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WINTER 2004-2005 SLACTIVIST NEWS

• Gearing up for the National Student Labor Week of Action '05...
• NLRB Denies Student Workers the Right to Organize
• Can't Stop. Won't Stop. Post-Election Reflections from USSA, USAS, and SLAP
• 84,000 Students Set To Lose Pell Grant Eligibility In 2005
• Fair Labor Association Challenged Over Gilden Sweatshops
• Unionized Nike Factory in the Dominican Republic Faces Closure
• Long Island SLAP GROWs!
• Support Campus Service Workers
• Coming To a Town Near You- The Taco Bell Truth Tour!
• Betrayal at Berkeley- A Great Educational Tool for You
• Students Demand Funding For Higher Education in Response to Misleading Increases

GEARING UP FOR THE NATIONAL STUDENT LABOR WEEK OF ACTION '05…

Students nationwide are gearing up for what promises to be the largest National Student Labor Week of Action yet! Join us as we stand in solidarity with workers' in the fight for workers' rights and an end to the "corporatization" of higher education. Sign up to participate and download the National Student Labor Week of Action Organizing Manual. Also, don't forget the last day to order materials for the National Student Labor Week of Action is March 3, 2005.

NLRB DENIES STUDENT WORKERS THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE

July 2004- In a decision involving Brown University, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled 3-2 that graduate student assistants are not statutory employees of the university and thus not entitled to the organizing and collective bargaining rights afforded other university employees under Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act. According to the majority, graduate student assistants, "…have primarily an educational, not economic relationship with their employees". They further stated that it is not "…national labor policy to accord such persons collective bargaining rights because they are primarily students".

Despite this setback, graduate students at Brown, Columbia, and Tufts haven't given up. At Brown they have pledged to hold sit-ins and other actions. At Columbia graduate students are preparing to strike. And at Tufts they are fighting to increase the size of the Association of Student Employees.

On university campuses around the country graduate students work as teaching and research assistants while pursuing advanced degrees. As workers, grad students perform such tasks as teaching introductory courses, grading papers and exams, preparing syllabi, leading seminars, and mentoring students. According to the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students there are approximately two million graduate students in the U.S. Many of those students, according to the United Auto Workers, perform more than 50 percent of the teaching and grading at private universities. At the University of Pennsylvania, a school that will likely be affected by the NLRB decision, graduate students teach more than 70 percent of the introductory lecture and laboratory courses.

The NLRB decision will not affect employees of public universities such as the University of California and the State University of New York because public universities are governed by state laws, which the board has no jurisdiction over.

Resources for More Information:

• Fact sheets on Organizing and Collective Bargaining Rights and Graduate Student Organizing: slap@usstudents.org
• The UAW Community Action Program - www.uaw.org/cap
• Visit www.americanrightsatwork.org for updates on the current status of Organizing and Collective Bargaining Rights.

CAN'T STOP. WON'T STOP. Post-election reflections from USSA, USAS, & SLAP

A lot of people are wondering what will happen to student and youth movements given the results of the last presidential election. It's no secret that the issues USSA, USAS, and SLAP work on have not fallen in line with the priorities of the Bush administration. During his time in office Pell Grants have been diminished, our classmates are dying in wars they don't support, the right to organize a union has been seriously weakened, overtime pay has been cut, and that's just the very tip of the iceberg. In recent months, youth organizers and organizations have been the target of police harassment and raids by the FBI. Our generation doesn't have enough money to go to school, and we can't make enough at work to support ourselves or afford healthcare. The only alternative provided by our government is to join the armed forces and fight (and possibly die) in an illegitimate war.

Yet the picture is not all bleak. Young people turned out to the polls in record numbers in this past presidential election, many standing on line for hours to cast their vote. Both USSA and USAS devoted significant resources to electoral organizing over the past several months, and our work was successful. Beyond simply getting their peers to the polls, our students were able to talk to students about the issues they most care about, and were able to educate and inform a large body of young people. This work was good for our organizations and its benefits will continue to be seen in the months to come. Students continue to be out there organizing for their rights and for the rights of others. Every day, students are challenging their campus administrators and government legislators to uphold their responsibilities and take a stand on the side of justice. Every day, students and workers are building new alliances and students are standing in solidarity with worker struggles in their campus communities and all over the world.

In a nation where over half of the people chose bigotry and discrimination over jobs and healthcare, we've got only one place to go - and that is up. People often say that young people are the future, but young people are also demanding their place in the present. We are organizing and we are leading a movement. Student organizations have never been more connected to one another than they are right now. Alliances are continuously being created and strengthened. Like most other progressive organizations and individuals, we got the wind knocked out of us by the presidential election; but, we're picking ourselves up off the ground and continuing to fight for the causes that are the foundation of our organizations. We will continue to struggle for access to education, an end to discrimination, access to healthcare, workers' rights, and social and economic justice overall. We're staying true to our missions and true to our causes, and we are asking you to join us.

84,000 STUDENTS SET TO LOSE PELL GRANT ELIGIBILITY IN 2005
From the Leg. Wire By Jasmine Harris

The Department of Education estimates that 84,000 students will lose Pell Grant eligibility and another 1.2 million students will see reductions in their grant or loans based on outdated information being used to modify tax allowance tables for students and families.

MONEY PROBLEM$
Pell Grant award eligibility for students is calculated by using the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Students with low EFC's receive a higher Pell Grant award than those with higher EFC's. The EFC is determined by the family's or student's income tax returns and possess a tax allowance. This allowance enables families and students to protect a fraction of their income from being considered eligible for higher educational expenses. This tax allowance includes income deducted for state and other taxes. There are several tables that list this tax allowance based on income. In June 2003, the Department of Education modified information used to determine the tax allowance for state and other taxes. These changes decrease the estimated tax allowance for families, and thus increase the amount of income earned that may be considered eligible for higher educational expenses. Though the tax allowance tables are supposed to be updated yearly, the tables currently being used to determine Pell Grant eligibility are being modified based on IRS data from 2000.

A DOLLAR AND A DREAM
Unfortunately, the difference between the economic situations of students in 2000 versus 2004 is phenomenal. While the pressures of capitalism have rapidly increased the cost of living in the U.S., increases in wages, especially for the working class and people of color, have lagged behind. And with tuition and fees on the rise nationwide, the ability to attend college will continue to be a struggle. If more accurate data were used to modify the tax allowance tables, the outlook for current recipients of the Pell Grant would be more positive.

In 2003, Senator John Corzine (D-NJ) authored an amendment on an appropriations bill to prevent the Department of Education from implementing these changes. The amendment passed, however appropriations legislation lasts for only one year. Corzine authored the same amendment for the fiscal year 2005 appropriations bill. Though the amendment was stripped from the bill, there were no prohibitive measures implemented that would prevent the Department of Education from implementing the changes.

The United States Student Association (USSA) is currently working with coalition partners in the Student Aid Alliance to prevent these changes from happening. Stay tuned for future legislative updates to find out how you can get involved. For more information contact USSA's Legislative Director, Jasmine Harris at leg@usstudents.org.

YOU CAN TAKE ACTION ON THIS LEG WIRE BY

• Signing on as an endorser of USSA's Higher Education Access Campaign by calling 202.347.USSA.
• Lobbying your federal legislators at USSA's Grassoots Legislative Conference held March 19-22, 2005
• Educating students on your campus about the plight of the Pell Grant.

FAIR LABOR ASSOCIATION CHALLENGED OVER GILDAN SWEATSHOPS
Courtesy of United Students Against Sweatshops

Within the next week, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) will consider appointing the Montreal-based Gildan Activewear company as a full FLA member despite the company's extraordinary abuse of worker rights. This action, if carried out by the FLA, would make a mockery of code of conduct enforcement and amount to a green light for abusive practices. Campus administrators should be aware of this important case: university decisions regarding whether or not to allow licensees to source from Gildan cannot credibly be based on the FLA's position.

In early 2004, the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) and the Fair Labor Association initiated investigations of Gildan's factory in El Progreso, Honduras in response to complaints by workers about illegal working conditions. Although the WRC's investigation uncovered more illegal practices, both the WRC and FLA investigations concluded that Gildan had violated its workers' rights by illegally firing dozens of workers who had attempted to organize an independent trade union. There have since been reports of illegal working conditions and unfair labor practice filings at other Gildan facilities in Nicaragua, the U.S. and Mexico.

In response to international an outcry, in October the FLA took the unprecedented step of putting Gildan under special review. But instead of requiring Gildan to provide employment to the illegally terminated workers -- the only action that would sufficiently address the gravest violations -- the FLA simply asked Gildan to "correct misrepresentations of Gildan's compliance with FLA Standards that appear on the Gildan website", "correct misrepresentations attributable to Gildan of the FLA's position... to the specific media where any misrepresentations occurred", and take several other measures. The FLA decided that Gildan must meet these standards by November 30 or its' membership would be terminated on December 11.

As of November 30, Gildan workers were still out of a job. Gildan has fallen short of meeting even the FLA's minimal requirements. The moment of truth is here: will the FLA have the nerve to expel this notorious sweatshop abuser from its ranks or will they welcome Gildan back as a full member of the FLA corporate community?

UNIONIZED NIKE FACTORY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FACES CLOSURE
Courtesy of United Students Against Sweatshops

BJ&B is a factory in the Dominican Republic that produces Nike and Reebok baseball caps for universities. Since the factory first opened, groups of workers have attempted to organize a union to improve some of the abysmal working conditions. Every time they did so, the group of workers was summarily and illegally fired. When USAS brought a BJ&B worker to the U.S. in 1999 to denounce these violations, Nike ran a PR campaign to discredit the worker and USAS. In December of 2001, a group of workers was fired again, and this time the WRC was able to assemble an investigative team and document the illegal firings. In the following year, Nike and Reebok acknowledged the problems at BJ&B and began to press the factory to respect the workers' right to organize. Eventually the factory allowed a free and fair election to be held, and workers voted in favor of union representation. In the spring of 2003, management and the union negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in a factory in a Dominican free trade zone to provide for wages above the legal minimum.

Protect Our Victory!
BJ&B has an historic relationship with USAS -- they have been working together since 2002, when the BJ&B union was first formed and recognized. Since then, USAS has been active in investigations and actions to eradicate many long-term problems in the factory such as forced overtime, verbal harassment of workers by supervisors, and repeated efforts to coerce and intimidate workers who sought unionization. The collective bargaining agreement has been repeatedly disrespected by the company. Additionally, there is evidence of union busting, Yupoong, the parent company of BJ&B, has been moving production from BJ&B (a unionized factory) to Mocarea (also in the Dominican Republic) and Dhaka, Bangladesh, two non-union facilities. Massive firings since January in BJ&B and massive hirings at Mocarea and Dhaka are not just a mere coincidence.

Failure to carry out legally binding contract provisions and the dismissal of workers because of unionization are in direct violation of college and university codes of conduct. Past workers' victories are threatened by BJ&B's failure to implement a number of provisions of the union contract and by the massive layoffs targeted at workers at BJ&B. The BJ&B factory is under threat of closure unless this type of egregious behavior is ended! USAS is now urging universities to tell Nike and Reebok that they need to take responsibility for what is happening at BJ&B. We won't stand for cutting and running!

LONG ISLAND SLAP GROWs!

The LI Grassroots Organizing Weekend (GROW) was a big success! About 30 students and young workers attended representing 7 schools and 5 organizations. The diversity of opinion, experience, ethnicity, and sexual identity was particularly inspiring. Toni Lyn, a Graduate Student Employee Union (GSEU) representative at Stony Brook University, said she has already applied lessons about strategy, targets, and campaign development in the GSEU campaign to win a new contract with the University. The host organizations, the Youth Worker Center and Jobs with Justice - LI, are now planning an ambitious demonstration of student/young worker power during the National Student Labor Week of Action.

SUPPORT CAMPUS SERVICE WORKERS

Service workers across the country are organizing to win respect, dignity and fair treatment on the job. Unfortunately, too often employers ignore workers' concerns or use intimidation tactics to silence them, so workers are turning to students for support.

Service workers deserve respect no matter whose uniform they wear. We want to make sure that our campuses are a safe space for workers where they receive fair treatment, not intimidation, discrimination and harassment. If the current subcontractor is not willing to provide it, another will. Also, university administrators need to express to the company their support for workers' rights. If subcontractors treat workers poorly elsewhere, how will we make sure the same thing doesn't happen here?

With United Students Against Sweatshops and the Student Labor Action Project, the Service Worker Solidarity Campaign hopes to continue to stand in solidarity with service workers around the country. To get involved there are a number of things that students can do ranging from passing petitions addressed to the administration to creating a student position on the school's contracting committee. For more information on how to stand in solidarity with service workers please go to our website: www.serviceworkersolidarity.org or contact tbrummer@serviceworkersolidarity.org.

COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU- THE TACO BELL TRUTH TOUR!

On March 12, join farm workers and thousands of allies -- including actor and activist Martin Sheen -- in Louisville, KY for a full day of music, speeches, and colorful theater as we protest outside the offices of Yum Brands demanding an end to sweatshops in the fields!

For the past three years, farm workers from Immokalee and their allies have crossed the country, spreading the truth about sweatshop conditions behind the tomatoes in Taco Bell's products. Each year, the CIW's Truth Tours have culminated in major actions -- including a 10-day hunger strike in 2003 and a 44-mile march in 2004 -- outside of Taco Bell's global headquarters in Irvine, California.

But this year, we are bringing the truth about farm worker poverty to the home of fast-food profits. Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silvers, and A&W Restaurants, had revenues of over $24 billion in 2003. Yum Brands is the largest restaurant company in the world -- larger than McDonald's -- and as such wields tremendous influence in the corporate food industry.

Be a part of history in the making! A strong turnout in Louisville on March 12 is crucial to demonstrating to Yum that the Taco Bell boycott will not go away until farm workers in Yum's supply chain are treated with dignity and respect. Organize a caravan from your school or community to join us in Louisville for this historic convergence! We can't make this change without you!

For more details on how you can join us, either in Louisville or in one of the major cities where the tour will be stopping along the way: www.ciw-online.org

BETRAYAL AT BERKELEY- A GREAT EDUCATIONAL TOOL FOR YOU

A group of graduate students in the Department of Sociology at University of California, Berkeley (UCB), along with best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich, have just published a report entitled "Berkeley's Betrayal: Wages and Working Conditions at Cal." Based on nearly 70 interviews with members of the clerical and service staff at UCB, the report is broken down into three main sections: wages, health and safety and dignity and respect. The authors found that over 1700 service and clerical workers at the University are paid below a living wage. The report was released to the public on September 14th and has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, the Daily Californian, the Berkeley Daily Planet, KPFA (Pacifica Radio) and CNN. It is now being used as an educational tool by professors and graduate student instructors as well as by campus unions (AFSCME Local 3299, CUE, UPTE). To download a copy of the report, please visit www.berkeleysbetrayal.org. For more information, email info@berkeleysbetrayal.org.

STUDENTS DEMAND FUNDING FOR HIGHER EDUCTION IN RESPONSE TO MISLEADING INCREASES

The President released his FY 06 budget yesterday morning to Hill Staff, government agencies and press. This budget will cut education funding by $530 million, increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $100 in each of the next five years, and eliminate over 48 programs in the Department of Education that total $4.2 billion in cuts.

"While increasing the maximum Pell grant award is an important part of college affordability, the current proposal is misleading," stated Ajita Talwalker, United States Student Association President. "A modest increase to the Pell grant while simultaneously attacking the other parts of a student's aid package that are necessary for a student to go to school is not educational access."

The proposal also includes cuts resulting in the elimination of critical programs that are essential to many students' ability to obtain a college degree. Programs such as GEAR UP (306.5 million), as well as TRIO Programs including Talent Search and Upward Bound (467.2 million) are among the targeted programs. The budget also proposes eliminating the Perkins Loan Program (66.1million), Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (65.6 million), Javits Gifted and Talented Education (11 million), and Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program (3 million). With these proposals the doors to higher education will be slammed shut for many American families.

Students around the nation are organizing for a week of action in response to the cuts, February 14-18. This week will include a national call-in day on February 16, as well as in-district lobby visits. "Students will not let our elected representatives leave us behind. We will fight for the programs that we care about that make education a reality for American families," said USSA Vice President Eddy Morales.