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From: Catherine Austin Fitts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 11:06 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Living Wage
Dear Mr. Summers:
I hope you will accept the Harvard janitors generous offer of a starting
wage of $13.40 an hour and affordable family medical care.
As I drive around America and try to simulate what our economy would be like
without substantial government and private coercive intervention to enhance
the control and financial returns of corporate management and investors, I
find that one of the most economically productive groups in the work force
are those who clean and maintain our physical spaces.
In English, what this means is that people who do real concrete work and are
trustworthy are substantially underpaid relative to the large and growing
group who are using government and the destruction of the rule of law to
steal from us.
This is a wonderful opportunity for you as President to demonstrate that
Harvard understands the wisdom of productivity as the prime vehicle for the
allocation of economic resources as opposed to coercion and lawlessness.
I am confident that Harvard will do the economically sound thing, I only
pray that it does it quickly.
Best,
Catherine Austin Fitts
Solari
Former Assistant Secretary of Housing,
First Bush Administration
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THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT TO SUPPORT HARVARD JANITORS!
Over 700 students and workers came out today to help janitors get a fair
contract. Nine workers, students, and community supporters were arrested for
civil disobedience as they sat on the street facing Holyoke Center - which
houses Harvard's labor relations office. This group included students,
janitors, clerical workers, alunmi, and union officials. By bringing the
janitors' plight out in the public realm, and by forcing Harvard to face
public scrutiny, these brave women and men have made history at Harvard. The
momentum is building, and janitors need your support!
*** Wednesday, February 27, 9am : supporters will picket outside of Sheraton
Commander (16 Garden Street) before negotiations begin at 10am. Negotiations
are open and all supporters are invited.
As leaked to the press by Harvard administration, at tomorrow's
negotiations, Harvard may offer $11.35 as a starting wage for janitors. A
decade ago, the same work on this campus paid between $12 and $14 an hour in
real terms. Today, area universities such as MIT, BU and Wellesley pay
starting wages of $14 to $16 an hour. Harvard's offer does not meet the
basic expectation of its own Commission (HCECP) to make up for the
administration's misguided policies over the past ten years. Sitting on a
$18 billion endowment, Harvard's offers show that Larry Summers is still not
serious about justice on this campus. In contrast, janitors are asking for a
starting wage of $13.40 an hour and affordable family medical care .
*** ANYTIME: Call or fax President Summers - ask him to pay janitors a fair
wage that reflects Harvard's own past practices and wages paid by its peers
such as MIT. PHONE: 617-495-1502 FAX: 617-495-8550 EMAIL:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
*** Monday, March 4, 7pm : Come to a Living Wage meeting at Phillips Brooks
House
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