University students are frequently at the forefront of protest
movements around the nation. Whether the demonstration is about
war, racial inequality or faraway nations, college students
shouting slogans and waving signs are a regular staple.
However, students are often unaware of an issue that hits closer
to home: the plight of campus workers.
Campus workers are a large but mostly invisible part of college
communities, and sometimes work under adverse conditions for low
wages ““ without the knowledge of the students they serve.
“Most people grew up in this country with a total absence
of any knowledge of how important the working class struggle has
been,” said Grant Lindsey, a lead organizer with the American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, one of the
largest labor unions in the country.
“Most people don’t grow up with their parents
telling them they should be a union organizer. Most parents tell
their kids to be lawyers or doctors,” he added.
Seth Cohen, a fourth-year political science student and an
organizer for the Student-Worker Front, a campus group that
advocates benefits for workers, agrees students are largely unaware
of workers even though they interact with workers daily.
“I can introduce you right now to someone who’s
making a minimum wage,” he said.
However, given the opportunity, college students can be an
incredible mobilizing force behind the labor movement, and can form
a strong political force when united with workers.
“Workers make the university run, so when they don’t
work, the university doesn’t run. At the same time, if the
students are upset, the university could also get shut down,”
Cohen said.
“When the students make a lot of noise and it’s
directed at the university, they make the university look bad and
(the university) doesn’t like that,” he added.
In recent years, colleges from UC Berkeley to Brown University
have seen a surge in activism as students have protested what they
perceive to be unjust working conditions in well-endowed, often
world-renowned institutions.
Two years ago at Harvard University, 50 students took over
Massachusetts Hall and the office of the president to protest the
low wages and outsourcing of jobs there. The sit-in lasted for 21
days and earned Harvard employees a significant pay increase.
Matthew Daniels, a graduate of Harvard and one of the 50
protesters who took over the building, said some workers were paid
so little they had to work two jobs to meet rents in Boston. Some
workers even had to sift through garbage for clothes and furniture,
according to Daniels.
“Those situations were extremely rare, but … all across
the board, workers were suffering to some extent,” he
said.
When it seemed clear Harvard had decided to ignore the
workers’ plight, students took matters into their own hands.
Marching into Massachusetts Hall, they turned the building into
their de facto headquarters, organizing rallies and writing press
releases.
Despite the risk of arrest and the fact their numbers slowly
dwindled to 21, the activists stood fast. The number of students
and workers who rallied around them grew by the day, and some
rallies outside were so large and boisterous, the building would
shake.
“It was overwhelming,” Daniels said. “Before,
it would have been difficult to get a crowd of 100 out there. And
then, all of a sudden, it became the center of attention and
dialogue on campus.”
In the end, the students agreed to leave the building when
Harvard agreed to reconsider the workers’ contracts. Although
the students faced minor disciplinary actions, their sit-in earned
workers a significant increase in wages and the administration
agreed not to outsource their jobs.
“For the most part, it was a huge success,” Daniels
said.
At Yale University, in a strike that began on Monday, many
students have joined the 4,000 workers to flex their political
influence.
“Certainly from a symbolic point of view, our workers take
very much to heart how our students feel,” said Deborah
Chernoff, an organizer for the Federation of Hospital and
University Employees, one of the principle organizers of the
strike.
“We think it’s important for us and for them in
terms of taking the lessons of the classrooms out on the
streets,” she said.
And while students at UCLA might not be taking over buildings or
joining picket lines, many have quietly worked behind the scenes to
aid workers.
Two years ago, UCLA students fought alongside AFSCME and laundry
service workers to insure UCLA hospitals would not outsource their
jobs. Ultimately, the hospitals guaranteed no workers would be laid
off, a “huge victory” for labor and students, according
to Cohen.
Last year, the Student-Worker Front went to the houses of about
100 UCLA workers who were making minimum wages and urged them to
unionize.
Victoria Preciado, a third-year English student and a member of
the Student-Worker Front, said many worker families lived in a
one-bedroom house and had two to three hour commutes to work.
“I saw the living situations they were in,” she
said. “That really motivated me to join the campaign and make
sure these people got better wages and benefits.”
The mobilization started with about 10 students, but by the end
around 300 were making house-calls, a strong indicator students
just need some initiative to get moving, according to Cohen.
“Students will get involved given the opportunity,”
he asserted.
Lindsey agreed, saying students often don’t associate
themselves with the workforce even though many of them, including
RAs and ASUCLA employees, are part of it.
“The same issues that are important to many of the
students are the same issues that are important to many
workers,” he said.
Daniels said campus workers are mostly inconspicuous and it is
up to the students to take the initiative if conditions are to
improve.
“Students have privileges and are treated with
dignity,” he said. “It takes that to bring the plight
of the workers to the fore.”