Students Rally Support of Workers

After gathering force in front of the Science Center last Friday afternoon, the Living Wage Campaign rally besieged Mass. Hall with 200 chanting students and other demonstrators demanding better wages for Harvard workers.

While the demonstrators had hoped to meet with either President Neil L. Rudenstine or Provost Harvey V. Fineberg, they had to settle with leaving a note.

The rally was organized by the Harvard Living Wage Campaign, an offshoot of the Progressive Student Labor Movement. The campaign mirrors an initiative by the city of Cambridge to establish a "living wage" of $10 an hour for all employees.

"We are not asking to break the bank. We're asking for a [small] raise for the least-paid workers," said Aaron Bartley, a Harvard law student and campus organizer.

The Science Center rally included over 100 students who gathered to the listen state officials and academics decry Harvard's unwillingness to pay all workers a minimum of $10 an hour.

Surrounded by posters saying "You Can't Eat Prestige" and "Justice for Janitors," Howard Zinn, a professor emeritus of Boston College, told the crowd that action can be successful.

Zinn, a noted social historian and author of A People's History of the United States, said the current economic boom America is enjoying is not benefiting the working poor.

"Tell that to the people in the cafeteria, `The Dow Jones Industrial just went up. Aren't you happy?'" he said.

Zinn also praised the students for their activism, saying their actions sent the message that they are aware of social injustice.

"Someday you're going to graduate from Harvard," he said. "You'll look around andyou'll have to face the question, `What are yougoing to do about it.' I'm glad you're starting todo something now."

Christopher J. Vaeth, a second-year student atthe Divinity School and one of the rally'sorganizers, attempted to put a human face on theissue of higher wages. "It's easy to walk right byand ignore the workers sweeping up behind you," hesaid. "There are untold stories here at Harvardand you just stop and listen to their stories andyou can learn more than any book can teach you."

Also at the rally, state Representative JarrettT. Barrios '91 (D-Cambridge) and Duncan M.Kennedy, Carter professor at the Harvard LawSchool, addressed the crowd. Also, a rallyorganizer read a letter from the other CambridgeState Representative Alice K. Wolf (D-Cambridge).

Domene M. Williams, treasurer and formerpresident of the Harvard Union of Clerical andTechnical Workers (HUCTW), a speaker at theScience Center, said that while HUCTW members'wages do not fall below the $10 mark, there areworkers who fall through the cracks.

Williams said there are from 500 to 1,000"casual" or part-time workers paid minimum wagebecause they do not belong to a union.

In addition to casual work, other employmentarrangements include the subcontracted workers theUniversity habitually hires from outsidecompanies. "I believe the students have a right tobe involved in this because it's your tuitionwhich helps pay these workers," she said.

While Friday's efforts to speak with Universityadministrators were initially unsuccessful, Vaethsaid he still remained confident that theadministration would meet with them.

"We can bring pressure to bear on theadministration until they grant us that meeting,"he said. "We've the moral high ground."

Vaeth emphasized, though, that any future"pressure" the activists would put on theUniversity would be no-violent, pointing to therelatively orderly nature of Friday's rally. "Weworked with the police, we didn't rush thebuilding," he said. "We as students have the leastto lose by bringing this to the forefront."

Other activists echoed Vaeth's optimism.

Tyson Brown, a union member, held a bannerreading "Justice for Janitors" and pointed to therecent successes of organized labor in RhodeIsland. "If you put the pressure to them, they'llgive in. $6 an hour is not enough money to feedanybody," Brown said.

The rally followed what Vaeth called a"non-response" to a letter the Living Wagecampaign had sent Rudenstine and Fineberg datedFeb. 17 requesting a meeting.

Organizers promised more rallies anddemonstration if administrators failed to respondto their request for a meeting by 5 p.m. today

Christopher J. Vaeth, a second-year student atthe Divinity School and one of the rally'sorganizers, attempted to put a human face on theissue of higher wages. "It's easy to walk right byand ignore the workers sweeping up behind you," hesaid. "There are untold stories here at Harvardand you just stop and listen to their stories andyou can learn more than any book can teach you."

Also at the rally, state Representative JarrettT. Barrios '91 (D-Cambridge) and Duncan M.Kennedy, Carter professor at the Harvard LawSchool, addressed the crowd. Also, a rallyorganizer read a letter from the other CambridgeState Representative Alice K. Wolf (D-Cambridge).

Domene M. Williams, treasurer and formerpresident of the Harvard Union of Clerical andTechnical Workers (HUCTW), a speaker at theScience Center, said that while HUCTW members'wages do not fall below the $10 mark, there areworkers who fall through the cracks.

Williams said there are from 500 to 1,000"casual" or part-time workers paid minimum wagebecause they do not belong to a union.

In addition to casual work, other employmentarrangements include the subcontracted workers theUniversity habitually hires from outsidecompanies. "I believe the students have a right tobe involved in this because it's your tuitionwhich helps pay these workers," she said.

While Friday's efforts to speak with Universityadministrators were initially unsuccessful, Vaethsaid he still remained confident that theadministration would meet with them.

"We can bring pressure to bear on theadministration until they grant us that meeting,"he said. "We've the moral high ground."

Vaeth emphasized, though, that any future"pressure" the activists would put on theUniversity would be no-violent, pointing to therelatively orderly nature of Friday's rally. "Weworked with the police, we didn't rush thebuilding," he said. "We as students have the leastto lose by bringing this to the forefront."

Other activists echoed Vaeth's optimism.

Tyson Brown, a union member, held a bannerreading "Justice for Janitors" and pointed to therecent successes of organized labor in RhodeIsland. "If you put the pressure to them, they'llgive in. $6 an hour is not enough money to feedanybody," Brown said.

The rally followed what Vaeth called a"non-response" to a letter the Living Wagecampaign had sent Rudenstine and Fineberg datedFeb. 17 requesting a meeting.

Organizers promised more rallies anddemonstration if administrators failed to respondto their request for a meeting by 5 p.m. today