------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Oct. 10, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
STUDENTS OF COLOR JOIN THE FIGHT: WORKERS UNITE TO WIN CONTRACT AT U. MASS. By Bryan G. Pfeifer Amherst, Mass. In a historic show of unity and solidarity, a first-ever all- union membership meeting at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst Sept. 18 sent a clear message to the state and administration. Responding to Acting Gov. Jane Swift's veto of pay raises for thousands of union members at all 28 state colleges and universities in July, the over 800 union members in the Student Union Ballroom demanded: "A deal's a deal: fund the contracts!" Over 250 dining commons workers were barred from attending the noontime rally because supervisors said they were needed to serve students lunch. The five unions at Amherst and others at statewide campuses have organized under the coalition "Higher Ed Unions United." "Solidarity is necessary across the state," said Donna Johnson, president of the University Staff Associates, a union of clerical and technical workers. "Unions are only as strong as you are, because you are the union," she declared. Those in attendance unanimously agreed by voice vote to a unity resolution to take "whatever actions are necessary" to get the contracts funded and to respond immediately to attacks from the administration against rank-and-file employees supporting their unions. Unions at campuses in Massachusetts bargain separate contracts with respective campus administrations. They are then passed on to the governor for consultation. When the legislature votes in the necessary funding, the governor approves the contracts. Traditionally, once the legislature allocated funds for the contracts, the governor signed off on them. Swift is believed to be the first Massachusetts governor to have vetoed contract funding for campus unions. The five-campus UMass system is struggling with $28.5 million in state budget cuts imposed last spring. The Amherst campus has taken the brunt. Faced with $17 million in cuts, Amherst has cut seven varsity sports, reduced childcare, increased class sizes, introduced speedups with less resources, jacked up student fees, cut academic programs, phased out jobs. About 400 workers were forced to file for early retirement, including 100 professors. Only five will be replaced. STUDENTS OF COLOR PROTEST Immediately before the all-union meeting, about 75 students of color held a demonstration responding to the gutting of advising services and other support programs for oppressed students in June. At that time the vice-chancellor of African/ Latino/a, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American affairs (ALANA), who was sympathetic to students, was fired. Other staff members were "restructured" or fired; advising for students of color was restructured, taking out many cultural components. The ALANA students are demanding restoration of all these programs, rehiring of staff and faculty fired and adequate funding for future services. After their rally on the steps of the ballroom, they marched inside to join their sisters and brothers at the all-union meeting. When James A.W. Shaw, president of UAW Local 2322, asked the floor to recognize the oppressed students, they received a standing ovation and prolonged applause. The students proudly held their placards aloft emblazoned with messages like "Stop the racist attacks against Third World students." The all-union membership meeting followed numerous actions by campus unions, including picketing administration meetings, leafleting and walkouts. On Sept. 5 the semester of resistance began with 10-minute "community coffee breaks" at numerous Massachusetts campuses. At Amherst, union members met at four points on campus and then converged on the Whitmore administration building to press their demands. About 3,000 participated. Next on the agenda is a one-hour "community lunch break" Sept. 25. At all 28 campuses statewide, workers will be closing offices, stopping classes, and leaving their work sites from noon to 1 p.m. At Amherst, demands will include calling on House Speaker Thomas Finneran to call the legislature back in session to override Swift's veto and a call for the administration to support the funding of the contracts. To date, Amherst's new chancellor, John Lombardi, has ignored union demands to press Swift and the legislature to fund the contracts and reverse the cuts. Instead he's spending his time begging private contributors to increase Amherst's $70-million endowment and to increase corporate and Pentagon research grants. If the contracts aren't funded, unions and rank-and-file members are proposing increased system-wide actions, including a possible statewide walkout. "We strongly urge our fellow workers to commit to more forceful actions and we declare our intention to join in those actions," graduate workers in the Economics Department declared in their statement, "Our Commitment to Fellow Higher Education Workers." For more information on support activities visit www.geouaw.org or www.uaw2322.org or call (413) 545-5317. [Pfeifer is a graduate student in the Labor Studies Department at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.] - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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