> "Fair Labor Practice" University Code of Conduct Hearing
> Thursday, November 16 at 6-8 pm.
> Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South
> New York, NY
>
>
>
> MAKE UNIVERSITIES FAIR LABOR PRACTICE EMPLOYERS
>
>
> Scholars, Artists, and Writers for Social Justice (SAWSJ) is pleased to
> announce a national campaign to promote a code of fair labor practices for
> campus employers. To launch the campaign, we will be holding a hearing on
> November 16 on the denial of basic rights to college and university campus
> workers. The event is being organized in coalition with student
> organizations and unions representing all sections of university and
> college employees including the AFL-CIO, United Students Against
> Sweatshops (USAS), the UAW, AFT, AAUP, SEIU, HERE, Jobs with Justice and
> the Laborers International Union.
>
> Chaired by Columbia University Professor Eric Foner, the event will
> feature an introductory address by a national AFL-CIO leader and a panel
> of distinguished political, academic, cultural and religious leaders who
> will hear testimony from workers and students involved in a variety of
> campus labor struggles.
>
> Campaigns featured include:
>
>
> * Adjunct faculty organizing in Boston American Association of
> University Professors, Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor and the
> University Organizing Project
>
> * New York University GSOC (Graduate Student Organizing Committee)
>
>
> * New York University Clerical & Technical Workers (AFT Local
> 3882)
>
> * SUNY Albany HERE foodservice workers (a successful struggle by
> students
> and unions against the use of non-union contractors)
>
>
> * SUNY Stonybrook Labourers (non-union contractor issue)
>
> * Wesleyan University United Student-Labor Action Coalition and
> SEIU janitors (successful labor code of conduct campaign)
>
>
> * Yale University - GESO (Graduate Employee and Student
> Organization) and Healthcare Workers
>
> At this hearing, and in the campaign, we will highlight the Fair Labor
> Practice Employer University Code of Conduct (see attached) and call on
> all universities to adopt and implement it. We hope this code will be
> circulated nationally by students and activists on campuses for
> endorsement by university administrations.
>
> We believe it is important to examine the ways in which the increasing
> corporatization of university life affects faculty, undergraduates,
> graduate students, adjuncts, professional staff, clerical staff, and
> service and maintenance employees. We are committed to bringing together
> all segments of the campus community to resist corporate domination of the
> university and hold administrators accountable to fair labor practice
> standards that guarantee academic freedom and decent working conditions
> for all campus workers.
>
>
> For more information contact:
>
> Josh Freeman (718) 997-5384
>
> JBFJBF at aol.com
>
> or
> Corey Robin (718) 951-5308
>
> crobin at brooklyn.cuny.edu
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A "Fair Labor Practice " University Code of Conduct
>
>
>
> Colleges and universities are threatened today by the growing sway of
> corporate values over university life. We see evidence of this influence
> in curricular decisions, research priorities, the declining role of
> faculty, and most visibly in the sphere of employment relations.
> University employees are often denied elementary democratic rights of free
> speech, economic security, and equal opportunity. No educational
> institution can fulfill its mission unless these rights are protected. To
> that end, every educational institution should become a "fair labor
> practice employer" by ensuring that it and all contractors doing business
> with it secure and uphold the following rights:
>
> 1. Employees at educational institutions have the right to
> participate fully in determining the conditions of their work. Every
> employee has the right to free association, to organize unions without
> fear of retaliation, and to good-faith bargaining. Whenever a majority of
> employees have expressed the desire to be represented by a union - whether
> by signing a petition or union card, or by voting in a union election -
> colleges and universities should recognize their union. Educational
> institutions should not engage in protracted legal struggles to thwart
> these democratic decisions. University and college administrators should
> conscientiously adhere to fair labor principles in contract negotiations
> and in their relations with employee unions, and refrain from practices
> aimed at undermining them.
>
>
> 2. All members of the university community have the right to learn,
> teach, work and conduct research in an environment that values and
> protects academic freedom.
>
> 3. Employees have the right to a living wage, including health,
> pension, and other benefits.
>
>
> 4. Employees have the right to a workplace free from discrimination
> and harassment and a workplace that practices affirmative action.
> International students, postdoctoral fellows, and workers have the right
> to workplaces free of intimidation, coercion and misinformation regarding
> immigration, visa, and citizenship status.
>
>
> 5. Employees have the right to humane and dignified working
> conditions in an environment that protects the health and safety of the
> workforce and the surrounding community.
>
>
> 6. All members of the university community have the right to learn,
> teach, and work in an institution that does not depend upon prison labor.
>
>
>
>
>
> These rights should be guaranteed to all employees, including service and
> maintenance workers; clerical and technical workers; security personnel;
> faculty and professional staff; full-time, part-time, and subcontracted
> employees; and adjunct instructors and graduate-student employees.
>
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