova Southeastern University janitors approve union representation

Janitors at Nova Southeastern University voted to create a union Wednesday. But because the university announced last week that it may rebid the janitorial contract, the union fight is far from over.

More than 60 percent of the 350 employees who do janitorial, maintenance and landscape work at the university's main Davie campus said Wednesday they wanted the Service Employees Internation Union to represent them. They are employed by contractor Unicco Services Co.

But NSU President Ray Ferrero said in an open letter Friday the university had begun to reevaluate those contract workers, effectively notifying Unicco it may lose its contract.

Labor experts say SEIU is prepared for another public campaign, similar to the one it waged against University of Miami earlier this year, to bring pressure on NSU to recognize the union, regardless of who the contractor is. If the university decides to fight, it could led to a protracted legal battle because of complex labor laws involved, they say.

After its success at UM, SEIU had been organizing janitors at Florida International University and NSU. FIU said last week it would bring its janitors in house and under its existing American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.

''Nova needs to do what other universities have done because it's the right thing to do,'' said SEIU's Stephen Lerner, who heads the union's national Justice for Janitors campaign.

NSU spokesman Dave Dawson said the vote Wednesday was between the workers and Unicco.

''We're still running a business and going to make the best business decisions we can to operate this university on behalf of the students,'' he said, adding the university has just begun to explore whether it would take positions in-house, outsource them or do a combination of the two.

Dawson said he couldn't speak to the timing of why the university had now decided to rebid the contract. ''The timing is what it is,'' he said.

In a statement, Boston-based Unicco said it was prepared to honor the workers' wishes to form a union, adding it was disappointed at NSU's actions to rebid its current contract. But it said it planned to bid again for the work.

NSU has contracted with Unicco to do that work for 12 years. NSU's main campus where those workers are is in Davie. The school also has seven other campuses in Florida and one in Las Vegas.

Given that, SEIU signing an agreement with Unicco is ''no guarantee those workers will keep their jobs at Nova,'' said Cornell University labor relations professor Rick Hurd. ``If Nova decides to bring in another contractor and not abide by the union agreement, it will be up to SEIU to challenge that.''

If the university accepts another contractor other than Unicco and all the old workers apply, NSU has to be careful not to subject itself to discrimination charges for not hiring the workers because they now belong to a union, said Gil Abramson, a partner with Hogan & Hartson in Washington and a former senior counsel to the National Labor Relations Board chairman.

If that happens, said Hurd: ``As you saw with University of Miami, [SEIU leaders] are very effective with their public campaign.''

That campaign continues with an afternoon rally today at a United Methodist church in Davie. SEIU plans to have community leaders and politicians lobby for the janitors.

FIU does the right thing: a column by ana menendez

2006-10-04T10:13:00.000-04:00

things are definitely astir in south florida universities. last week, FIU accepted its janitors' union drive, rescinded its contract with UNICCO, and will rehire the janitors directly. the janitors previously hired by UNICCO will be given precedence over other applicants. they will be unionized with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. the SEIU helped greatly in this effort. now it's NOVA's turn to do the right thing...

FIU opts to do the right thing about janitors

BY ANA MENENDEZ

amenendez@MiamiHerald.com

In the end, there were some things more important than money. It's going to cost at least $1.8 million more a year but Florida International University is bringing its janitors back home.

As state employees, they'll have access to benefits that until now were beyond their reach and increasingly are the stuff of dreams for many hourly workers: healthcare, vacations and salaries that allow them to live, if not comfortably, at least above the poverty line.

''We needed to take the high road on this. We needed to do what was right,'' said FIU's chief financial officer Vivian Sanchez, who credited university President Modesto Maidique with the call to end 10 years of outsourcing custodial work.

At a time when more and more businesses live in thrall of accountants, FIU's new plan for its janitors shows that doing the right thing sometimes has value beyond the bottom line.

FIU may have been inspired by the protracted and sometimes ugly fight to unionize janitors at the University of Miami. Sanchez acknowledged that they were ''sensitized'' to the issue by the strike at UM and the publicity it generated.

But in contrast to UM, where the faculty last week chastised the administration for its handling of campus protests, FIU met the issue with grace.

It's a move that is no less laudable for being shrewd. FIU is in the midst of a remarkable expansion that is not just remaking the physical campus but also is transforming the university's idea of itself.

In 20 years, FIU has gone from being the scrappy local state school to a leading research and academic institution.

Last week it also became a leader in the push to make South Florida a more humane place to live and work.

''I wish the big companies would follow,'' said Tom Beasley, president of the university chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that will represent the janitors.

''This is a very difficult and expensive town to live in. And these folks, they're making the lowest wages possible while trying to live in this community,'' he said. ``And we need them. We all function together and have responsibilities to each other.''

Miami-Dade's billion-dollar skyline overshadows one of the poorest communities in the country, a city where one in every five people lives below the poverty line. In Florida, more than 3 million people don't have health insurance.

The reasons are many, but one trend that has exacerbated the plight of the working poor is the move to outsource jobs. It saves companies money, but often hurts the most vulnerable workers, stripping them of group health insurance.

Nationwide, most of the 9 million children without health insurance today have at least one parent who works full-time, according to a new report by the group Families USA, which advocates universal health care. In many ways, they were the perfect target of unionizing drives in South Florida: the men and women who scrub the floors and toilets at the highest centers of learning.

Lots of businesses need a good shaming in this town, but few were easier to embarrass than universities that, while raising millions, paid their humblest workers pennies.

After the UM janitors walked out, the story of men and women trying to get by on as little as $6.40 an hour resonated in a place where a middle class feels increasingly embattled.

Now the two largest universities have moved to do right by their janitors; only Nova Southeastern remains. Nova's announcement -- in the middle of a union drive -- that it may rebid its contract with the company that provides custodial services is troubling.

FIU may have acted out of pressure, but the university also spoke its conviction, one that other large businesses should follow: that every working person, no matter their education or job skills, is entitled to fair treatment and respect.

things not very cool at NOVA

2006-10-01T19:12:00.000-04:00

LABOR RELATIONS

NSU to redo janitor contract

Nova Southeastern University revealed plans to rebid a contract, even as a union drive heats up.

BY TRENTON DANIEL

tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com

The president of Nova Southeastern University announced that the school will rebid a contract employing janitors and landscapers -- just as about 300 workers are on the verge of declaring they wish to form a union.

In an e-mail titled ''An Open letter from The President'' sent Friday, NSU President Ray Ferrero Jr. said a review ``concluded that some of the operations should be brought in house, and that we should contract with companies who specialize in other components of our operations.''

Ferrero cited janitorial, landscaping and shuttle-bus services as under review. He wrote that the current contractor, Boston-based UNICCO, would be given an opportunity to rebid the contract.

The plan comes as some 300 janitors and landscapers at the Davie university are a few days from announcing that more than 60 percent want to form a union, said Renee Asher, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union. The union successfully organized a similar effort at the University of Miami this year.

Florida International University, part of the state system, announced last week that it would bring janitorial jobs back in house with significant pay raises, health care benefits and union representation.

Asher said the timing of Ferrero's e-mail, sent to a university official and apparently meant to be distributed to employees and students, warranted notice.

''Coincidentally, it came four days before the workers were expected to announce a majority support for the union,'' Asher said.

Mara Kiffin, an NSU spokeswoman, referred questions to David Dawson, executive director of University Relations. Dawson didn't return calls for comment. Ferrero could not be reached.

NSU employs some 330 janitors, landscapers, and maintenance workers, said Eric Brakken, an SEIU organizer. The workers would most likely be required to reapply for their jobs if the positions are brought in-house or if another contractor takes over, said Asher.

In April, The Miami Herald reported that the average wage for NSU's cleaning staff was $7.25 an hour but some workers start at $6.40 an hour. Workers are not offered healthcare coverage, although they can use the school's fee-based clinics.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' most recent guidelines say that a family of four needs to earn at least $20,000 a year, or $9.61 an hour, to be above the poverty level.

Wanda Rodrigues, an NSU custodian for 11 years who is involved in the union drive, said she viewed the move as an attempt to bust union organizing.

''Mr. Ferrero doesn't want the union,'' said Rodrigues, a 44-year-old Hollywood mother of two who makes $7.69 an hour. ``It's the best way for him to get rid of the workers in a legal way, a nice way.''

Earlier this year Ferrero wrote a letter indicating that the university wouldn't take a position on whether the janitors should unionize.

Once workers announce that a majority intend to form a union, they typically hold an election in order to be recognized.

The UNICCO contract reconsideration follows janitor organizing efforts at other South Florida universities. The University of Miami janitors approved a contract earlier this year following a high-profile campaign by SEIU that included walk outs and sit-ins.

FIU avoided such turmoil last week by unveiling a plan that aims to bring janitorial jobs back in house at pay increases of almost 50 percent plus health care. The janitors will join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents hundreds of FIU workers.

In April, NSU janitors engaged in a walkout for a couple of days to protest what they called unfair labor practices at the school.

In his e-mail, Ferrero wrote that ''significant consideration'' will be given to how UNICCO workers ``carry out their obligations to the university during the process.''

Asher was circumspect: ``We would hope that it's not an attempt to threaten workers from engaging in lawful union activity.''

Renee Asher SEIU Communications 202-255-4251

STUDENT SUMMIT THIS WEEKEND!

2006-09-27T22:08:00.000-04:00

fresh breeze of change at FIU

2006-08-26T07:26:00.000-04:00

August 24, 2006 04:29 PM US Eastern Timezone

FIU to Negotiate Health Insurance Plan for Adjunct Faculty, Temporary and Contract Workers

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 2006--Today Florida International University announced a challenge to health insurance companies: Design a plan that covers hundreds of temporary employees and contract workers who currently do not have access to affordable health care.

This innovative plan, which is the latest in a series of progressive human resources initiatives adopted in recent months, would need to carry an affordable price tag for the insured and be portable. The Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) is open to all insurance companies doing business in Florida.

"We hope to serve as the conduit that would enable our employees and the employees of our small business partners access to affordable health care through group rates," said Senior Vice President Vivian Sanchez. "The idea is to structure plans and negotiate rates which individuals or small companies could not otherwise afford."

The university would then give more than 2,000 individuals direct access to these deals. Some of the potential beneficiaries are adjunct faculty members and other temporary/part-time employees of the university (sometimes referred to as OPS) who are not covered by regular university benefits. Others work at FIU as janitors, grounds keepers, bus drivers, and security personnel but who don't have access to health care plans because they are not FIU employees, but rather are employed by university contractors who often do not offer health benefits.

Sanchez said the idea builds on innovative plans already in place at other institutions but would, for the first time, be available to contractors. The plan is expected to be in place by January of 2007.

"This plan has great potential for success because it addresses the needs of the temporary employees and contracted workers while working within the public university's fiscal limitations," said Sanchez, who also serves as the university's CFO.

"I'm proud of this move," said Faculty Senate Chair Bruce Hauptli. "We are taking the lead here as we endeavor to become known as an 'employer of choice' concerned with the well-being of all our employees and with those who work on our campuses and enrich our community."

Three years ago, the state granted its universities the authority to negotiate contracts, determine employee benefits and establish terms and conditions of employment. This process, typically referred to as devolution, set in motion a series of changes, including new human resources practices. Since that process started, many employees have gained benefits, better working conditions and higher pay. Also as part of this process, long-term FIU employees are being offered the opportunity to convert from temporary to permanent employment with full benefits. A plan is being developed for this transition.

FIU employees enjoy human resources policies that have been recognized for Progressive Workplace Innovations at the national level by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. In addition to traditional benefits such as paid leave, life insurance and retirement plans, FIU Employees have employee and family tuition waivers, paid personal development and flex-time and flex-place options.

"Our philosophy is to afford the entire FIU family the best possible working conditions," said FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. "Our Board of Trustees has clearly encouraged us to put in place contemporary, progressive measures in all areas of the institution. These actions get us closer to that goal."

For more information on the ITN visit http://www.fiu.edu/%7Epurchase/cbid.htm.

Contacts

Florida International University, Miami
Maydel Santana-Bravo, 305-348-1555

At A Glance

Florida International University
Source: via Business Wire Updated 03/24/2004 by company
Headquarters:	Miami, Florida
Website:	http://www.fiu.edu
CEO:	Modesto Maidique
Employees:	4,000
Organization:	University

30% wage increase for UM janitors

2006-08-24T17:24:00.000-04:00

a really good story by niala boodhoo in today's herald on yesterday's ratification of the contract by UNICCO employees. and here is the herald's summary of the new contract.

!Si!

2006-08-24T00:06:00.000-04:00

(pictures courtesy of Daniel Correa)

the contract we fought for has been ratified!

2006-08-23T18:22:00.000-04:00

Today at lunchtime, a joyous final chapter was written to the yearlong struggle for a union contract by the UNICCO workers at UM. President of the SEUI Local 11 Rob Schuler explained to a packed Episcopal Church the details of the contract hammered out by UNICCO, the union and the bargaining team of workers. In brief, these are the highlights:

Wages: $0.25 per hour raise on Sep 1, 2006
$0.40 Sep 1, 2007
$0.50 Sep 1, 2008
$0.50 Sep 1, 2009

Health Insurance: any increases in the premium up to 10% to be absorbed by UNICCO. Increases beyond that will trigger a committee to investigate further ways of reducing costs

Personal Days: Increase from 2 to 3 paid personal days

Vacations: 1 year - 1 week
5 years - 2 weeks
10 years - 3 weeks

Holidays: Three extra paid holidays: Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and the day after Thanksgiving

Funeral Leave: 3 paid days

Seniority: Workers with more years get more benefits

Safety: A committee of workers and management will meet every month to address any safety issues

Union Rights: The union will have the right to post materials, to speak to new hires and to investigate abuses on job time

Immigration: Workers will be allowed time off to deal with immigration issues

Job Security: Basic structures will be put in place to deal with harassment, favoritism and improper dismissal

The workers voted to ratify the contract with great enthusiasm. The energy was amazing and the workers certainly felt they had scored a great victory. As one of them, Julio Ramos, said before the vote, hopefully their job would become one that can lead them out of poverty instead of keeping them in it.

new contract to be voted on today

2006-08-23T10:29:00.000-04:00

in today's miami herald:

UM janitors to vote on union today

BY NIALA BOODHOO
nboodhoo@miamiherald.com

University of Miami janitors will vote this afternoon to approve the first union contract with the private school, the Service Employees International Union said.

SEIU said it had reached a tentative agreement with contractor UNICCO Services Company on a new employee contract for the UM workers.

Some janitors held a months-long strike at the university last spring in protest over the right to organize. After nine weeks of the walkout and protests from some students, faculty and clergy -- including a hunger strike -- the university, Unicco and the union reached an agreement in May on how the workers could vote for a union.

A majority of the janitors voted for the union earlier this summer, and negotiations on the contract began soon after.

The vote will be at 1 p.m. today, SEIU said.

Just before the strike began, UM announced it would raise wages for the workers by at least 25 percent.

Details of the contract were not provided, although the union said the tentative agreement provided for higher wages, more vacation time and better healthcare coverage for the 400 workers.

Emboldened by its success at UM, union activists have started organizing campaigns at Nova Southeastern and Florida International Universities.

welcome back UM!

2006-08-22T14:07:00.000-04:00

it's a grey and rainy day in miami, but it's okay, because our beautiful lawns and beautiful trees need the water -- not that they wouldn't be getting it if it weren't raining, mind you, but this way, hopefully, the university will turn off the sprinklers and let nature take care of itself!

as you admire our spiffed up campus, please keep in mind the men and women who've been putting in a lot of underpaid overtime in the last few weeks to make it look its very best for the beginning of the new year.

now that our UNICCO workers are finally unionized (even these many months later, i cannot write these words without a tinge of disbelief and awe), new contract negotiations are under way. they are taking place as i type. i'll keep you informed.

on a more somber note, i'd like to remember here the mother of pablo rodriguez, one of the ten workers who went on a hunger strike last spring. a couple of weeks ago julia felt ill during a very long shift in 95 degree temperatures. he coworkers had told her to go home or at least take a break, drink some water. but she's always been that way, the hardworking type. she died at the hospital two days later. some of you may remember her: she came to freedom village late in the evening, to spend the night with pablo. pablo's hunger strike was, in large measure, for her: he had already lost his UNICCO job when he started it. our hearts go out to pablo and his family.

and just when you thought the student saga was over, with all of the students accepting the university's handing down of probation, community service (!), and some writing exercises, well, no, it isn't over. last thurday brian lemmerman, a STAND student, sued the university of miami:

A contract lawsuit filed Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court accuses the University of Miami of unfairly disciplining a student who peacefully demonstrated against the school’s labor policies during a union drive by its janitors.

The suit, filed by Miami attorneys Lida Rodriguez and Kenneth Kukec, alleges that UM officials railroaded their client, Brian Lemmerman, by flouting the school’s disciplinary procedures and ignoring conflicts of interest. Kukec and Rodriguez claim that UM’s actions constitute a breach of contract.

(read the full article from the daily business review in the first comment).

in the miami herald, ana mendendez wrote a scathing piece on the lawsuit and its significance.

even the students who settled are not happy. like many of us, they feel that the proceedings cast a dangerous precedent on freedom of speech on campus. jane connolly, STAND's faculty advisor, has written two impassioned letters about two students whose hearings she was personally involved with. i'm reprinting both of them in full:

august 18:

Dear Colleagues,

I met this morning with Katharine Westaway, a graduate student who has been subjected to disciplinary action by the administration. She shared with me her concerns about the status of free speech for students on campus and the significance of this summer's disciplinary actions for students in the future. With Ms Westaway's permission, I share with you her experiences and concerns.

Ms Westaway, an MA student in English, is a senator in the Graduate Student Association. A week before receiving her summons, she was informed by James Fatzinger, Assistant Dean of Students, that she had been selected to serve on the honor council. (Does anyone besides Ms Westaway and me find this appointment ironic, given that she would soon face disciplinary charges at the time and that Mr. Fatzinger would subsequently serve as the judge for her hearing?) Since she would be away from campus for the entire summer and traveling for a portion of it, Ms. Westaway requested that her hearing be postponed until the fall. In this way, she could attend, present witnesses and be judged by a jury of her peers. As with all such requests, she was denied. On 29 June, while attending a program at Johns Hopkins, Ms Westaway participated in a "hearing" telephonically. I use quotation marks as it is clear that very little was actually *heard* by the administration in this or any other case.

Although she was asked if she wished to present witnesses, Ms Westaway wondered just how she would do this in the middle of summer when everyone had scattered and she herself wasn't present. The hearing was presided by Mr. Fatzinger who had also been present at the events where Ms Westaway's alleged violations occurred. Indeed, Mr. Fatzinger took photos of Ms Westaway in front of Ashe that she was asked to identify during her proceeding, as can be seen in a window reflection of Mr. Fatzinger seen in one of these photos. Can anyone say "conflict of interest"? (BTW: in all the photos, Ms Westaway is seated on the ground reading with tape over her mouth. How disorderly and disruptive is that?) The administration's case was presented by Gregory Singleton, Associate Dean of Students and therefore of higher rank than Mr. Fatzinger. It seems odd to have the judge have less power than the prosecutor/investigator, no? The hearing lasted about 45 mins. with a guilty verdict given immediately at the conclusion. Nothing like thoughtful reflection. Ms Westaway's punishment: 2 semesters of probation, 10 hrs. of community service, and a 500-word reflection. The relatively low number of hours of community service was because Mr. Singleton had only seen her in front of Ashe on one day. So, the prosecutor decides the severity of the punishment based on his own eyewitness experience? Again, can anyone say "conflict of interest"? Ms Westaway learned this week in an email from Mr. Singleton that she was late in completing the community service and the reflection. According to the email I saw, he said he sent a letter to her "about July 7" which informed her that the deadline for completion was 29 July. Mind you, he had been told that she was traveling for most of the summer, yet somehow expected her to receive this letter (which she still has not received) and
complete two-thirds of her punishment in three weeks.

Ms Westaway felt that she had virtually no rights in facing these disciplinary proceedings. She was not given a real opportunity to present her case with witnesses before her peers, nor could she have counsel (legal or academic) present to aid her. Quite simply, she was not accorded an impartial, democratic process. She is gravely concerned, as am I, that these hearings will set precedents for future disciplinary actions and that students will routinely be accorded no rights. She asks that we work to prevent this, for the sake of free speech and student rights.

Cordially,

Jane Connolly

august 21

Dear Colleagues,

On 7 July, a "hearing" was held for the disciplinary charges against Alyssa Cundari, a first-year student. With Ms Cundari's permission, I share with you some details from that hearing.

Dayle Wilson, Assistant Dean of Students, presided the case which Gregory Singleton, Associate Dean of Students, investigated and prosecuted. (I have already commented on this uneven power structure elsewhere.) The two witnesses for the prosecution were Richard Walker, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, and Keith Fletcher, Director of Butler Volunteer Services. The judge, investigator/prosecutor and two witnesses are all under the Student Affairs umbrella. Ms Cundari presented as witnesses two professors (Frank Palmeri and me) and a graduate student (Shelly Stromoski). I leave it to Dr. Palmeri and Ms Stromoski to tell you of their experiences, if the choose. I will share mine as they supplement Ms. Westaway's experience.

As with other students, Ms Cundari was not allowed to have her hearing postponed until the fall. She returned to Miami the day before the hearing to present her case, finding what witnesses she could in July. I was very impressed with Ms Cundari's composure, maturity and determination against the odds. In response to her questions, I attested to the following:

1. The students all behaved in an orderly fashion. It's hard to call a group of students disorderly when they stand with tape over their mouths and hum "We Shall Overcome," pray, or sit reading books on poverty. I noted that I grew up in Oakland in the 60s, during the rise of the Black Panthers and the Free Speech/Anti War movements, attended Berkeley as an undergraduate and taught at Wisconsin-Madison. I've seen disorderly conduct, and our students were always peaceful, orderly and respectful.

2. The students did not block access to Ashe. Following the initial demonstration, which Charles Steele and many clergy attended, they always made sure that doors were accessible. The administration took the decision to lock those doors, and thus obstructed access. I also witnessed the students helping people (students trying to get advising before registration, potential students and parents, etc.) find their way into Ashe since the administration simply locked the doors and provided no assistance to those wishing to enter to do business there.

3. As an administrator in Ashe at the time of Ms Cundari's alleged misconduct, I attested to the fact that the only complaints I received regarding access and disorderly conduct related to the administration. Faculty were especially disturbed by the way they were treated by security personnel, students found it difficult to get in to see advisors, and everyone (including the cops I spoke to) found the decision to turn on the sprinklers absurd. Indeed, the students were going to move from the entry of Ashe to the lawn until the sprinklers came on and eliminated that possibility.

4. Ms Cundari presented photographs of herself, asking me to identify what she was doing: she was sitting in front of Ashe reading. I further testified that I had seen her on other occasions studying for a Chemistry exam. I don't think that reading and studying are considered disorderly activities on most campuses.

5. I was present when Dean Sandler delivered many of his warnings. He simply told the students that they had to leave, but never said that a warning was final, never gave a deadline, never stated possible consequences. In other words, he never said: "If you do not leave by X hour, the following disciplinary charges will be brought." From my point of view, this was a mistake. I know from my discussions with students during the events in question that they were prepared to leave if they were given a final warning, something that Ms Westaway reconfirmed in my discussion with her last week. They simply weren't given that warning.

Mr. Singleton asked me only two questions. The first was about my familiarity with the students' rights and responsibilities handbook. Yes, and I'm appalled by the way it's being construed. (OK, I only said yes, not wanting to prejudice Ms Cundari's case.) The second was how familiar I was with the office of the Dean of Students and whether I had found that office to be fair in the past. I noted that I have been involved with issues ranging from academic dishonesty to inappropriate conduct, and had dealt almost exclusively with Dean Sandler, whom I always found to be fair. I had little experience with the other members of the office and therefore could not judge their fairness. He asked me no questions about Ms Cundari's conduct.

The independent testimony of two professors and a student did little to persuade Ms Wilson or Mr. Singleton. As in the case of Ms Westaway, Ms Cundari was found guilty at the conclusion of the hearing, with the same punishments as Ms Westaway. I have little doubt that the findings in both cases were predetermined. Do we really want students to be subjected to pro forma justice? If we tolerate this, who will be next?

Cordially,

Jane Connolly

dear colleagues

2006-07-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

our colleague jane connolly recently sent this letter to the UM faculty as a commentary on the administration "response" to our letter of june 27. we endorse its content and share in jane's indignation.

Dear Colleagues,

On June 27, 110 faculty submitted a letter in support of our students to Patricia Whitely, Vice President of Student Affairs, and William Sandler, Dean of Students, with copies to President Shalala and Provost LeBlanc. This letter was also posted on http://www.picketline.blogspot.com/ and released to the local press. The Daily Business Review published the letter and offered the UM administration the opportunity to respond. Although the faculty were not given the courtesy of the acknowledgement of the letter, much less a response to its content, the administration did provide a response to DBR as follows:

To the Editor:

While we respect the views expressed by our faculty, it is unfortunate that these particular faculty members have chosen to publicize private, protected information about University of Miami students.

Because the university's principal concern is the well-being of its students, which includes maintaining confidentiality of disciplinary proceedings, it declines the opportunity to discuss the specifics of this matters.

It is worth noting, however, that the faculty letter contains many factual inaccuracies and mischaracterizations with regard to the events to date and is co-signed by only 110 members of the 2,600 faculty body.

The university's actions in this matter have been supported by a number of broad constituencies, including faculty, students, and alumni. The university continues to strongly believe that the students have been treated fairly, responsibly and in accord with its Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook.

University of Miami

The letter makes a number of false claims which must be addressed.

1. The purported signatory of the letter is "University of Miami." It is odd that anyone in the administration believes that s/he is the "University of Miami." The closing sentence also reveals that the author believes that s/he speaks for the entire university: "The university continues to strongly believe that the students have been treated fairly, responsibly and in accord with its Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook." This is, quite simply, not the case. The university is comprised of its students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni. Minimally, the 110 faculty who signed the letter and scores of students who have been accused or who support the accused do not believe that the students have been treated fairly. Conversations with a large number of staff and some administrators, both vulnerable entities in this context, show that they do not share this view. Nor does any of the alumni we have spoken to. The 110 faculty signatories did not claim to be the University of Miami, and we ask in the future that the administration refrain from such misleading statements.

2. The administration asserts that the release of this letter to the press violates "private, protected information" about the students. This claim is sheer nonsense. Since no student's identity was revealed, no confidentiality was infringed. In addition, the students themselves have spoken directly to the press about the charges and proceedings. They have also authorized some of the signatories to do so, as well as saying that information, including their identities, may be posted on picketline. The administration's claim of a violation of confidentiality by faculty is the height of hypocrisy, given that the administration violated the students' right to privacy (and hence, the Buckley amendment) by delivering summonses to some students in class, in front of their colleagues and faculty.

3. The administration claims that the letter contains "factual inaccuracies and mischaracterizations" but declines to indicate any of these. We stand behind the statements in the letter, which are based on information provided by the accused students and their lawyers (some of whom are UM faculty), our own discussions with UM administrators, and our own eyewitness experience of the events.

4. The administration's declaration that "The university's actions in this matter have been supported by a number of broad constituencies, including faculty, students, and alumni" is bogus. While some from each group *may* have supported the administration's actions during the strike, very few in any of these groups even *know* of the administration's actions with regard to disciplining the students, most especially because these actions are being taken in the summer when faculty and students are largely absent from campus. This, in fact, is a large part of the complaint of the accused students and the faculty signatories: the administration has refused to postpone the proceedings until the fall when the students could have a fair hearing before a panel including students and with student and faculty witnesses and faculty advisors to support their cases.

5. The administration shows no respect for the signatories, who are "only 110 members of the 2,600 faculty body." Only? The fact that as many as 110 faculty signed the letter in the middle of the summer is astonishing. Either the author of the letter wishes to denigrate the 110 signatories or, as an administrator, doesn't realize how astonishing it is that 110 faculty could even be found in the middle of the summer to consider signing a letter. It is also worth noting that, unlike the administration, we have no means to communicate with all faculty across the campuses. We can only communicate to that portion of the faculty (fewer than 600) who are members of this list.

Cordially,

Jane Connolly
Professor of Spanish

2006-07-12T17:07:00.000-04:00

Check out this piece by Mary Beth Maxwell, from American Rights at Work. The piece appears in Political Affairs.

U.S. Labor Law is Broken

If you ask most people in America why there are fewer members of unions, they have ready answers. They think it’s because of technology or because manufacturing jobs have left or it’s due to globalization and changes in the economy. They agree how important unions were in the old days, but wonder if maybe they just don’t fit anymore—maybe that’s why fewer workers have unions today. There are three answers to that question that most people in America don’t know—and need to know—that explain why so few workers have unions.

The first is that employer interference with workers making a choice about a union is completely off the charts. At American Rights at Work, we crunched the government’s own numbers from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and demonstrated that literally every 23 minutes in the United States—in the United States of America—someone is illegally discriminated against or fired for trying to exercise their rights at work. That’s really an outrage in a democracy. There is a level of lawlessness in the U.S. workplace in terms of firings and surveillance and intimidation that I think would stun most people if they knew about it. We commissioned a report from the University of Illinois at Chicago that found 30 percent of employers fire somebody illegally during organizing campaigns. Further, 49 percent of employers threatened to shut down the worksite if people were to vote for forming a union, and 82 percent of those employers actually hire high-priced union-busting consultants to coach them in how to defeat those campaigns.

Second, most people in America have no idea that union-busting is a massive, for-profit industry—it’s simply not “some workers want a union and some don’t.” Workers are up against hired guns, coaching managers and middle-managers and co-workers on how to defeat a union organizing campaign. [cont'd]

The administration's "response" to the faculty letter

2006-06-30T19:02:00.000-04:00

Since it looks like the UM administration prefers to publish its response to the faculty letter in a newspaper rather than responding directly to the faculty, we trekked to Barnes & Noble and bought a copy of the Daily Business Review. Here is the administration's response:

To the Editor:

While we respect the views expressed by our faculty, it is unfortunate that these particular faculty members have chosen to publicize private, protected information about University of Miami students.

Because the university's principal concern is the well-being of its students, which includes maintaining confidentiality of disciplinary proceedings, it declines the opportunity to discuss the specifics of this matters.

It is worth noting, however, that the faculty letter contains many factual inaccuracies and mischaracterizations with regard to the events to date and is co-signed by only 110 members of the 2,600 faculty body.

The university's actions in this matter have been supported by a number of broad constituencies, including faculty, students, and alumni. The university continues to strongly believe that the students have been treated fairly, responsibly and in accord with its Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook.

University of Miami

The Daily Business Review is available online, but you need a subscription to read its content. To find a place near you where the Review is sold, click here. If you have comments and suggestions, click the "comment" link at the bottom of this post, then click "other", write whatever name you want to go by, ignore the webpage space, and write your heart out.

Faculty's letter to the UM Administration printed in today's Daily Business Review

2006-06-30T11:30:00.000-04:00

The UM faculty's letter to the administration, protesting the latter's treatment of the students being disciplined for their role in supporting the janitors, appears in the Daily Business Review, along with a response from the administration. Unfortunately, you have to be a paid subscriber to read these, so unless the administration actually replies to the letter we sent them, we won't know what they're thinking. (If you haven't already, you can read the faculty letter here.)

Thanks to the Daily Business Review for providing the space for this debate.

Post by Michael Froomkin

2006-06-27T23:32:00.001-04:00

We should have posted a link to this interesting comment on the student discipline situation earlier. It is from the blog discourse.net, written by our colleague Michael Froomkin (UM, Law).

The Bush NLRB

2006-06-27T19:48:00.000-04:00

An excellent post from Common Dreams about worrying goings-on at the NLRB:

Help Labor Stop Bush NLRB Assault on Workers' Rights
by Stewart Acuff and Sheldon Friedman

The last thing America's workers need is another economic kick in the groin, but the Bush labor board may soon deliver what could be its lowest blow yet. The Bush National Labor Relations Board is easily the most anti-worker labor board in history and has lost few opportunities to turn back the clock on workers' rights, but even against this sorry backdrop, the scope of what they now are contemplating is breathtaking.

In a series of pending cases known as Kentucky River, the Bush board could strip what remains of federal labor law protections from hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of workers whose jobs include even minor, incidental or occasional supervisory duties. The pending cases involve charge nurses in a hospital and a nursing home and lead workers in a manufacturing plant, but these workers could be just the tip of the iceberg.

The AFL-CIO and its affiliates will not stand idly by in the face of this unfolding workers' rights atrocity. We have declared a national week of action starting July 10 to protest against the Bush labor board at NLRB headquarters in Washington and at regional NLRB offices and other sites around the country. Members of Congress have been asked to urge the NLRB to permit oral arguments by workers who will be adversely affected by the pending decisions. This is the least the board can do before ruling in a matter of such importance, but so far Bush-appointed Chairman Battista shows every indication that he will deny even this modest request to allow these workers to be heard. [cont'd]

Letter Concerning Student Disciplining from UM Faculty to Administration

2006-06-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

Today, the following letter was sent to Vice-President Whitely and Dean Sandler, signed by 110 UM faculty members (names posted in the first comment).

Dear Vice President Whitely and Dean Sandler,

It is with a mixture of indignation, sadness, embarrassment and weariness that we find ourselves forced to write another letter to advocate for justice at the University of Miami.

In the course of the last few months, our students have shown an array of human and civic virtues that one does not see often these days. Through peaceful and respectful demonstrations and with minimal disruption to campus life, they supported the fight for justice and dignity of people they barely knew. Anyone who has spent any time with these young people knows that they are gentle and respectful, that they care deeply about their academic careers, and that they have a keen sense of justice. These are qualities we all unequivocally encourage in our students. As former President Tad Foote told one professor, there was something noble in what these students did and he was proud of them. We agree.

The university administration has responded to the students’ actions on behalf of the janitors and groundskeepers first with harshness, and now with underhanded and petty strategies aimed at thwarting their right to an unbiased and fair hearing. We find this behavior deeply reprehensible and unacceptable at a university. A university is first and foremost about its students. These are our students. These are the people to whom we dedicate the largest part of our professional lives. These young people are the raison d’etre of what we do as faculty, staff, and administrators of this university.

The administration has used some deplorable tactics with the students. They served summonses to them in class, a violation of federal law (the Buckley amendment guarantees a student’s privacy) and of faculty rights as well as a disruption of the academic mission. They called students to "preliminary hearings" about potential serious charges, leaving the possibility of these charges hanging over them through commencement. They also were told that they had an "administrative stop" placed on their registration (in the middle of registration period) and they would have to see Associate Dean Singleton to register for classes. He is not an academic dean. He is their prosecutor and ought not to have anything to do with their registration. Along with the students and their lawyers, we see all of this as intimidation, something that should never take place at a university.

We deeply regret that these students have been targeted for disciplinary action for acting on the principles we teach regarding democracy and social justice. As currently implemented, the process by which they are being judged is profoundly flawed and characterized by arbitrary and unfair decisions. Specifically:

1) Students who pleaded not guilty were denied postponement of their hearings to the Fall, at which time they would appear before a University Disciplinary Hearing Panel including their peers. Instead, Associate Dean Singleton, who is a witness in some of the cases, now serves simultaneously as investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury. There are clearly multiple conflicts of interest here, and the students cannot possibly have an impartial hearing. Moreover, by holding the hearings in the summer, the students are deprived of valued advisors and witnesses to support their cases who are out of town. The first summonses were delivered on 21 April, which allowed sufficient time for hearings to take place with a full panel to adjudicate the cases and with supporting witnesses and advisors still on campus. This was not done, however, because the Dean of Students granted his own office a continuance to do additional investigation. How is it possible that the Dean of Students grant one side a continuance to be able to present its best case but not the other? The cards are clearly and purposefully stacked against the students and they cannot possibly have a fair hearing in these circumstances.

2) Some students have now seen added to their previous charges the further charge of unauthorized distribution of printed material. The violation cited from Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Handbook is B.16, which references the Poster Distribution and Advertising policy on p. 47. The policy refers specifically to advertising, and requires the approval of the Vice President for Business Services. The materials distributed by the students were not advertisements but statements relating to social justice. They were acts of free speech and therefore not covered by any advertising policy.

3) The students who pleaded guilty or no contest to the charges brought against them were given absurd and even insulting penalties, including community service. They are being punished precisely because they did hundreds of hours of community service to improve the University and South Florida’s communities by assuring that workers at UM have freedom of choice, the right to work with dignity and respect, and to earn a living wage. Moreover, these students regularly do other community service, working at clinics and homeless shelters, for various environmental and civic groups, etc. And now you are going to punish them by making them do such work? How inappropriate! Adding to this absurdity, students who have graduated or will graduate this summer or fall have been given two semesters of probation. When asked how this affects them, Associate Dean Singleton told these students that this punishment means nothing for them. Then why give it, except to be vindictive? Finally, two students have been singled out for a particularly spiteful punishment: the loss of campus housing in the fall at University Village.

We ask that all students who have been charged with offenses in relation to their peaceful and respectful protests during the janitors’ and groundskeepers’ strike be granted amnesty. We need to be a model of openness and dialogue, a beacon for the free exchange of ideas and true learning. To punish these students is to undercut these fundamental goals.

Respectfully,

dear editor

2006-06-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

Saturday, 6/24

Fluent in English

It pains me to see several Miami Herald readers write so viscerally against Ana Menendez's June 11 column, English-only proposal will hurt our nation. I am a bilingual speaker. English is not my first language. People often point to me as an example of someone whose linguistic behavior in the United States is the right and commendable one.

I, however, don't see anything meritorious in the fact that I speak English fluently while other immigrants don't. I don't know a single immigrant or, for that matter, anyone who wouldn't like to speak English fluently. Given the opportunity, I'm sure every immigrant would gladly learn English.

We must all work toward a culture of patience, kindness and generosity, not one of harsh and exclusionary laws.

GIOVANNA POMPELE, Miami

Sunday 6/26

UM unjust to students

Ana Menendez deserves the community's gratitude for exposing the University of Miami's unjust treatment of students who protested the salaries and working conditions of UM janitors and grounds-keepers (Janitor's won rights; students weren't so lucky, June 21).

Many faculty are disappointed and bewildered by the administration's persecution of students who worked for the welfare of others. Even some faculty, like myself, who were not completely sympathetic with some of the Service Employees International Union's tactics, deplore the administration's short-sighted punishment of our students.

The punishment is not only ethically questionable but also pedagogically wrongheaded and pragmatically myopic. Educators know that much of what we hope will develop in students' intellects and imaginations happens outside the college classroom. What are we teaching students by throwing them out of university housing for defending their beliefs?

Yes, in a technically legal sense, they broke some rules. But just how disruptive were they? What protests over the past five decades on major college campuses -- including those where President Shalala presided -- did not break rules and inconvenience others?

During the protests, I heard that groups of prospective students touring the campus were attracted, not repelled, by our students' demonstrations of altruism and courage. It is not too late for the UM administration to reverse its course of action. In my 37 years at UM, I have never felt such a reversal is so critical to the ideals of a university.

RONALD NEWMAN, associate professor of English, UM, Miami

Monday 6/27

Perspective on Local Terror Suspects

I am not afraid of seven men who sell shampoo during the day and leap over chairs and do jumping-jacks by night -- even if they did, on occasion, discuss ways to stick it to The Man. I am, however, nervous watching the FBI target struggling young black men from low-income neighborhoods and making terrorists out of them. The 9/11 hijackers didn't hang out in the 'hood. But as the arrests last week show, we get back from our communities what we put into them.

I know Buena Vista and Liberty City, and I've watched urban development in Miami. It destroys the positive culture and social networks that have evolved in low-income neighborhoods over the years. People are run out of these neighborhoods, which are left with no affordable housing. There is no concern for a social safety net, only for real-estate values.

The seven men, it appears, were trying to find meaning and purpose in a time and place that considers poor, immigrant and nonwhite men, at best, disposable and, at worst, an obstacle to progress.

If their resentment built up over the years, they were and are not alone.

They may have talked big, but they were not armed and dangerous. So far, I've seen no convincing evidence of a serious plot or threat. What we have seen is a preemptive strike against our own. Shame on us for spying on and baiting our citizens, rather than making good on our American promises: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Shame on us for congratulating ourselves for putting these men in leg shackles. I will not feel safer until I see politicians actively foster the politics of tolerance, inclusion, dialogue, unity and hope, instead of fear, selfishness and ignorance.

MARTHA OTIS, Miami

Ana Menendez on Students' Disciplining at UM

2006-06-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a column from today's Miami Herald by Ana Menendez concerning the disciplinary measures being taken against UM students for supporting the striking janitors:

Janitors won rights; students weren't so lucky
BY ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@herald.com

Almost four months after going on strike, the University of Miami janitors finally got their union last week. The story that began March 1 is almost over now, and the only ones left out of the happy ending are the 18 students who pushed the limits of the accepted in their support for the workers.

Even as the janitors celebrated, UM continued to persecute the students for their nonviolent protests on behalf of the strikers.

Faced with a rigged system -- lawyers say administrators were to function as witness, prosecutor, judge and jury -- students began settling their cases with the university at about the same time the union announced a majority of janitors had voted to join.

The settlements continue. Punishments have included academic probation, a 500-word essay and, most ironically of all, community service.

''Here we are being sentenced to community service when we're being tried for a service we did to the community,'' said Amy Sun, 21, a psychology major who pleaded no contest.

UM'S SIDE

To hear UM tell it, administrators were left with little choice after students repeatedly refused to leave the grounds around the Ashe Building earlier this year. ''They were told there are appropriate ways of recognizing these points of view so you're not disrupting the orderly operation of the university,'' UM attorney Eric Isicoff said.

It's a reasonable argument that would be easier to swallow if this had been the case of a drunken mob. But these are stellar students, many of whom are attending UM on scholarship. For the most part, they camped out peacefully, troubling little more than the conscience of those who chose to simply walk by. They were engaged in a thoughtful act on behalf of a cause they saw as just. Surely the standards for judging them should reflect that.

Far more troubling than anything the students did is the way UM administrators have chosen to deal with it, going after students with a zeal that seems to have more to do with retribution than justice.

First, administrators threatened students with major charges that could get them expelled or suspended. When a who's-who of Miami's legal talent stepped forward to defend the students, UM quickly retreated, downgrading the complaint to ``university offenses.''

''Under their own rules, a student who is charged with a university offense is not entitled to right of counsel,'' said attorney Lida Rodriguez, who is advising Jacob Coker-Dukowitz, one of the student leaders. ``They did it not out of kindness but out of trying to deprive them of the assistance of an advisor.''

Then administrators insisted on holding the hearings in the summer, when students would not be available to sit on the ''juries.'' And in a tactic more befitting a second-rate spy caper, administrators apparently have hauled out photographs to help make their cases.

''They showed me this photograph and all you can see is this red goatee and something that looks like my nose,'' said Daniel Grossman, 21, a film major who lost his housing privileges as part of his settlement.

LAST SETTLEMENT

Late Tuesday, Coker-Dukowitz, who had been one of the hold-outs, joined the others in settling his case. He, too, loses his housing at the coveted University Village, punishment that also imposes a financial burden.

Isicoff maintains that the case against the students is not about free speech. UM, he said, is simply ``representing the right of a whole other group of people who do not wish to engage in this manner.''

In fact, this goes beyond the issue of free speech. In a town that is only now growing into the concept of peaceful dissent, the prosecution of the students -- however legally justified -- sets a sad tone.

Universities ought to be defending the lonely maverick. The world is already full of people willing to argue that the majority has a right to remain comfortable.

Encouraging News on a Blue-Green Alliance

2006-06-16T18:18:00.000-04:00

This article from Grist Magazine describes a new alliance between labor and environmentalists who have not always enjoyed an easy relationship. Let's hope this alliance prospers.

Labor Gains

New green/labor alliance brings Sierra Club and Steelworkers together
By Amanda Griscom Little
16 Jun 2006

Organized labor and environmentalists -- engaged in an on-again-off-again flirtation for years -- may finally be getting to third base.

Last week, Carl Pope, head of the Sierra Club, and Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union, announced the formation of the Blue/Green Alliance, linking the nation's biggest industrial labor union with the nation's largest environmental organization. Their motto: "Good jobs, a clean environment, and a safer world."

"The Blue/Green Alliance is one of the most important initiatives undertaken by the environmental movement in decades," said Pope at the launch event. Gerard said the creation of good jobs requires sound environmental strategy: "We cannot have one without the other." [cont'd]

Fuller Coverage - UPDATED

2006-06-16T06:33:00.000-04:00

Fuller coverage of yesterday's events, and a nice picture, from the Miami Herald.

A nice piece from the Orlando Sentinel, here reprinted in the Broward County Sun-Sentinel. According to figures quoted in this piece, the first hard numbers we have seen, 290 out of 385 janitors voted for the union. That's 75%.

And there's a brief mention in the New York Times.

Further charges brought against students

2006-06-15T23:40:00.000-04:00

It seems that two of the students facing disciplinary action have had a further charge brought against them: distributing literature. What was, presumably, the distributing of flyers or information supporting the workers' campaign to unionize is deemed, by the University, to be in violation of this paragraph from page 63 of the Students' Rights and Responsibilities Handbook:

Distributing or Posting Printed Materials (Poster Distribution and Advertising Policy on page 47) Unauthorized distribution or posting of printed materials in the University Center, Residence Halls, or other University campus facility is prohibited; failure to comply with the Distribution or Posting Printed Materials Policy is prohibited.

South Florida Campus Consortium

2006-06-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

Jobs With Justice is helping to engender a new organization, the South Florida Campus Consortium, which will bring together students, faculty and staff from South Florida schools, colleges and universities to help promote social justice on their campuses. They are planning to kick off with a large summit for campus activists in the Fall semester. To begin preparing for that summit there will be an organizational meeting this Sunday, June 18th. Anyone who would like to get involved with this exciting project is encouraged to attend.

When: Sunday June 18 at 6pm
Where: IBEW Local 349 - 1657 NW 17 Avenue [mapquest]

If you are interested but cannot attend, or just to get more information, contact Mewelau Hall (abuelitatalula27@netscape.net) or Beni Yunis (Bernardita.yunis@gmail.com, (305) 968 7542) both of UM, or Pablo Avendano (peteep@gmail.com, (305) 720-1183) of FIU.

More great strike photos

2006-06-15T21:16:00.000-04:00

Check out another great set of photos by Carlos Miller of Magic City Media, these for an exhibition by Miami Cultural Expressions.

It's Official!

2006-06-15T15:49:00.000-04:00

Today, it was announced by the SEIU that 70% of the custodial workers employed at UM by UNICCO have signed cards asking the SEIU to represent them. The University and UNICCO have both declared themselves satisfied with the results, and UNICCO and the SEIU will now begin bargaining for a contract for the approximately 425 janitors and groundskeepers.

You can read the SEIU press release here.

Other coverage is supplied by the Miami Herald, CBS and the South Florida Business Journal.

After a press conference at which the results of the card check were announced, a delegation of workers, faculty, students and clergy went to Sunset Mall to deliver a message to Simon Property Group, the Mall's owner. Father Frank Corbishley explained to a representative of Simon Property Group that although janitorial staff at the Mall are employed by UNICCO, a three-way conversation between workers, UNICCO and SPG was essential, since SPG can choose whether or not it will contract with UNICCO for its services. You can just see the top of his head here as he reports back on the meeting.

After this, a busload of workers, students, clergy and union people hopped on a large bus heading for Broward County, where they went to meet workers and community activists from Nova.

Daily Business Review Covers Student Hearings

2006-06-14T17:08:00.000-04:00

Check out this story from the Daily Business Review on the student discipline hearings.

UM dean to run hearing, decide students' fate
June 09, 2006
By: Jessica M. Walker

The University of Miami students who face disciplinary action for their roles in a janitors strike are facing an administrative process the students' attorneys believe was designed to deny them a fair hearing.

The timing of the charges against about 20 students puts the disciplinary proceedings in the summer months, which means the students will be tried and judged by a single dean. No trial date has been set.

If the charges had been leveled against them during the standard school year, the students would have been tried by a panel of students, professors and administrators. The rules are outlined in the student handbook.

Attorneys who volunteered to represent the students believe the set-up was intentional and designed to railroad the students for allying themselves with janitors who campaigned this year to organize under the Service Employees International Union.

"Obviously the fix was in from the beginning," said Lida Rodriguez, partner at Duane Morris in Miami and one of 23 attorneys aiding the students. "The fact that an academic institution would go through the farce of creating such an unfair process to blemish the records of these students is outrageous."

The university has retained Eric D. Isicoff of Isicoff Ragatz & Koenigsberg in Miami to aid with the disciplinary process. Isicoff said that retaining counsel for the hearings is not always done, but since the accused students hired counsel and because of the publicity of the case, the university retained him.

According to Isicoff, the timing of the charges was not intentional and the university is simply following the rules and procedure laid out in the student handbook."

Any notion of any sort of timing issue or conspiracy is totally without merit," Isicoff said. "The timing of events is the only reason we find ourselves dealing with this in the summer. Any suggestion of a conspiracy or timing issues is completely unfounded."

The charges arose from student participation in two months of peaceful protest on campus over the janitors' right to organize into a union. Their efforts included a hunger strike and a sit-in. The protests never got unruly or violent, but the administration insists the students were disruptive.

In late April, several of the students who protested were served with "administrative subpoenas," telling them the university was considering charges of disorderly conduct and failing to comply with school orders. The subpoenas were followed by questioning by a university dean. The questioning included showing the students photographs of the protest, and asking them to identify their friends and associates.

The students were not formally charged by the university until last week. The charges are classified as minor, meaning the punishment could be anything short of expulsion by the university. If the charges had come during the school year, the regular rules of procedure would apply. Since they were formally filed in the summer, a dean will serve as judge and jury for the students. Since the hearings are private, the students' attorneys will not be allowed to be present.

The university has been criticized in the media for punishing students who were engaged in peaceful protests. However, Isicoff says the students were disruptive, disturbed other students and obstructed movement of other students on campus.

"These matters don't have anything to do with the content or the subject matter of any views that were expressed," Isicoff said. "This strictly has to do with the behavior and conduct of the students. Expressing one's point of view is welcome. The University of Miami embraces that 100 percent. No one's ability to express themselves has been breached in any way."

Rodriguez disagreed.

"This is about punishing these students for having the nerve to stand up for what they believe in and sending a message to other students not to do the same," said Rodriguez, a UM graduate. "Even for a private institution, this is the height of unfairness. I'm sure there are parents of UM students that do not know who their hard-earned dollars are going to a system that's unfair."

The students had participated in weeks of peaceful protests on campus with the university janitors over their right to organize into a union. The efforts by the demonstrators included a hunger strike and a sit-in. The latter never turned disorderly or violent, and regular school activities were not cancelled.

Jessica M. Walker can be reached at jmwalker@alm.com or at (305) 347-6649.

Herald Piece on the Card Counting

2006-06-14T17:03:00.000-04:00

The Miami Herald has a story on tomorrow's announcement of the card check at UM:

UM janitors' unionization vote to be announced tomorrow

BY NIALA BOODHOO
nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com

University of Miami janitors today delivered their votes on union representation, with results to be announced tomorrow, the Service Employees International Union said today.

As part of the previously agreed election process, cards indicating support for the union were turned over to a neutral third party, the American Arbitration Association, the union said.

The votes will be verified and counted and results announced tomorrow.

The union must have at least a 60 percent majority in order to win the rights to represent the 400 or so janitors who clean UM's main and medical center campuses.

Some of those workers went on a nine-week strike against the university beginning in March to protest unfair labor practices against Unicco Services Co., the contractor that employs the workers.

After sit-ins by students, hunger strikes by workers, some local clergy and other activists, the union, the university and Unicco reached an agreement last month on how a union election would be held.

The university has already raised worker wages by at least 25 percent and offered access to a comprehensive health care plan.

Worth Thousands of Words

2006-06-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

Here are two sources of visual images of strike-related events at UM. The first is of various podcasts produced by the SEIU. The second is a gallery of stills taken by Carlos Miller, of Magic City Media, of the March 28th student occupation of the Ashe building.

More on Student Disciplinary Actions

2006-06-13T15:59:00.000-04:00

We reported some time ago that students pleading "not guilty" to the disciplinary charges made against them by the university were asking for a postponement of their hearings until the Fall. This is important because during the academic year, hearings are heard by a panel of three students plus an advisor from the Dean of Students office. During the summer, however, hearings are heard by a representative from the Dean of Students office alone. We have recently learned that at least some students have had their requests for postponement denied.

The Cards Are In!

2006-06-12T10:57:00.002-04:00

June 15 is International Justice for Janitors day. It commemorates a strike in 1990 by mainly immigrant cleaners in Los Angeles during which the janitors were savagely beaten by police.There was a huge public outcry and eventually the janitors won the strike.

This June 15 at 12 noon at the Episcopal Church at UM (the former "strike sanctuary") there will be an announcement of the card count which will officially guarantee recognition of a union for janitorial and groundskeeping staff at UM. There will also be a press conference. This is the official closure of the strike and, we are sure, it will be an emotional event. Since the end of the strike the janitors have worked hard to collect signatures, so come on out to celebrate their victory (again).

After the annoucement the janitors will get on a bus to attend the 3 pm forum at Nova Southeastern University. Nova's president, Ray Ferrero, appears determined to stop Nova's janitors, also employed by UNICCO, from trying to lift themselves out of poverty. At the SEIU sponsored public forum, community leaders will have an opportunity to learn first-hand about the economic injustice the janitors suffer at Nova. Nova janitors will offer personal testimonies. If you can, come and hear them out.

On the way to Nova the buses will stop at the Sunset Mall where UNICCO seems ready to make an agreement, but the mall owners, the Simon Property Group, might need a little encouragement. Concerned faculty and students, along with mall workers, will drop off a letter for the mall owners.

Could the Employee Free Choice Act Actually Pass in a Republican Congress?

2006-06-11T17:06:00.000-04:00

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is an act that would enshrine in law workers' right to unionize via the card check process, rather than having to rely on the flawed system of elections run by the National Labor Relations Board. Although this bill enjoys extensive bipartisan support, until recently the conventional wisdom was that it would never pass while Congress was in Republican hands. According to this story from People's Weekly World, it seems that the bill is just two votes shy of a majority in the House. Stay tuned - and contact your congressperson to express your support of the bill.

Fifty-seven million Americans say they’d join a union if they had a chance. And due to a hard-fought, close to the ground campaign, legislation to give them that right is now within striking distance of victory.

Going against the tide and all conventional wisdom in a Republican-dominated Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act, HR 1696, first introduced in November 2003, now is just two representatives shy of an outright majority in the U.S. House of Representatives with 215 co-sponsors in addition to its sponsor Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). In the Senate, as S 842, it has 43 supporters.

To put the campaign over the top, representatives from 20 AFL-CIO unions gathered in Washington June 6 to map out a plan to deploy a massive army of workplace shop stewards, according to Stuart Acuff, organizing director of the federation. [cont'd]

More on recent anti-union activities

2006-06-11T16:42:00.000-04:00

This post by Jordan Barab from Alternet discusses the UM strike a couple of times:

An article in Tuesday's New York Times about the Teamsters' campaign to organize Federal Express describes a typical example of how difficult it is to organize a union these days:

Not long after 21 of the 23 drivers in Northborough petitioned last fall for an election to join the Teamsters, FedEx dismissed five union supporters and six others quit, with several complaining that managers had made their lives unbearable.

"They started to harass and intimidate everybody," Mr. Williams said. "Some people they tried to starve out. Instead of giving 120 to 130 packages, they cut it to 60 or 70 to reduce the money."

Ken Flynn, a pro-union driver who was dismissed, said that after the unionization drive began, management added six managers to the three already there. The new ones, he said, spent much of their time speaking out against the union. FedEx says the new managers were assisting with the holiday rush and helping to transfer the operation to another terminal in Northborough.

To sway the drivers, FedEx prepared a 25-minute DVD that accused the Teamsters of being incompetent and violent.

Meanwhile, on another planet, readers of USA Today and other newspapers may have noticed a recent one-page ad by a new corporate supported anti-union outfit (mis)named The Center For Union Facts. The ad asks "Why is a union like a Roach Motel?"

The answer: "Because getting in is the easy part."

In that one heading lies the essence of the Center's lies, the reasons for its existence, and the state of the American labor movement today. The real union fact is that there is almost nothing harder than getting into a union these days -- particularly if the union chooses to use the classic secret ballot election process that has been the staple of union organizing for decades. [cont'd]

support nova janitors!

2006-06-07T09:08:00.000-04:00

Remember UNICCO? it's UNICCO again, in a difficult, non-tenure-giving private school...

You’re Invited to a Community Meeting

Join Janitors from Nova and Community Members

Monday June 15 at 4:00pm

(Reception at 3:30pm)

St. Maurice Catholic Church

2851 Stirling Road, Dania

************

$7.25 an hour and no benefits.

That’s what the company that cleans Nova Southeastern University, UNICCO, pays some janitors. UNICCO provides no health benefits, making it nearly impossible for families living in Broward County to pay for basic necessities like food and rent.

Building on the success at the University of Miami, janitors at Nova and Community members are meeting to discuss how to improve pay, win affordable health insurance, and create a better life for working families at Nova and Broward County.

For more info call 305-672-7071 or stay tuned on this blog!

Ana

2006-06-06T11:03:00.001-04:00

i encourage you all to come to see ana menendez tomorrow at 8 pm at books and books in coral gables. ana is one of the most forceful and independent voices in the miami herald, and she single-handedly gave a voice to the UM janitors' strike in the paper (the editor wrote an anti-unionization -- anti-card check, to be precise -- editorial at some point). in this difficult political climate, ana can certainly use our support and appreciation. and, for those who haven't yet been there, books and books is a really cool place, with a full restaurant, bar, and cafe.

(directions to books and books: from US1, take le jeune north. pass miracle mile. the first right is aragon. take it. books and books is in the next block on your left. parking in the garage opposite the bookstore is free with validation)

************************

BOOKS AND BOOKS blurb:

Miami Herald Columnist Ana Menéndez was raised in California as the daughter of Cuban exiles— taught to memorize Jose Martí, thinking her family would soon move back to Cuba—living the kind of present that is perpetually affected by the past. Menéndez worked as a journalist for six years, first at The Miami Herald, where she covered Little Havana, and later with The Orange County Register in California. A graduate of NYU's creative writing program, she is the author of the collection of stories, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd and the novel, Loving Che. Tonight, she kicks off a new series at Books & Books – Between the Lines: Discussions with Miami Herald Columnists, which will bring you closer to some of your favorite Miami Herald columnists. Menéndez will take us into the world of a newspaper columnist, sharing her ideas about the writing process, daily focus as a columnist, and reflections about some of her most though-provoking columns. 8pm

Ana

2006-06-06T11:03:00.000-04:00

Janitors at UC Berkeley Picket - and Howard Dean Supports Them

2006-05-31T19:28:00.000-04:00

Check out this story from the San Francisco Chronicle (May 29) by Rick DelVecchio.

UC Berkeley may be the finest public university in the nation, but the toilets have to be cleaned the same as anyplace else.

The 300 custodians who do the university's scrubbing pointed up this household reality during their recent picketing of graduation ceremonies. Their message: They work for the top-rated public institution of higher learning but earn a below-average wage.

Picketing by the janitors union frustrated six commencement events -- the speakers, including former presidential candidate Howard Dean, refused to cross the janitors' lines -- and rankled Cal at a time of embarrassment over questionable executive pay deals by top officials in the university system.

Dean said workers can't support their families on what Cal pays its janitors. [cont'd]

Going Super-NOVA

2006-05-31T15:50:00.000-04:00

Here's some information about the situation of the UNICCO janitors at Nova Southeastern University.

There will be a COMMUNITY MEETING with janitors from Nova and community members. Building on the success at the University of Miami, janitors at Nova and community members are meeting to discuss how to improve pay, win affordable health insurance, and create a better life for working families at Nova and Broward County. You are warmly invited to attend.

Monday June 15 at 4:00pm
(Reception at 3:30pm)
St. MauriceCatholic Church
2851 Stirling Road, Dania

The situation of the janitors at NOVA is comparable to that of the janitors at UM prior to their strike. Here are some personal stories:

Trinidad Espinoza, UNICCO Janitor at Nova Southeastern University

Trinidad, 45, has worked as a janitor for UNICCO at Nova Southeastern University for the past 3 years. She goes to work at 6 p.m. and works until 2:30 a.m., getting paid $7.25 an hour and does not receive health insurance. She does some part-time work on the side to try to make ends meet, but it is still not enough.

Trinidad can’t buy very much. "Everything in my apartment has been a gift from someone because we can’t buy anything. The fridge is empty." She spends less than $200 a month on groceries and buys lentils and other beans to feed her two daughters. "You just can’t justify that," she said.

She frequently cleans the auditoriums at the university. "After some of the luncheons, they leave behind sirloin steaks for us to throw away. We’re throwing out this incredible food knowing we have nothing in the house."

Trinidad’s difficulties don’t end there. She’s packing her bags because she can no longer afford the $600 a month one bedroom apartment where she and her daughters live. She’s very concerned. "Taking my daughters to a less expensive area is going to be dangerous."

Diana Marcela, Trinidad’s 16 year-old daughter suffers from migraines. But Trinidad can’t take her to the doctor because she doesn’t have health insurance or the money to pay the doctors’ bills. "My downstairs neighbor will bring up some pills for the pain, but what Diana needs is to see a doctor so we can get to the root of her problem."
"For us it would be a triumph to win union representation after so much humiliation -- the triumph of being able to go to a doctor, and having food in the fridge, as all families should have."

Nora Bermann, UNICCO Janitor at Nova Southeastern University

"We want to feel supported. The cost of living has increased greatly and our wages are not enough."

Nora, 57, has worked as a janitor for UNICCO at Nova Southeastern University for the past 10 years. She goes to work at 6 p.m. and works until 2:30 a.m., getting paid $7.25 an hour. To make ends meet, she works seven days a week, working not only one but two part-time jobs.

Even while working three jobs, she can’t afford her own place to live. She rents a room in a shared house, with most of her remaining income going towards food, a phone, and car payments. She is able to cobble together enough money to pay a monthly health insurance premium. But it’s a low-cost policy that comes with co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses: "I still have to pay when I go see a doctor. I pay over $180 when I need to get some tests done."
Nora says she is part of the campaign by Nova janitors to form a union with SEIU so that she and her co-workers can win a better life. "Winning a union would be a great triumph. We’d be able to get better salaries so that we could pay for our basic necessities. We’d have health insurance and be protected by the union from the many abuses of the company."

Nora, a widow, has survived a hurricane in which she lost everything. "Not even a chair was left." In a city plagued by hurricanes and with a cost of living that keeps rising, she wants to see the work of janitors like herself and her co-workers rewarded with more than just an occasional small raise. "You just can’t live so many years with the same miniscule salary...It is through our sweat and tears that they [UNICCO] have filled their pockets with money. They should at least pay us better."

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A BROCHURE HERE ABOUT THE SITUATION OF THE WORKERS AT NOVA CALLED "HELP STOP THE CYCLE OF POVERTY." YOU CAN ALSO VISIT THE WEBSITE DEVOTED TO THE NOVA CAUSE.

Update on Disciplinary Action Against UM Students

2006-05-30T23:11:00.000-04:00

We have learnt the following about the disciplinary action being taken by the UM administration against the students who were actively supporting the janitors' strike at the university.

1) The charges against the students remain “failure to obey a reasonable directive” and “disorderly conduct” –though both have been reduced from Major to Minor (“University”) status.

2) One student chose not to contest the charges and has been given the following punishment: two semesters of probation, 25 hours of community service and a 500-word 'reflection' on questions to be posed by Dean Singleton.

3) Other students have contested the charges and are filing motions to have their hearings postponed until the Fall.

1) is good news since it means, we believe, that expulsion and suspension are off the table as possible punishments. With regard to 2), these students put in a lot more than 25 hours of community service in doing the very things that led to these disciplinary actions. Not only that, but many, if not all of them, have been incredibly involved in a whole host of activities serving the communities they belong to in many ways. They have worked for Greenpeace, for AIDS-activist programs, for anti-poverty groups, for child protection causes and many more. The good thing is, we're sure they are all planning on doing a lot more than 25 hours of community service anyway. As for the 500-word 'reflection'... well, what can one say?

To those who are contesting the charges, we wish them luck.

Free Speech at UM

2006-05-30T19:09:00.000-04:00

We lift this post from colleague Michael Froomkin's blog, Discourse.net. Froomkin takes issue with the thesis in Jennifer Van Bergen's piece, which we referenced here, that the UM administration's response to the students who were supporting the striking UNICCO janitors at UM was somehow affected by 9/11.

Picketline led me to Findlaw where I find an article by Jennifer van Bergen, "a journalist with a law degree" entitled Speech on Campus After 9/11: Less Free Than It Used To Be?.

The piece's thesis is clearly stated right at the top:

Universities have traditionally been places where debate and the free exchange of ideas have been welcomed. But after 9/11, that may be changing -- as some recent, troubling incidents suggest.

In this column, I'll survey some recent incidents suggesting free speech on campus is in peril, ...

Exhibit A for this thesis is the UM administration's reaction to the strike. And Ms. van Bergen, described elsewhere as a south Florida resident, appears to be serious.

I don't get it.

Please don't misunderstand: I am not here to defend the UM administration's appalling conduct during and after the strike. If students were hauled in on charges and asked to identify each other from photos while being treated in an intimidating manner, that's a violation of our rules (and would be without the intimidating manner, too).

Threatening students with serious consequences for their failure to disperse when ordered is petty and mean, not to mention disproportionate and stupid. Leaving the charges hanging after the strike, instead of resolving them with an amnesty or a wrist slap is unwise (from the administration's viewpoint): so far it has only martyrized them, and will probably radicalize them.

But all this reflexive administrative behavior has nothing to do with 9/11. It has rather more to do with the flawed temperament of our leadership (either the Board of Trustees or President Shalala, or conceivably both) and the poor judgment and limited capacities of certain mid-ranking administrators. In short, your standard story of people in power unable to transcend petty impulses for revenge, and people in a bureaucracy displaying some really lousy judgment during a pressure situation -- then digging in their heels when tempers should have cooled.

But this is the way of the world. People are imperfect. Academic authorities don't like being forced to do stuff by uppity kids, and they never have. And the fact that the kids are right, and that they enlist noble outsiders to say they are right and to force it down the authorities' throats, well, that doesn't help.

But all this has nothing to do with 9/11. UM was like this ten years ago -- indeed, arguably, it may have been substantially worse.

If anything -- and I admit this is reaching a little -- the UM experience with the recent strike proves the reverse of the van Bergen thesis. At one point the administration here tried to float the idea that students protesting were anarchists, or colluding with anarchists, or at least inviting in anarchists, who we were no doubt supposed to believe would in short order turn this pristine tropical campus into some Beirut on the Biscayne.

To the extent anyone paid attention to this silly idea, we just laughed, and it hasn't been heard from since.

Free speech is not in peril on this campus, and we won't let it be. At worst, its ankle is being bitten. Whether that bite turns out to be by a mosquito or a Doberman will turn on what sort of treatment the administration administers to the students it has up on charges. And that remains to be seen.

Report on Florida Minimum Wage by Bruce Nissen

2006-05-30T11:11:00.000-04:00

This post, by Mike Hall, is taken from the AFL-CIO blog. It gives details of a report prepared by Bruce Nissen, of Florida International University, that shows that the raise in the Florida minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 an hour, voted for by Floridians in 2004, has had no adverse impact on the economy. Bruce Nissen, as many of you will know, was a friend and supporter of the UM janitors during their recent strike.

We’re not in the business of saying “I told you so.” We’ll leave that to the union and community activists who convinced Florida voters in 2004 that raising the state’s minimum wage was the right thing to do.

While business groups and others launched a campaign to defeat the effort to raise the minimum wage, Florida activists repeatedly pointed out the economy will not suffer if low-wage workers get a raise.

A new study on the law’s impact, after voters approved boosting the wage from $5.15 to $6.15 an hour starting in May 2005, shows just how bogus the opponents’ arguments were. The higher wage also is tied to the cost of living, which increased it to $6.40 an hour in January.

“One year later, there appears to be no evidence supporting these claims” says the report, authored by University of Chicago professor H. Luke Shaefer and Florida International University’s (FIA’s) Dr. Bruce Nissen. It was commissioned by the Florida chapter of ACORN and FIA’s Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy.

Activists are mobilizing to raise the wage though legislation or ballot initiatives in more than 20 states—and the study provides another piece of credible evidence that raising the minimum wage is a win-win for communities.

The Florida study follows another recent report that found that small businesses job growth was higher in states with a minimum wage greater than the $5.15 federal level, which hasn’t been increased since 1997.

During the campaign, the Florida Retail Association claimed “jobs will be lost—devastating our strong economy.” Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and Sen. Mel Martinez (R) weighed in against the pay raise. Grover Norquist, the extremist Republican policymaker behind paycheck deception, Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and other state campaigns aimed at crippling working people, claimed “Florida cannot afford the economic pain,” of raising the minimum wage.

The report, The Florida Minimum Wage After One Year, examined the state’s employment rate, economic performance, low-wage industries and other economic indicators and found:

Far from having a devastated economy, Florida continues to experience record job growth. Instead of businesses leaving the state, the number of private employers in Florida has grown substantially in the past year, and the state is a national leader in the insourcing of jobs from overseas. Far from workers losing their jobs and being worse off, more of them are working and wages across the state have risen.

Click here to read the full report.

At the federal level, House Democrats are moving to bring a minimum wage bill to the floor that Republican leaders repeatedly have blocked. The legislation (H.R. 2429) introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) would raise the rate to $7.25 an hour over two years. Because the bill has been blocked, backers need a “discharge petition,” which requires the signatures of 218 House members.

Click here to urge your representative to sign the petition.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has introduced the Senate version (S. 1062), and you can click here to become a citizen co-sponsor.

Naming the Beast or Whistling Past the Graveyard

2006-05-29T19:58:00.000-04:00

Check out this article by Michael Hirsch on znet. He mentions the strike at UM.

The democratic left's socialist context went missing. If anyone spots it, please call or instant message. We can even put the appeal on milk cartons.

It was not always thus. Forget about the glory days of pre-war socialism, or the red decade of the thirties or even the sober, literary '50s. In April 1965, Paul Potter, then the president of SDS, said the mission of the new radical movement confronting American power was to "name that system. We must name it, "he said, "describe it, analyze it, understand it and change it. For it is only when that system is changed and brought under control that there can be any hope for stopping the forces that create a war in Vietnam today or a murder in the South tomorrow or all the incalculable, innumerable (and) more subtle atrocities that are worked on people all over -- all the time."

Forty one years after Potter made that speech, given on a perfect spring day in Washington when everything seemed possible, as he addressed 25,000 young antiwar protestors (an unheard of number who effectively launched the antiwar movement nationwide), Potter's mandate is still the goal of democratic socialists: naming, describing, analyzing, understanding, organizing, and changing.

SDS said the enemy was corporate liberalism. Looking back, corporate liberalism in its Great Society garb, in its efforts to ensure social peace and even wage a war on poverty, seems enlightened and even kind, at least compared to the contemporary fang and claw ethos.

Today, the enemy's name is neo-liberalism. That is the political ideology that capitalism dresses in and articulates its policies now. It was in the 1970s that Margaret Thatcher opined that there was no such thing as "society," only grubbing individuals engaged in cementing short-term contracts and where the market, not the family or the community or the class, was the instrument of individual choice. [cont'd]

Lobbying for the Employee Free Choice Act

2006-05-27T13:22:00.000-04:00

Read about efforts being made to help the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) move forward in Congress in this article by Mark Gruenberg in the People's Weekly World. EFCA is a bill that would oblige employers to recognize unions on the basis of card check processes, something that, at present, they may choose to do but do not have to do. Although there is some bi-partisan support for the bill, its passage through the present Congress is not smooth. Let's hope that's one of the many things that will change after this November.

Rank-and-Filers Demand Employee Free Choice Act

WASHINGTON (PAI) — Bob Boyle was fired April 28 from Oesterling’s Sandblasting Co., just outside Butler, Pa. “I wanted a little better and safer place to work,” said the 17-year veteran of the plant. Boyle and two other men, all fired for trying to organize for the Steelworkers union, described the hostility, lies and obstacles they encountered in their organizing drives during a May 8 lobbying effort by the union here. The effort, marshaled by Americans for Democratic Action, was in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

“The most fundamental problem with U.S. labor law is that it’s good on paper, but the employer doesn’t suffer any fine or any penalty” for law-breaking, explained Human Rights Watch labor specialist Carol Pier. Even when workers win a favorable National Labor Relations Board ruling the appeal process takes five years or more. [cont'd]

Jobs With Justice Workshop on Immigration

2006-05-27T12:58:00.000-04:00

Jobs with Justice, South Florida Campus Consortium, will be holding a series of trainings and workshops for activist students interested in learning more about the issues affecting them and their communities. These events will focus on:

Immigration - June 8th

Labor & Globalization - June 16th

Student Activism - June 27th

Civil Rights and Police Brutality - July (TBD)

This first workshop, on immigration, will be held on Thursday June 8th at 6pm at Unite for Dignity / SEIU 1525 NW 167th St, Suite 300, Miami.

Join them and learn about the issues affecting thousands of studentsacross the country! Today, an estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year without hope of pursuing a higher education. For more information please contact Carolina Delgado at 305-623-4900 carolina@sfjwj.org

Ana Menendez at Books and Books.

2006-05-27T12:39:00.000-04:00

Ana Menendez was a powerful voice in the Miami Herald speaking out in support of the striking UNICCO janitors at UM. She did this over the virtual silence, and sometimes explicit opposition, of the Herald. Now you can hear her speak and thank her in person.

Every week, Miami Herald columnist Ana Menendez regales us with her exquisite writing and thoughtful commentary. On Wednesday, June 7, 8pm, at Books & Books Coral Gables, she will open a new series, Between the Lines: Discussion with Miami Herald Columnists, which is created to bring you closer to some of your favorite Miami Herald columnists. Menéndez worked as a journalist for six years, first at The Miami Herald, where she covered Little Havana, and later with The Orange County Register in California. A graduate of NYU's creative writing program, she is the author of the collection of stories, In Cuba I Was a German Shepard and the novel, Loving Che. Find out how she keeps her columns fresh and exciting.

Nation’s Billion-Dollar Mall Industry Can Lift Hundreds of Thousands Out of Poverty by Hiring Responsible Contractors, New Worker Committee Says

2006-05-25T09:18:00.000-04:00

SEIU Press Release, May 22

LAS VEGAS—A newly formed committee of property service workers from shopping malls around the country appealed to the nation’s mayors today to call on mall owners to hire responsible contractors who pay living wages, provide affordable health insurance and respect workers’ right to form a union. There are nearly 70,000 janitors and security guards in malls, most of whom are not provided with affordable health insurance and are paid wages that keep workers and their families near poverty. Security guards and janitors in malls are currently seeking to improve their lives by forming a union with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The National Committee for Justice for Mall Workers was formed as part of an effort to lift tens of thousands of contracted-out workers in malls out of poverty, raise industry standards, and improve health and safety training. The committee is made up of mall worker representatives from 10 states. Representatives from the committee will be visiting mayors in various cities across the country over the next few weeks.

Gabrieal Robinson, a janitor at the Shops at Sunset Place in Miami, and Rafael Cruz, a janitor at the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, released the letter in Las Vegas at the International Shopping Centers’ spring convention.

Despite working in a mall owned by the largest and one of the richest mall owners in the nation, Simon Property Group (SPG), Gabrieal and a handful of her co-workers are expected to clean more than a half million square feet of mall space each day for less than $64 a day. They are not provided with paid sick days or affordable health insurance.

On the wages she earns cleaning, saving for retirement and quality health care are just a dream. Instead, Gabrieal and tens of thousands of property service workers like her at malls around the country, scramble to pay for medicine, doctor's visits, food, and rent. Despite working hard every day, many live in fear that a medical emergency could leave them and their family homeless or force them to rely on government assistance to care for her family. "I work across the street from the University of Miami. Their struggle to improve their lives inspired me to speak up about the conditions that we face. We work hard but live in fear that we are one check away from homelessness."

Rafeal Cruz, who has affordable family health insurance and a union, agreed: "Our communities need good jobs that provide health insurance. I am lucky enough to have heath insurance. Every family should have what I do."

Industry statistics indicate that malls are trending toward becoming more closely integrated into their surrounding communities by redeveloping into "lifestyle centers," offering residential living spaces, neighborhood services like dry cleaning, and retail shops. However, the use of irresponsible service contractors who pay near poverty wages and do not provide workers with health insurance at these new developments could undermine the relationship that many mall owners are seeking to build with local communities that depend on good jobs.

According to a report by the Institute of Medicine, "having a sizeable uninsured population translates into real economic and noneconomic costs for our country, including the expenses for services uninsured people use and the costs resulting from poorer health because they often forgo needed services."

"Employers face a choice—be a leader and hire contractors who pay decent wages and provide health insurance or face increasing opposition from local community leaders unwilling to tolerate the economic and social impact that poverty level jobs wreak on our communities," said Madeline Janis-Aparicio, secretary-treasurer of The Partnership for Working Families, a national organization devoted to ensuring that working families and communities truly benefit from economic development.

Background:

Close to 95 percent of malls in the United States contract out services like cleaning and security to subcontractors. There are approximately 45,000 janitors and security officers who do not receive health insurance from their mall contractors .

More than 60 percent of retail workers do not receive health insurance from their contractors.
Simon Property Group (SPG) is the largest publicly traded retail real estate company in North America with a total market capitalization of approximately $42 billion. SPG currently owns or is interested in 285 properties in 39 states in addition to Puerto Rico.

Latino workers are hardest hit by the health care crisis and have the highest uninsured rates. Thirty-two percent of Latinos living in the United States are uninsured. Ten million of the 13 million uninsured Latinos are in working families. In 2002, 20 percent of Latino children were uninsured compared with 9 percent of black children and 7 percent of white children. More than one in five citizen children in low-income mixed-status families remained uninsured in 2002—a rate 74 percent higher than that of children with citizen parents.

Speech on Campus After 9/11: Less Free Than It Used To Be?

2006-05-25T09:10:00.000-04:00

The following article, by Jennifer Van Bergen, can be read in its entirety at FindLaw. The piece discusses UM, but also many other campuses.

Universities have traditionally been places where debate and the free exchange of ideas have been welcomed. But after 9/11, that may be changing - as some recent, troubling incidents suggest.

In this column, I'll survey some recent incidents suggesting free speech on campus is in peril, and discuss the extent to which the First Amendment protects student and faculty speech

Cracking Down on Student Demonstrators and Controversial Student Speech

Recently, students at the University of Miami (a private school, but one with a stated policy of fostering free speech) demonstrated alongside striking maintenance workers to show solidarity. Now, they face the threat of disciplinary charges.

These students received "administrative subpoenas" to appear before a school official, and were told they faced possible major disciplinary action on grounds of "disorderly conduct" and failure to comply with a school order. But instead of charging the students, the official asked them to look at pictures and identify others who participated in the strike activities.

Attorneys for the students allege that the school is trying to intimidate the students and is infringing on their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Some compared the university's actions to those used by Senator McCarthy, who brought citizens before Congress to testify against their alleged communist associates. [cont'd]

Commencement Anxieties

2006-05-23T15:42:00.000-04:00

After all the worrying about what, if anything, might disrupt our Commencement here at UM - and did we say that at the Law School ceremony, 60-70% of the faculty present were sporting "Support the Students" buttons? - we thought people might be interested in other Commencement-related student activism.

There's Jean Rohe at the New School in NYC laying into John McCain's pro-war stance.

At Boston College, protests greeted Commencement speaker Condoleeza Rice. One professor, Steve Almond, quit in protest.

A Pre-Emptive Strike in the Class War

2006-05-23T15:20:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal (May 19) reports that the anti-union group Center for Union Facts has launched "what may be the first TV commercial designed to disparage the labor movement as a whole." The ad ran on Fox and on various local stations earlier this month and will run again in the summer. The ad was financed by $3 million raised from undisclosed companies, foundations and individuals.

The man behind this, the head of Center for Union Facts, is Richard Berman. The Center for Media and Democracy says "Rick Berman is a right-wing lobbyist who has built a lucrative career establishing industry-funded front groups including FishScam.com, the Center for Consumer Freedom, the Employment Policies Institute, the Employment Roundtable and ActivistCash.com. Berman specializes in personal attacks, smear tactics and playing loose with the facts. He has raised millions of dollars from tobacco, booze, biotech, fast food, grocery and other businesses eager to pay Berman to do their dirty work." According to the Wall Street Journal "Mr. Berman has helped design several similar advocacy-ad campaigns, including efforts critical of animal-rights activists and Greenpeace."

A good discussion of the Center for Union Facts can be found here. According to this source, the facts listed by the Center for Union Facts are true. "The problem is, the information is provided entirely without context or any explanation which would present the unions in other than a negative light... [I]t characterizes unions based on the actions of a few, as though all business could be understood in the light of Enron."

Poetry Corner

2006-05-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

Rob Rosen dropped off a huge packet of labor-related poetry. We thought we'd share some occasionally. Here is our first offering, by Mary Fell (b.1947).

Picket Line in Autumn

This face getting brown
as morning falls
just ripe out of the sky --
a change from last night's
cold, warm gloves and
frost poured into
these empty coffee cups --

you've never been so much
in the world as now,
spending all daylight
and all night too outdoors,
going in circles like the world does,
though sometimes it seems
standing still, getting nowhere --

except you know your tired feet
are turning the earth
and someday the sun
will give itself up to you,
the leaves surrender --
you know they will, if
you keep on walking long enough.

Flyering at Sunset Mall Today

2006-05-23T12:23:00.000-04:00

Come help hand out flyers in support of the UNICCO workers at Sunset Mall this afternoon, Tuesday May 23rd.

Meet at Wendy's on the corner of Red Rd and US1 at 3.30pm.

Wanted: Communications Specialist at SEIU Local 11, Miami

2006-05-22T22:29:00.000-04:00

we are glad to pass on this SEIU job ad

Do you want to improve the lives of working people?

We are looking for someone with 5 years communications and media experience to help us develop and implement the comprehensive communication strategy needed for an historic effort to improve the conditions of working people in South Florida.

Responsibilities: Assist in the development of a comprehensive communications strategy for progressive, growing labor union in Florida. Conduct all media work including taking press calls, developing media messages related to campaigns, doing media outreach, and pitching stories. Responsibilities also include working with staff to write and produce flyers, brochures, print and radio ads, and other communication pieces.

Qualifications:

Excellent writing skills

Ability to write quickly, clearly and concisely

Ability to do basic layout on the computer

Ability to meet deadlines

Strong commitment to improving the lives of working people

Creative, strategic thinker

Ability and willingness to work in fast-paced environment

Bi-lingual Spanish/English strongly preferred

Salary and benefits: Salary dependent on experience and qualifications. Full health and dental, paid vacation and sick time.

To apply: Send cover letter, resume and writing samples to Andrew McDonald, SEIU mcdonala@seiu.org

New Website Highlights Low-Wage Workers at Malls

2006-05-21T16:20:00.000-04:00

Taken from the new website InsideMalls.org:

Unsafe working conditions, poverty-level wages of mall workers initial focus of new effort spotlighting larger role of shopping malls in our communities

Washington, DC – Beyond the sales, the stores, and the perfume samples, what is the larger role that malls play in our communities? That’s the central question behind a new website effort to go “Inside Malls.”

InsideMalls.org spotlights dangerous working conditions that often put mall workers at risk and the low wages and lack of access to health benefits that leave many janitors, security officers, and other service workers struggling to make ends meet. The website is sponsored by the nation’s largest union, SEIU (Service Employees International Union), which has united more of these types of workers than any other union...

Workers at Simon malls in a number of cities are working with SEIU to address working conditions and improve their lives. Contract workers employed to provide security and cleaning services in malls in Miami, Boston, Indianapolis, San Diego, and other cities are calling attention to health and safety concerns, poor employment standards, and other community issues related to malls and shopping centers.

“I’ve been asking my supervisor for protective boots. The machine that I work with hurts my legs regularly and I also work with acids that damage my legs. They gave me protective gear a long time ago but now the suit is useless and the boots cause me to slip because they are worn down,” said Marzio Moreno Silva, a janitor at the Shops at Sunset Place Mall in Miami, another Simon mall. “I have asked many times—but I never get an answer.” [cont'd]

Teach-In Available

2006-05-17T16:26:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday April 5th, a teach-in was held at the University of Miami to provide context for the janitors' strike that was occurring at that time. A recording of the event is now available as a zipped MP3 file, which you can download here.

Although aimed in the first instance at what was happening at UM, the material covered by the speakers is of general interest and in many cases will apply to other labor situations in the country. The event includes four presentations of about 15 minutes each.

The first is from Professor Robin Bachin (UM, History). She discusses some labor history, starting with the Haymarket Massacre of 1886, touching on the "Bread and Roses" strike in Lowell, Massachusetts, and ending with the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.

Professor Ken Casebeer (UM, Law) then gives a lawyer's summary of the provisions of the NLRA, detailing the rights it provides to workers, the methods of unionization it allows for, and such notions as 'gating,' 'secondary boycotts,' 'co-employers,' and 'card check.'

Professor Elizabeth Aranda (UM, Sociology) discusses the nature and the social conditions of the workforce that typically seeks unionization. In today's world, and especially in Miami, they are often immigrants who must deal not only with poverty but with marginalization that derives from their immigrant status. Professor Aranda has conducted research with the workers on strike, and others in similar positions, and reports some what they themselves have to say.

Finally, Professor Bruce Nissen (FIU, Center for Labor Research and Studies) reports on his research on living wage ordinances. The differences in people's lives made by earning at least a living wage are enormous and, contrary to what you might expect, because paying a living wage can actually save an employer money by creating a more loyal and stable workforce, living wage ordinances have almost no negative economic effect on anyone.

After their presentations, the panelists engage in discussion with the audience for about an hour. The whole event is moderated by Professor Evelina Galang (UM, English).

UNICCO Workers at Sunset Mall Begin to Organize

2006-05-16T14:11:00.000-04:00

The SEIU is organizing the UNICCO workers employed by the largest regional mall operator in the US: Simon Property Group. The Simons are a family out of Indianapolis. They own and operate most malls in South Florida.

This Wednesday, May 17th, at 3:30 some mall workers from Sunset Mall, just near UM campus, are meeting at the Wendy's next to the mall (at the corner of Red Rd and US1) to present a letter to their mall manager. They are hopeful of support from community folks who might have an hour free to come to this meeting.

From the National Catholic Reporter

2006-05-16T14:03:00.000-04:00

Backed by church, janitors push for union

By MICHAEL NEWALL

A two-month labor dispute involving nearly 100 University of Miami janitors striking for higher wages, safer working conditions and a fair unionization process was settled in early May. The Miami archdiocese had played a major role in resolving the dispute, with local clergy, archdiocesan social justice organizations, and Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estévez all calling on the university to pressure its cleaning contractor to meet the workers’ demands and bring and end to the conflict, which began on Ash Wednesday and included a 16-day hunger strike by 10 janitors and five students.

“The Catholic community got involved,” said Anthony Vinciguerra, director of the Center for Justice and Peace at the archdiocese’s St. Thomas University, “because the issue of low-income workers gets at one of the core challenges in Catholic social teaching, which is, ‘How do we treat the most poor and vulnerable in our society?’ ” [cont'd in first comment]

picketline

Story from today's Herald on the contract.

University of Miami janitors avoid a strike

BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ

mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com

Contract agreed on - strike averted!

UM students rally as janitors prepare to strike over wages

Yesterday's rally: smile, you're on TV

Text of letter to President Shalala signed by students and faculty

Report on today's rally

Rally for the UM workers on Monday August 30th

UM faculty member talks to a UM janitor

Update from SEIU on contract negotiations

Blocked ad

Proposals and counter-proposals

Today, at the Episcopal Church.....

Deja Vu All Over Again: Four Years On.

Story of today's vote on CBS

SEIU Press Release concerning Contract Renegotiations at UM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, August 5, 2010

CLEANERS, LANDSCAPERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI REJECT PROPOSAL FOR NEW CONTRACT

– 4 Years Ago Workers Won First Union Contract after a 9-Week Strike –

Press links concerning the UM janitors contract renogiation (2010)

Miami Herald Announces the Rally of Aug 21st

Press links concerning the UM janitors strike (2006)

fisher island busser fired for demonstrating with union

Fantasy Island is anything but for its workers

free haleh esfandiari

UN official urges US to protect migrant rights

illegal immigrant about senate deal: "i think i'll stay illegal"

Illegal immigrants question Senate deal

press coverage of yesterday's march

from the miami herald

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

Nova Southeastern University marchers rally for wages, jobs

Protesters interrupted dinner on Las Olas Boulevard on Saturday, calling for better working conditions and higher wages for workers at Nova Southeastern University.

BY TRENTON DANIEL AND NIALA BOODHOO

tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com

300 people rally and march in support of fired nova janitors

Rally with Al Sharpton in support of Nova workers, Saturday April 14th

Nova Southeastern University + Walmart = exploitation

Ferrero to janitors: "Get a job at Walmart"

Labor Troubles in Haiti

labor games; don't let nova win!

sign the petition!

Give 'em hell, Steve McGonigle!

Activist urges penalty for NSU

BY AMY SHERMAN

asherman@MiamiHerald.com

A message to the Nova faculty

UM and FIU faculty speak out on Nova janitors situtation

overwhelming support for nova workers & upcoming events!

Nova president Ferrero gets diversity award

support nova janitors with 1 click

a change of focus

the shame of NSU

Miami Herald

IN MY OPINION

Nova's Ferrero ignores plight of janitors

By ANA MENENDEZMarch 4, 2007

a shanty town has been built in liberty city

what diversity? the nova paradox

ana menendez on nova

protest gubernatorial debate at NOVA on tuesday

NOVA JOBS ON THE LINE

wal-mart workers protest in hialeah gardens

The War Against Wages

UNICCO employees at NOVA vote to unionize

LABOR

Nova Southeastern University janitors OK union representation

Nova Southeastern University janitors will rally today for their newly formed union, although their company's contract with the school may be in jeopardy.

BY NIALA BOODHOO

nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com

FIU does the right thing: a column by ana menendez

things not very cool at NOVA

LABOR RELATIONS

NSU to redo janitor contract

Nova Southeastern University revealed plans to rebid a contract, even as a union drive heats up.

BY TRENTON DANIEL

By ANA MENENDEZ
March 4, 2007