Comprehensive Information Packet now Available

Just posted: a comprehensive information packet about the Stand for Security hunger strike.

Pledge to Fast for a Day

This week, we're asking you to help by pledging to fast for a day. Follow these links to pledge to fast:

• Monday (5/7)
  
• Tuesday (5/8)
  
• Wednesday (5/9)
  
• Thursday (5/10)
  
• Friday (5/11)
  

"Hungerstreik in Harvard" - TRANSLATED

Here is the English translation of the story "Hungerstreik in Harvard" which ran in Spiegel Online.

Hunger Strike at Harvard
Elite students fast for the watchmen

by Franziska Badenschier, Cambridge
[translated by Alexandra Bush of SLAM]

They provide for security on the “Nobel-Campus”, but they are refused financial security: at the richest university in the world, the security staff receive only a starvation wage. Now Harvard students are protesting for them – with a hunger strike.

The “last meal” was anything but a heavenly repast: there were soggy bagels with egg salad, bean burritos and turkey sandwiches for the eleven Harvard students before they began the hunger strike. In the coming days they will get only water, tea, and juice. “We’ll eat nothing until the university’s leadership listens to us,” says Michael, a student of politics.

[PHOTO CAPTION: HARVARD REBELS: STARVING AGAINST STARVATION WAGES]

“Mister President, Mr. Bok, feed your workers, feed your students,” the students call as Derek Bok walks by the group; Bok is the interim president until Harvard’s first female president takes office in June. He remains silent and walks on – day one of the hunger strike.

Michael, Kyle, Matthew and co. want to get by without food for at least nine days. But the hunger strike could last even longer. The food-refusers want to keep going to their classes as long as possible. A doctor has given them the “okay”.

An equal earnings level – under the living wage

A week ago, members of the student campaign “Stand for Security” already went one day without eating, in order to advocate for Harvard’s security guards. “Ask me why I’m fasting” was written on a t-shirt printed for this day of protest. Other students held up empty paper plates or signs with the inscription “Security begins with justice”.

Acccording to the students’ statements, the security guards earn $12.67/hr – not even ten Euros. “That’s not enough to survive in Boston,” says Javier, who is protesting alongside his fellow students. Even so, Boston is one of the most expensive cities in the United States – if not the most expensive. In a letter to Derek Bok, the students demanded that the university guarantee five standards in all labor contracts: fair wages, secure full-time jobs, a safe and clean workplace, due process, and the right to organize.

But this is not so simple: the security officers are not directly employed by the university, but rather by AlliedBarton, one of the largest security personnel firms in the USA. According to Lary Rubin, the firm’s spokesperson, they are currently in negotiations with the recently established security officers’ union. There, it’s about the “whole package” with wages and benefits, such as health insurance, says Rubin. About 250 security guards are affected, all of whom provide for safety on Harvard’s property.

The University doesn’t consider itself responsible

“The negotiations are AlliedBarton’s business, not Harvard’s,” university spokesperson Jim Wrinn told SPIEGEL ONLINE. But at the same time, the university has a contract with the security firm and likes to refer to its Wage Parity Policy: people who work for the university, but are not directly employed by the university, are supposed to earn just as much as direct university employees.

According to Wrinn, in this case the policy concerns guards at Harvard-run museums. According to his own statement, Wrinn does not know how much the security officers from AlliedBarton earn, nor whether the company is fulfilling this obligation.

A few years ago, a union of internal Harvard security officers negotiated an hourly wage of $13-$14 per hour, says Austin Guest of “Stand for Security.” But he says even they didn’t get paid – with the veiled threat that it could be cheaper with AlliedBarton.

But with all of this, Harvard is the wealthiest university in the world. In spite of that fact, at the turn of the millenium everything that could be outsourced, was. Some custodial staff, dining hall workers, and other personnel didn’t even get $10 an hour.

“They should be working, not talking”

Already in 2001, these problems caused dozens of Harvard students to occupy the main administrative building and set up tents on campus. With their “Living Wage” campaign, the students (whom many otherwise like to malign as elite, snooty upstarts) put proper pressure on their university and received significant support from the ranks of unions and politicians. After three weeks the university made concessions and the students pulled back. It quickly became an example, as Stanford students also rebelled against social injustices at their own university.

Now Harvard students are fighting for their protectors, 12,000 [sic] people have already signed the petition. “We’re the first people in the buildings. As long as our jobs aren’t secure, we can’t effectively protect the university,” says a security officer as cited in the daily publication “Boston now”. He demands – like his colleagues and the participating students – higher wages and job security. Since the shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton eight years ago and since 9/11, the situation on campus is tense. The massacre at Virginia Tech two weeks ago isn’t making the situation any better.

But the security officers at Harvard aren’t permitted to speak about the shooting, in which gunman Cho Seung Hui shot 32 people, seriously wounded many more and finally killed himself. “They should be working, not talking,” is the curt justification of the AlliedBarton spokesperson.

In Their Words: Worker Testimonials

Please take the time to read some worker testimonials. We often get bogged down in hourly pay rates and living wages and forget that all these numbers come from real people, with real lives. We hope that some of these testimonials will remind you that this entire campaign does have a human face.

Safdar Ali

For more than five years, I have protected the greater Harvard University community as an AlliedBarton security officer. The most fulfilling part is the relationship I have with the students and watching them grow into the world’s future leaders.
At first, I felt pride and excitement about working at one of the most prominent and prestigious universities in the world, but now that my family is barely surviving on near-poverty wages, my feelings have changed.

After working 80 hours a week to afford an apartment in Billerica, I made the difficult decision to move my wife and three children to a Cambridge public housing complex. It is hard for me, a proud man, to live in public housing, but at least I have more time to spend with my family because the rent is subsidized.

I am actively involved in the union with my fellow officers at Harvard because I want to have an active voice in creating a better life for my family.

MORE TESTIMONIALS HERE

Day 3

Here is a poem I wrote in letter form:

Dear Derek Bok,

When my parents first
found out about my acceptance
to Harvard, neither of them
cared.

My mom told me
to stop screaming,
she had had a long day
at work cleaning up
after folks like
you and me.

I told her
I had gotten into Harvard,
and she looked at me
with the same blank face
she gives my brothers
when they ask for a new pair
of shoes we can't afford.

She asked me what it meant
to get into Harvard,
and I said, "Ma, it means
we don't ever gotta worry about
being hungry again."

President Bok,
my mom didn't want
to let me come to Harvard.
She didn't care about the world class
education you were offering,
or the career opportunities
you could promise me.
All she wanted was for me
to stay home so she knew
I was being taken care of.
It took me a month to convince her
that Harvard would take care of me.

Now, at the end of my freshman year,
I can't complain.
Your police department was there
to rush me to the hospital
when my pancreas burst
dripping bad decisions. Twice.
And I haven't been hungry
till now.

President Bok,
I know it may seem like
this is self inflicted hunger,
but back when i used to ask my mom
for hamburgers
she couldn't afford to buy
for all of my brothers
she would say:
None of us eat unless we all eat.

We are a community
and if one of us is hungry
we are all hungry.
I hope you take care of me
as well as I promised my mom
you would.
---------------------------

Love,
jose

Walk, Sing, Stand with the Progressive Jewish Alliance

See more photos.

Photos of Security Guards

I just posted some great photos of security guards from recent rallies. These were taken by Michael Gould-Wartofsky:

Recap of Day 2

Yesterday was the second day of our hunger strike and also one of the most successful and inspirational days we've had so far. The Harvard Dems organized a 1-day solidarity fast where nearly 25 people from their membership fasted. We also had a really good turn out to our 1pm rally. We chanted, sang songs, heard words from security officers, heard from strikers, and the leadership of the Dems delivered a letter to President Bok outlining why the Dems support the Stand For Security campaign. Before we closed our rally, we joined hands and circled Massachusetts Hall (the home of the President's office) while chanting and singing to make sure President Bok and all administrators know that we are strong, growing, and not going anywhere.

In light of recent campus debate, we decided to hold an open, community meeting yesterday afternoon where anyone who had questions/concerns/complaints about our tactics could come and talk to us directly. It was a mix of new faces, old faces, and security officers. One of the questions raised was whether or not the security officers support our hunger strike and the officers in attendance vehemently voiced their support. They reiterated the same statement they have been saying, "When we speak they don't listen, but when the students speak that is when they listen."

At 9pm, we had our daily vigil, this time organized by the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA). A group gathered at Hillel and walked and sang in the streets towards Memorial Church. A substantial amount of students, workers, and Hillel staff were there to share a bit about the campaign and hunger strike, but also to sing and dance together and bring day 2 of the strike to a close. I think the PJA vigil was one of the best and most fun events we've had so far and I really thank everyone who came out and a bigger thanks to those that organized it. We will have pictures to share soon.

On to day 3...

Why We Are Hunger Striking

Why We Are Hunger Striking

We anticipate that not everyone – not even everyone who supports our demands – will immediately support our hunger strike. We do not wish to overshadow the salience of our claims with controversy over our methods. This hunger strike is meant to unify, not divide; it is meant to improve, not vilify. We need allies, not enemies. In that spirit, we offer the following explanation for our actions.

We expect that this hunger strike will seem abrupt to some students and faculty. For guards, however, this strike is about fifteen years too late.

Harvard has been outsourcing security officers since 1992, lowering wages and denying responsibility. In 1998, students began to call this policy into question by beginning the Living Wage Campaign. In 2001, that campaign came to a head with the 21-day occupation of Massachusetts Hall. In 2001, the Harvard Committee on Employment and Contracting Policies (HCECP), commissioned in the wake of the Living Wage Campaign, wrote the following:

“Harvard should not use outsourcing to undermine its obligations to be a good employer and to bargain in good faith with its unionized employees…Outsourcing should not be used to lower wages and weaken the unions representing Harvard’s employees.”

Harvard codified these prescriptions in its Wage and Benefits Parity Policy, specifically created to ensure that outsourcing was not being used to lower wages. In 2005, security guards began the struggle to join a union, to ensure that the goals of the Living Wage Campaign and of the Parity Policy could be implemented and enforced. In 2006, the guards won that union and – for the first time in fifteen years – were able to bargain for their own terms of employment.

The Living Wage Campaign forced the question, "Why does the richest university in the world pay poverty wages?" And Harvard answered by accepting its clear responsibility and agreeing to guarantee decent wages and conditions for all workers on this campus - directly hired and outsourced. The University would intervene in the negotiations of all the contractors on this campus and require minimum wage and benefits standards.

Now, Harvard is denying the responsibility it accepted five years ago because of a fight that began ten years ago in response to a problem that started fifteen years ago. We have been meeting with administrators for a year about this issue. We have sent letters, compiled facts and testimonials, gathered petitions and endorsements, held vigils and rallies.

In fifteen years, in ten years, in five years, even in one year, we believe that there is ample time for the Harvard administration to have dealt adequately and ethically with this situation. Instead, they have chosen to ignore and even exacerbate it.

We expect that this hunger strike will seem extreme or unreasonable to some students and faculty. For guards, however, the situation has been extreme for many years now.

We think that a guard being forced to choose between paying his rent and paying for his heart medication is extreme. We think that a guard spending four hours a day commuting rather than with his children because he cannot afford to live closer without moving into public project housing is extreme. We think that the richest university in the world pinching pennies from people who can least afford it is extreme.

Further, we find it unreasonable that members of the Harvard administration who do not subsist on the kinds of wages that security officers earn would presume to know better than they about what a just wage or fair working conditions might be. We find it unreasonable that members of the Harvard administration would claim that the university is not complicit in the practices of the labor contractor that it chooses to hire, and is not responsible for the conditions under which security officers protecting Harvard’s campus are forced to work.

We expect that this hunger strike will seem coercive and disruptive to some students and faculty. Ideally, we would engage with the university administration in a multi-stakeholder approach to campus decision-making that incorporates administrators, faculty, students, workers and other community members. Unfortunately, no such process exists. The only voices on this campus with the right to be heard are those of the President and the Corporation.

The choice that we face is not between, on the one hand, engaging in productive negotiations with the administration and, on the other hand, employing forceful tactics. The former is not an option. Instead, the choice is between, on the one hand, standing by silently as 250 of our friends and protectors are abused in our name, and, on the other hand, standing up loudly to take responsibility for creating a more just Harvard. We do not consider the former an option.

Now, when op-eds have failed, when meetings have failed, when petitions have failed, when rallies and marches have failed, now it is we who are coerced. And, given the choice of the administration to deny us the right to participate in the shaping of our own community, we have chosen the least disruptive or unnecessarily harmful means of “standing up loudly” possible.

We expect that this hunger strike will seem unrelated to our goals to some students and faculty. Through this hunger strike, we hope to physically manifest the severity of the treatment received by security officers. We hope to display on our bodies a pale representation of the pain experienced by a parent who cannot adequately provide for her children. We hope to bring this experience into the sight and into the minds of those here at Harvard who perpetrate and benefit from it. By publicly leveraging our own bodies and lives to make ignoring them impossible, we hope to awaken people to the daily ignorance of the private leveraging of the bodies and lives of officers.

We hope to express the humanity of security officers through our own human suffering. In doing so, we hope to expose the inhumanity of the disregard that we have shown for their suffering for so many years.

May 2nd Rally

A bunch of photos from today's rally are now on our new Flickr account:







[Photo credit: Jackie Granick]