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On the picket line

Published Mar 30, 2005 10:51 AM

Living wage victory at Georgetown

It took students at Georgetown University three years of campaigning, nine days of hunger striking and 270 pounds lost to get the administration to agree to pay a living wage to 450 campus employees—both those directly hired and those outsourced.

On March 23 the university agreed to pay the mostly custodial, food service and security workers a minimum wage of $13 an hour, up from $11.35, starting July 1 and $14 an hour by July 2007. Yearly raises thereafter will be based on the Consumer Price Index. The university also affirmed that the workers have the right to freely associate and organize and to vote for union representation without intimidation.

The agreement came just hours before a midnight deadline set by Metro Council President Josh Williams, who vowed to lead labor, religious and community activists in a series of 24-hour solidarity hunger strikes starting at noon on March 24. (“Union News,” Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Liam Stack, a senior, said the 26 strikers’ “main demand is that Georgetown commit to paying its workers a wage that allows them to support their families with one full-time job.” (Washington Post, March 21) Students at Swarthmore, Cornell, University of Wisconsin at Madison and American University, as well as other Georgetown students and alumni overseas, held “solidarity fasts” to support the effort.

Westchester bus strike

The 568 bus drivers and maintenance workers at the Bee-Line, the bus company serving New York state’s Westchester County, went on strike for better pensions on March 3. Members
of Local 100 of the Transport Workers want to retire at 57 with full benefits after 20 years. The strike means big hardships for the low-paid workers and public school students. But Liberty Bus Lines, which owns Bee-Line, could care less. It’s refusing to negotiate with the drivers.

Yonkers teachers demand contract

Teachers in Yonkers, the biggest city in Westchester County, who have been without a contract for nearly two years, picketed outside several schools from March 21 to 23 to publicize their grievances. At the top of the list are layoffs of 450 teachers, program cuts and mismanagement by the district. It seems School Superintendent Angelo Petrone received a large salary increase in 2004 right before the district began layoffs and spending cuts.

The Yonkers Federation of Teachers is taking its grievances to a mediator on April 5. Steve Frey, president of the federation, told the March 23 New York Times that if mediation did not produce results, the teachers would strike.

D.C. workers picket Schwarzenegger

Chanting “They say privatize, we say organize,” more than 150 workers, community activists and union members in D.C. braved sleet and snow outside a fancy fundraiser for Arnold Schwar zen egger on March 8 at the St. Regis Wash ington. The activists were protesting his plan to privatize pensions in California, converting a stable insurance policy into a risky 401(k) plan. They also demanded protection for all benefits and a secure retirement. (“Union News,” Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO)