May 9, 2000, Columbus, Ohio
For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi (at 614-299-3313 / furuhashi.1 at osu.edu) or Mark D. Stansbery (at 614-252-9255 / walk at igc.org).
OSU Teaches the Art of Scabbing
Since the beginning of the strike of Communications Workers of America Local 4501 (a union of about 2,000 service and skilled-trade workers) on May 1, a new subject has been added to the general education curriculum of the Ohio State University: the Art of Scabbing.
For instance, finding it difficult to replace striking campus bus drivers by temporary workers, the OSU is teaching its own students how to scab. Sarah Blouch, director of Transportation and Parking Services, proudly proclaims: "Our students have been the backbone of our [bus] service" (Paul S. Rovnak, "Students Preserve OSU Bus Service," _The Lantern_ 8 May 2000). According to Blouch, "the student drivers are working more than 60 hours a week" (Rovnak). How the practice of using students as overworked and inexperienced scab drivers and thus compromising the safety of bus riders and pedestrians alike is to be made compatible with the management's professed goal of keeping "the University functioning in a safe, healthful, and educationally sound manner" (as President William E. Kirwan and Provost Edward J. Ray put it in a letter sent to non-union staff) is left unexplained. While parcel delivery workers are honoring the CWA picket lines, the Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese is "making use of its work-study students by having them hand deliver" campus mail (Davina K. Wilkins, "Faculty, Staff Pick Up Slack During Strike," _The Lantern_ 8 May, 2000).
On top of the fact that some students are being exploited and overworked as scabs, _all_ OSU students are instructed to serve as agents of management surveillance. From the beginning of the strike, hundreds of faculty, lecturers, and teaching assistants have taken a symbolic action of solidarity with the strikers, teaching classes on the Oval, in Bricker Hall (where the sit-in in support of CWA workers has continued since April 26), and at other alternative locations, instead in normal classrooms cleaned and maintained by scabs. Dismayed by the solidarity expressed by rebellious professors and graduate students, President Kirwan and Provost Ray write in a letter to students: "[Y]ou should expect all of your classes to meet in a normal fashion, focusing on the subject matter that is outlined in course syllabi. If you feel that your instructors are not respecting your right to the education for which you have registered and paid, please contact Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies Martha Garland at 292-5881, garland.1 at osu.edu, or Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Susan Huntington at 292-6031, huntington.1 at osu.edu" (the letter is available at http://www.osu.edu/osutoday/cwa/students.html). In essence, the letter encourages students to report to the deans any instructor who refuses to cross the picket lines or even discusses the strike in class.
Threats of management retaliation against strike supporters who take public actions while on the job are sometimes explicit. Untenured faculty and graduate students are especially made to feel vulnerable. In a message to e-lists for English faculty and graduate students, Professor Valerie Lee, Vice-Chair of the Department of English, warns GTAs that not only canceling classes but also even moving classes to alternative locations are prohibited (in contrast to a resolution passed by the Council of Graduate Students, which supports the right of graduate students to hold classes outside, as long as the syllabi are followed and the academic quality of the classes unaffected). Professor Lee ends her message by reminding GTAs that their jobs may be in danger: "Some of you...have taken actions that may jeopardize their reappointments" (posted on engrad at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu & engfac at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu, dated Mon, 08 May 2000 11:13:56 -0400).
Undeterred and defiant, faculty and graduate students are moving forward to organize a day of work stoppage and teach-in at Bricker Hall, to be held in conjunction with a labor rally, where a huge turn-out of unionists and supporters is expected on Thursday, May 11. The scheduled events for May 11 are as follows:
9 AM-11AM, Teach-In
11 AM-noon, Labor Rally for CWA, Local 4501 (speakers and participants from AAUP, AFL-CIO, the Afrikan Student Union, CWA, Greenpeace, NAACP, Teamsters, and other student, faculty, and labor organizations)
3 PM, Meetings (for faculty, graduate students, undergrads, and other supporters from the University and community).
Flyers for the work stoppage and teach-in quote Frederick Douglass: "Without a struggle, there can be no progress." -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5144 bytes Desc: not available URL: <../attachments/20000508/0d75c9d3/attachment.bin>