Hannah Caruso
The abuses of the corporate food service industry are heinous. Farmworkers know this all too well. On farms in Florida they have been held captive in involuntary servitude. Physically intimidated. And denied fresh air and access to bathrooms.
Our friends at the Student Farmworker Alliance (a partner of the CIW or Coalition of Imokalee Workers) have been working hard to broadcast this message.
A horrifying article in Labor Notes slams these circumstances. The article narrates a visit to the “Modern Slavery Museum” a traveling project of the CIW:
“The trailer, which already feels uncomfortably small, is a replica of one in southwest Florida where 12 farmworkers were forcibly kept between 2005 and 2007. Locked in at night, they had no place to relieve themselves and were forced to foul a corner of their cramped quarters. When someone fought back, he was beaten and chained to a pole. The chain and padlock, still twisted from when workers finally forced it off, rest on the trailer’s wall.”
Though the struggle for justice continues, the CIW won a great victory last spring; in no small part due to the Student Farmworker Alliance. Last school year, student activism on campuses across the country pressured Aramark and Compass Group—two of the three largest food service management companies in the world—to reach an agreement with the CIW; an agreement that will result in better working conditions for Florida farm workers.
This is a great testament to the power of students to take control of food service on their campuses. And a reminder that, in a world of multi-national food corporations, student action on one end of the country can have an effect thousands of miles away.
Kyle Schafer
[Stir It Up Editor’s Note: The post below is by Kellyn Lewis, a student leader of the Northwestern Living Wage Campaign. It is a reflection on his participation in UNITE HERE’s July 22 national action (see In These Times).]
On July 22nd, I saw the world. I was sitting in the middle of one of Chicago's largest downtown streets, East Wacker Dr., outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel shouting, "We are Human Beings! Enough is Enough!" To my left, I had locked arms with one of my best college running mates, and fellow Northwestern Living Wage Campaign leader. And to my right, I felt the intense presence of a housekeeping worker in a Chicago hotel covered by Unite Here! Their chants echoed into my ears as I bellowed out the cry for social justice, the cry for worker humanity. It was a meditation chant. Our words hummed along side the thousands who had lined up at the edge of the Chicago River to support the nation’s labor movement. While I had worked with these workers in the past, and had led a student rally of over 400 people on my campus, being locked tight with the people I stand for each day invigorated my senses.
It was at this moment that I began to drift off into another place. My conscious mind had control of my chants, and my subconscious wandered. Endlessly through the thoughts and abyss of my mind (the jungle that my new privileged position of higher education has brought me). It shifted over the pages of Marx, Rawls, Berlin, and all the radical philosophers I iconize on a daily basis. I also reminisced about all the ups and downs my entire extended family has had with social position, with class, with race. My grandparents who fought their whole lives just as the workers are now doing. My parents who themselves have gone through tumultuous financial crises.
In that moment, a moment of solidarity among a crowd, and internal solitude in the “radical” social theories, I felt at home. My physical reality, the reality that I was doing something for the people that were so much like the people that raised me, and my spiritual reality, the spirit of radically enlightened thought, merged. This is the labor movement. This is justice. And it is this powerful feeling that can envelope our generation, whether you come from the highest social order to the lowest socio-economic background. It is this place that we should all as college students strive for. Do not over look a social movement, in all of its political tactics, because it is this history of social change that defines us all. This is what campuses need, and my peers that are involved with the campus campaign saw this too. It is a necessity to visualize this social position when you read about injustice, and to embody your learned knowledge when you take action. This is the state of social change.
(Photo by Jerome Grand)
Kyle Schafer
Just a little tip from our research arm, in case you’ve got a few minutes this summer and want to dig up some information about your school!
Most colleges and universities are non-profit organizations, and that means they file what’s called a 990 form with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These forms not only contain all sorts of interesting information (such as the top salaries of school employees), but even better, they are also public documents and sometimes it only takes a few minutes to find them.
The source I use most often is GuideStar, an online service that compiles information from non-profits. GuideStar often has 990 forms available for download. If you want to find your school:
- Fill out the simple registration here. Don’t worry, it’s free.
- After you log in, search for your school.
- When you find your school in the search results, click on its name.
- You will find a tab called “Forms 990 and Docs.” Click on it.
- Often, there will be PDFs of up to three years of Forms 990. Download them and see what you can find!
Trying to figure out something in particular? Contact us and maybe we can help.
Kyle Schafer
We here at Stir It Up would like to congratulate our friends at the Real Food Challenge on winning the Echoing Green Fellowship. Check out the exciting announcement here.
If you are interested in getting involved with the Real Food Challenge as they continue their exciting work, we encourage you to attend one of their leadership conferences this summer. In RFC’s own words,
“Each event will feature a unique series of workshops ranging from storytelling as an organizing tool and ‘power, privilege and oppression in the food system,’ to ones on campaign planning and how to shift campus food systems. All participating teams will leave with a full action plan for the school year.
These trainings are much more than workshops: we'll cook and eat delicious meals together, visit and work with local food justice organizations, do all sorts of outdoor activities and (of course) have dance parties! Everyone walks away with new friends, allies, concrete skills, and the real tools needed to revolutionize our food system!”
The trainings will be in Orlando (Aug. 11-15), Boston (Aug. 19-22), Atascadero, California (Aug. 26-29) and North Carolina (Sept. 4-6). For all the info you need, check out the Real Food Challenge web page about the events.
Kyle Schafer
Campus cafeteria workers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario are standing up to form a union and improve their lives. Students, faculty and other unions are standing up in solidarity with them.
Aramark, the campus food service provider, is standing in the way.
“The Carleton University Students’ Association has been disappointed to hear repeatedly from many of our members who are employed at Aramark that Aramark has threatened and intimidated them for exercising their rights to speech and association in attempting to form a union outside company time,” said Alex Sirois, President of the Carleton University Students’ Association in a press release after the Association passed a motion in support of the cafeteria workers.
UNITE HERE Local 261 has already filed unfair labour practice charges against Aramark alleging targeted layoffs for known union supporters, surveillance, threats and interrogations. But Aramark’s intimidation against the campaign extends beyond the workforce – student allies have reported being harassed by Aramark managers as well.
Marco Zigliotti, a second-year student at Carleton, wrote the University Security about his experience with Aramark managers:
I would like to report unusual and what I believe to be inappropriate conduct on the part of Aramark Carleton managers at the Fresh Food Company cafeteria in Residence Commons on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
On that day, I and four other students ate at the Fresh Food Company wearing stickers in support of Aramark worker’s rights. Hundreds of people on campus have been wearing these stickers in response to what many Aramark workers have described as intimidating and threatening letters to scare people away from joining a union.
The other students and I eating were made to feel like unwelcome visitors in our own university. After entering the Fresh Food Company, we were each watched and followed very closely by Aramark managers, who numbered eight, and who stood close by as we were served by employees.
When we sat down, all the managers followed us and sat on either side of our table, watching us closely the whole time. This made myself and the other students feel extremely uncomfortable. Ensuring that campus is safe for all is the job of University Security, and we could not understand why Aramark managers were effectively policing us and treating us as a threat, or how that could be appropriate on our campus.
Locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on Carelton’s campus have added their voice as well, creating a united voice on campus representing over 8000 unionized employees and 20000 undergraduate and graduate students. The coalition of unions and students, called Campus United, sent a letter to University President Roseann Runte, available here.
Meanwhile, Olivia Chow, Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina, Toronto, and Citizenship and Immigration critic for the New Democratic Party, came to campus to meet with students and workers about the conditions and has pledged her support.
The campaign on the ground is unfolding quickly, but we’ll do our best to keep this site updated with the latest news.
Kyle Schafer
[Editor’s Note: This end-of-the-year update from the DePaul Living Wage Campaign comes from DePaul students Pamela Barrientos and Alyssa Wieting, both of whom were leaders of the campaign all year and will be returning in the fall.]
As our academic year wrapped up, our final event was a great success. We decided to plan a faculty/staff luncheon, inviting many with whom we had met earlier in the year. At the same time, for some of the faculty/staff this was their introduction to the living wage campaign. The student organizer overseeing and directing the event, Jenna Bergevin (DePaul 2013) ran the luncheon smoothly and efficiently, adding another amazing event to the growing strength of our campaign.
Jenna began with a PowerPoint presentation outlining the progress of the campaign, and the next steps for the future. Included were worker and student testimonies, on their experiences and connection to DePaul and the Living Wage Campaign. The staff/faculty engaged in the presentation by asking questions, brainstorming with us on enthusiastically agreed to start circulating petitions within their departments.
About two weeks before the Faculty Luncheon, around ten of our student committee members were able to attend the Board of Trustees Brunch. This was an important event to attend as the most the involved students on campus are invited to share their concerns, praises, and critiques of DePaul University to the trustees. The brunch had a very inviting atmosphere as each student was assigned to a certain table with about three trustee members at each. Prewritten questions were discussed as we casually ate brunch and talked. Most students began with their praises of the university, and as the event progressed more critiques made their way to the surface. The Living Wage campaign and our concerns of DePaul upholding its Vincentian mission was discussed at almost every table with a very positive response from trustee members. It was obvious that they were interested in the work we were doing and gave many of us their support as they wished us the best in our endeavors.
Finally, a few weeks ago our organizers were blessed to be able to share the joy of officially recognizing Unite Here Local 1 as the official union for Chartwells workers at DePaul. Congratulations to all of the workers. Together we are strong, and ready to take on the challenge recognizing and bringing justice to worker's rights at DePaul.
Kyle Schafer
On Friday, April 23, students, faculty and campus dining workers at DePaul University in Chicago came together for an incredible celebration of solidarity. Over 200 students and 60 campus dining workers attended the “Living Wage Palooza,” which featured speeches from workers and professors as well as performances from 12 different student-led musical and spoken word acts, many of whom prepared material specific to the cause.
Amid the weight of the issue -- “I was moved to tears watching one worker in particular, Chanteen, express simultaneously her humility and frustration with the conditions that exist as a contracted employee at DePaul University,” said Dan Brown one of the lead student organizers – workers and students still found the space and inspiration to dance with each other and feed off each other’s energy.
"I thought it was inspiring, remarkable and touching,” campus dining worker Chanteen Hardaway reflected after the event. “It was shocking to know that that many students care about the workers. It was Friday and they could have been getting ready to go out and party, but instead they came and were kickin' it with the old folks."
Student organizer Jenna Bergevin said, “The event was a great opportunity for the students and workers to interact without a counter in between them. Seeing everyone together was a powerful reminder that when people come together they can accomplish their goals!”
Campus dining worker Alan Camacho agreed. "I felt that the event was awesome -- seeing all the students there, all the workers come out, even in the rain. For me it was a sign of all the work we've put in the past two years."
“Watching students put on ponchos as opposed to retiring to their comfortable apartments solidified for me the urgency and determination of the DePaul University community,” said Dan Brown.
The event came less than two weeks after DePaul students delivered over 1500 petition signatures in support of living wages on campus to the University President. The workers have also now filed for an election to join the hundreds of other workers leaving Service Workers United (SWU) in favor of UNITE HERE in order to lift standards for cafeteria workers across the country.
The DePaul community will surely take the inspiration from the Living Wage Palooza forward as the struggle to bring justice to DePaul’s cafeterias continues.
Students and workers gather for the event.
Chanteen Hardaway speaks about working in DePaul’s cafeteria.
Campus dining workers pose for a photo at the doorstep of a student house heavily involved in the living wage campaign.
Workers show off student-made Local 1 cookies. The student and the worker committee all wore their UNITE HERE Local 1 buttons as well.
Ian Mikusko
Editors Note: This post was written by Marcos Escobar, who organized the second ever (Chicago'#1!!!) Stir It Up Conference in Los Angeles. He doesn't have a log-in name but will soon--hopefully--be joining our distinguished lineup of Stir It Up bloggers.
Faculty, students, and union leaders came together on USC’s campus on April 10th at Southern California’s first Stir-It-Up conference. Students came from the University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount University, Pomona and even the University of New Mexico. Worker leaders came from USC, Disney, and the Hilton LAX.
Participants discussed how they fought for justice, participated in organizing trainings, and made plans for forming and strengthening worker-student coalitions.
Elias Kohn, a USC student, said “[the conference] was very inspiring and moving. It started with passionate testimonies from workers and then it was great speeches by students about how they affect their campuses and communities. [The conference] also put us in touch with local organizer so we can plug into local actions.”
Katie Duberg from Pomona said, “it was really exciting to come and meet the other students who are interested in the same things I am. If we keep in touch I think we can help support each other in bringing justice to our campuses.”
This event was organized by UNITE HERE Local 11 and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Los Angeles (CLUE-LA).
Kyle Schafer
I have marched with many people for many causes, but I’m sure I’ve logged more miles with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) than anyone else. It helps that they tend to have wonderfully epic marches, but the years have added up too.
Other than supporting my dad’s union, the CIW’s Taco Bell campaign was the first labor solidarity work I had ever done. Early during my freshman year of college, my student group brought a CIW member to Northwestern to talk about the campaign. A few months later, two carloads of us drove down to Louisville for an 8-mile march through town, ending at Yum Brands corporate headquarters. I still remember that trip vividly – we forgot that Louisville and Chicago were in different time zones, got to the march late and were running through town trying to catch it. I wrote in my journal that night, “I'm looking forward to doing more things like this protest in the future. ... I felt like I was doing something worthwhile.” Who knew that over six years later I’d have dedicated my entire life to labor struggle, and would still be marching with the CIW?
I think a lot of people have that experience with the CIW, though. There is something magnetic to it. Maybe it is the inspiring people you meet, maybe it is the art and music, or maybe it is that from their base in Immokalee they keep beating some of the biggest companies in the world. Regardless, they help everyone believe that however long the struggle, we can change the world.
The CIW’s classic energy was on full display at the Farmworker Freedom March last weekend, but I think this march held extra meaning for me personally because it also reaffirmed the work I do every day. When I showed up from Chicago, one of the very first people I saw was Isaac, a UNITE HERE Local 362 worker leader from Disney. He was proudly sporting a red shirt matching my own. He remembered me from Atlanta, where we had previously both traveled to build a fighting union with airport food service workers. We walked side-by-side a lot of the day as he filled me in on his efforts to organize his own coworkers to take on Disney. The next day, even more support came from Local 362, including Local president Eric Clinton and members from Disney and the Orlando airport.
Meanwhile, I kept meeting students from all around the country who are active with UNITE HERE, and other allies who were just excited to see us on the march. I felt like I was a part of something much bigger and the connection between what I’m doing now and what I was doing six years ago seemed as strong as ever. Sometimes I guess you just know beyond any doubt that you’re in the right place. Through all of the stressful details, we’re building relationships that make up a movement with incredible potential -- to bring justice to the fields, to bring justice to cafeterias and to change all of our lives.
Kyle Schafer
Over the past couple of months, students at DePaul University have been knocking on dorm-room doors, speaking to classes and meeting with friends to gain support for living wages and affordable healthcare for contracted campus workers. Through their hard work, they collected over 1500 petition signatures. Earlier this week, a delegation of 16 of the student leaders delivered the petitions straight into the University President’s hands!
The next major step for the campaign is a community event on Friday, April 23, which will celebrate the achievements the workers and students have made so far and send a clear message that the DePaul community will stand together to ensure justice for its workers. If you are in Chicago, please join us! The event is at 3:30 PM at the corner of Kenmore and Belden in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Check out the Facebook event and share the flyer.
