------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 17, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- AFTER 21-DAY OCCUPATION: ELITE HARVARD YIELDS TO WORKER/STUDENT SOLIDARITY By Leslie Feinberg After 21 days of occupying Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine's office, students emerged on May 8 to the roar of drumbeats, cheers, whistles and applause of more than 1,000 workers, students, faculty and community supporters. The protest is a militant chapter in an already three-year- long campaign by students to win a living wage--$10.25 an hour plus benefits--for Harvard's most impoverished employees. The bold student occupation at Harvard--the General Motors of academia--captured the attention of the university, the city and the country. It recalled the militant sit-down strikes of the 1930s. And the Tent City set up by supporters outside Mass Hall brought back memories of the encampments of the unemployed in the same struggle era. The 21-day Harvard student protest--believed to be the longest building occupation in the university's history-- wrested concessions from the bosses of this corporate empire. University officials finally agreed to establish a committee of three union workers, four students, 10 faculty and two senior administrators to re-examine university wage policies. A statement from the Living Wage Campaign, issued as the protesters left the building, noted that: "Before the sit-in began, the university had fully rejected living wages and had stated that it regarded the issue of poverty wages on campus as closed." Harvard also agreed that until the committee reaches its conclusions, the university will stop outsourcing custodial and dining work to outside subcontractors. The university heads also agreed to early renegotiations of the contract covering some 650 unionized custodial workers. A resulting agreement could mean a wage increase for these very poorly paid workers retroactive to May 1. And according to the May 9 New York Times, Harvard agreed to reexamine its health insurance co-payment for hundreds of its lowest-paid workers. SOLIDARITY FOREVER! Who made up the student protesters inside the building? On Day 17, occupier Jane Martin leaned out a Mass Hall window to tell Workers World, "It's a cool group of people. The gender dynamic is really good. People come from different backgrounds, different class backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, a lot of sexual diversity." Al Cho, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance, said the occupiers included "A good mix of Asians and South Asians and a lot of them queer." About half the Harvard occupiers were Jewish students. And Latino and Black students took part in the overall protest. At the May 8 rally to welcome the student protesters, supporters pumped the air with clenched fists as Ed Childs-- chief shop steward of Local 26 HERE--told them, "We are a family here. We have redefined family--Black, Latino, Asian, white, students, workers, faculty, immigrants, women and men, gay, straight and trans. There are 87 languages in my union. "You have awakened a sleeping giant. And it goes beyond this campus." Referring to the growing mobilization to protest in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29, Childs concluded, "Let's tell Bush in the White House that we are coming for you." Speakers were cheered when they expressed solidarity with Black Northeastern students who are involved in their own occupation because administrators threatened to take away their campus building. Several days before the Harvard occupation ended, Workers World asked Aaron Bentley about the power of the living wage campaign as he leaned out the window of Mass Hall. He said, "I think this really is an emerging movement with a real capability to transform public consciousness about economic justice and racial justice and some real bonds between students and workers and labor unions in general in a way that will be a force to be reckoned with." The widespread solidarity movement ignited by the bodacious takeover bears out the truth of what Bentley stated. Ashwini Sukthankar, a second-year law student, was inside the occupation for the first week. She told Workers World that when the students first burst into the administration building for the takeover they brought just a little food with them, assuming police would quickly eject them. But when the occupation continued, she was impressed with how quickly the faculty organized themselves to support it. "Three hundred faculty members signed letters supporting the sit-in within 48 hours." One sign of the wide net this struggle cast could be gauged by a poster hanging on the building next to Mass Hall: "String theorists for a living wage!" Support signs were plastered on all the nearby buildings and hanging from trees in Harvard Yard. The groups in support of the living wage campaign for Harvard's 1,000 or so poorest- paid workers included some of the following: Muslims, Spanish-speaking students, Black Student Association, Fuerza Latina, Society of Arab students, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance, African students, Lesbian Avengers, Korean students, Tufts Queer Women, International students, medical students, Queer Queens, Harvard artists, Graduate music students, Harvard Square homeless shelter, Walton high school students, Brandeis Leftist League, Activist Resource Center and Weathervane magazine. The student takeover won enthusiastic support from campus janitors, clerical and technical workers, parents, faculty members, alumni/ae and all the campus unions. During the sit-in, protesters told Workers World how thrilled they were on the first night when hundreds of militant dining hall workers chanting in thunderous support of the students delivered pizzas for their first real meal. Ed Childs told Workers World that when the food workers made their first delivery, they told police stationed outside Mass Hall, "Our job is to feed the students and that's what we're here to do. This food is going through the door or through the windows--which will it be?" >From that day forward, deliveries of all meals for student protesters got inside without delay. Support from outside the campus included community leaders, anti-globalization activists, religious groups, local and national politicians, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP, Julian Bond, the rock group Rage Against the Machine, actors and writers. Many area unionists joined the campaign. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO passed a resolution supporting the students, donated money and sent representatives to the rallies. On April 30 a labor rally of over 2,000 in front of Massachusetts Hall featured AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. On May 7, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka was accorded the honor of opening the door of Massachusetts Hall. As student protesters emerged into the sunlight for the first time in 482 hours, Trumka saluted their efforts. "The students were willing to take a stand and took on a powerful university whose endowment is bigger than the Gross National Product of most of the countries of the world," said Trumka. "The workers who cut the grass, clean the offices and cook the food now have a chance to move out of poverty." The official statement issued by the Harvard Living Wage Campaign stated, "In the last 21 days, the Harvard Living Wage Campaign has won tremendous victories, building a community-wide affirmation of the living wage principle. "The university-wide committee process with worker and student participation, the commitments about collective bargaining with SEIU Local 254 and HERE Local 26, the possibility of back pay for Harvard's custodians and the moratorium on outsourcing promise substantive gains for workers at Harvard. "The students, faculty, alumni, clergy, area citizens and workers of all backgrounds who make up our campaign are united in overwhelming support for a living wage for all workers at Harvard, and for each other as vital members of our community." The statement concluded, "Today we are taking important first steps towards a time when no worker at Harvard needs to work 80 hours a week, when no worker at Harvard cannot spend time with his or her kids, and when no worker at Harvard needs to worry about basic health care or paying the rent." As student protesters left their occupation, vowing to continue their struggle, supporters handed each a rose. But these students are fighting to win bread, as well as roses, for the most exploited and downtrodden. Includes reports from Rachel Nasca. - 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] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
