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• 10th Annual National Student Labor Week of Action - Resist and Reclaim our Future!
• Hello from Maria F. Escobar- SLAP coordinator
• Hello from our friends at USSA
• Why I care about the Employee Free Choice Act by Chris Hicks from Wichita State University
• Local SLAP Activities
• Upcoming Activities
• Internships and Scholarships
• Conferences

10th Annual National Student Labor Week of Action
Resist and Reclaim our Future!

We are living in a historic moment; that is what everyone around us keeps saying. But this moment's role in history is defined by what we do within it. Many of us participated in the recent election for change but are now faced with the reality that we need further action. Budget cuts in our universities, home loss and unemployment in our families and lack of good jobs for our future after college all threaten our quality of life.

The 10th annual National Student Labor Week of Action, hosted by the Student Labor Action Project, is an opportunity to reclaim our future by mobilizing our communities. From March 27 th to April 4 th , in honor of the lives of Martin Luther King Jr and Cesar Chavez, students and workers will unite and demand:

• The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and living wages for all campus employee
• University codes of conduct that support workers' rights both on campus and overseas
• Development of "green jobs" that support workers in our communities and promote a healthy environment
• Access to higher education for all and the passage of the DREAM Act
• Fair wages & working conditions for the people who grow our food and harvest our crops

To take part in the NSLWoA, SIGN UP HERE or contact Maria Escobar maria@jwj.org or 202.393.1004 x226. Remember, we are building a student movement that will challenge existing power structures to create the change we want to see in our world. Become that change, organize!

Hello from Maria F. Escobar, SLAP coordinator

As we battle through the winter and prepare for the spring, we want to welcome you back and inform you about all the great things happening this semester in which you can take part on and become part of the ongoing student movement in the U.S. These are the times when we need to be active, resist and reclaim our future!

Hope you enjoy the articles and information provided. And don't forget to keep in contact with us about all your amazing work and campaigns.

In solidarity,

Maria F. Escobar
Student Labor Action Project Coordinator

Hello from our friends at USSA

Hello! This is Bill Shiebler, organizing director for the United States Student Association. We want to remind you that registration is now open for the 40th Annual Grassroots Legislative Conference & National Student Lobby Day. During the 2008 elections students across the country turned out in record numbers to elect higher education friendly representatives to all levels of government. We made our voices heard in the ballot boxes, and now it is time to make them heard on Capitol Hill. Please join us for the largest National Student Lobby Day ever, to ensure that student friendly legislation gets passed. Visit www.ussaconferences.org for more information and to register today.

Why I care about the Employee Free Choice Act
by Chris Hicks from Wichita State University

The first time I was asked why I support the Employee Free Choice Act was an eye-opening experience for me. For months, I had been involved with a student organization running a campaign in support of it, and I was now standing in front of the Executive Board of a local AFL-CIO asking for financial support for an event.

There were many reasons why I knew why I should be supporting the Employee Free Choice Act; I know that young workers wages have decreased in the past 30 years, I know that union members are more likely to have health care and benefits, and I know that union-members are more likely to see a higher pay. As I recalled all these statistics in my head, I began talking about something much more personal to me.

When I was in middle school, my mother tried to unionize her workplace, a public school system's technical data center. At the time, these words were meaningless to me, I didn't know what she was doing or why and I had no idea how much she cared. To me, it was my mother talking about work. In the beginning, most of her co-workers supported her and the idea and she had a clear majority. Then the union busting began; lawyers, anti-union meetings, and harassment of workers that seemed supportive of the idea. My mother didn't lose her job for trying to create a union, but the idea was killed, and 10 years later she still works there and has never tried to unionize it again.

To me, the Employee Free Choice Act is much more personal than the numbers we often see associated with it. We can all look at the statistics and say, "Here are the clear benefits to being a union member, and here are the clear numbers of people saying they wish they were in a union." It is all there, from protection at work, to more benefits, and higher wages. To me though, I think of my mother coming home from work, and going to her room and just trying to hold herself together. She was fighting to get better healthcare so my brother and I could go to a doctor whenever we were sick - not just our yearly check-ups. She was fighting to make sure she couldn't just be fired on a boss's bad day, to make sure there was always food on the table.

I have got to see the struggle workers face when they try to start unions - the fear tactics, the harassment, the violation of workers' rights. That is why I was here, speaking in front of the AFL-CIO's Executive Board requesting their help in our campaign. That is why they were there listening to me.

When I finished telling the story of my mother trying to start a union, I was asked, "If this legislation passes, do you think your mother will try again with more right's protecting her?"

I don't know. I don't really think that matters, quite honestly. There are other single mothers trying to do the same thing, other young workers' that know what they stand to gain and even more know what they stand to lose. I'm not fighting for the Employee Free Choice Act to try and make something up to my mother; I'm fighting for every worker that has fought the fight for workers' rights, for human rights, and for every single person that will follow. Someday, it may be me, or my friends, or my children. I know the Employee Free Choice Act will ensure them their rights, and begin to fix a broken system that prevents many workers from choosing a union freely. I know that under these new laws, no ones right's will be violated like my mothers were, and that is why I am here.

Local SLAP Activities

Student Labor Action Movement in St. Michel College in Vermont

Dressed in shorts and T-shirts, members of S.L.A.M gathered in Alliot Student Center on Wednesday, Nov. 5 to solicit signatures in support of allowing Physical Plant workers the right to wear shorts year- round.

UVM press conference

Students, Staff and Faculty press conference to Stop the Cuts at UVM- Dec 13th
The press conference featured speakers from United Staff; UE Local 267, representing UVM's maintenance and service workers; the Student Labor Action Project and Students Against War; plus faculty who support United Academics' call for transparency in budget decisions and stand with students and staff against the administration's announced plans for expanding the student body while imposing a hiring freeze, workload increases, and layoffs.

Holding "Change" Accountable was a kick off for potential activists on campus & in the community. After November 4th, I felt that students would settle with the results of the elections & let the president handle the rest. This is where I came up with the idea! So, I contacted progressive organizations to collectively organize a march & rally for various important demands. Our four demands are:
1) Lower Tuition & more Grant Aid
2) Recruitment & Retention of Students of color
3) Passage of the Dream Act & the EFCA
4) More Green Jobs
We had over 150 students , community and local unions members.

Upcoming Activities

United Electrical workers tour

In December, 260 workers at Chicago's Republic Windows occupied their plant for six days, a sit-in strike launched in response to the closing of their plant with only 3 days notice. Jobs with Justice coalitions along with other community, faith and labor activists from across the country mobilized in support of these workers, helping them win a settlement from Bank of America and Republic owners including severance pay and compensation for unpaid earnings. As the economic crisis deepens, millions of people face jobs loss and foreclosures.

Join Jobs with Justice, UE and other groups in celebrating the successful resistance at Republic and launch the broader campaign for an economic recovery that puts Main street before Wall street

Check out our website for locations and times http://jwj.org/bailout/republic_tour.html .

Jan 31- NYC
Feb 2- Connecticut
Feb 3- Springfield, MA/ Burlington VT
Feb 5- Boston area
Feb 6- Providence, RI
Feb 9- Detroit, MI
Feb 10- Cleveland, OH
Feb 11- Erie, PA
Feb 12- Buffalo, NY
Feb 13- Pittsburgh, PA
Feb 14- Raleigh, NC
Feb 16- Charleston, WV

Upcoming GrassRoots Organizing Weekend (GROW) Trainings

The (GROW) is a comprehensive three-day training for student organizers. The GROW teaches students the nuts and bolts of organizing, as well as ways to be more strategic in their fight.

Feb 6-8 Arizona Student Association
Feb 13-15 - Wichita State University
Feb 20-22 - UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz
Feb 27-March 1st - Penn State University; NC A&T; UCLA
April 10- 12 - U. of Central Florida

For information on how to have a GROW on your campus contact David Sievers USSA trainings training@usstudents.org

Internships and Scholarships

Hotel Workers Rising Summer Paid Internship 2009 - July 13-August 21, 2009 Across North America, hotel workers are rising - organizing to lift one another out of poverty. Housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks are standing together to win the right to organize a union and improve their lives. They need you - your energy, your education, your enthusiasm - to join them in that fight. UNITE HERE is offering a six-week, paid Hotel Workers Rising Internship for passionate student leaders who will spend their summer in the struggle for justice. Internship sites will be based in major cities across the U.S. and Canada. The Hotel Workers Rising Internship will run from July 13-August 21, 2009. Applications are due by May 15, 2009 and applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early for rolling admission. For more information, email summerinternship@unitehere.org. Apply Online at: http://jobs.unitehere.org/internapp.php

Union Research Summer School, June 7-12, 2009 The AFL-CIO and Cornell University are sponsoring a Strategic Corporate Research Summer School on June 7-12, 2009 in Ithaca, New York. The course (credit or non-credit) is designed for undergrad and grad students who are interested in working as union researchers and campaigners. The registration deadline is May 1. Credit scholarships are available if you apply early. To obtain a registration form and other information, go to http://www.sce.cornell.edu/ss/courses/on/special/scr.php , or contact Kirstine Armstrong at (607) 254-4749 or kaa14@cornell.edu.

2009 New Leaders Internship CPL's New Leaders Internship Program brings passionate young people from underrepresented communities to Washington DC for paid, on-the-job experience in a top progressive organization, leadership training, coaching, networking and community building http://s216300718.onlinehome.us/09fellowship/

Generation Change seeks to recruit, train and support community organizers and emerging grassroots nonprofit professionals through large-scale internships, fellowships, and advanced leadership support for those currently working in the field. http://www.communitychange.org/our-projects/generationchange

The Union Scholars Program is a joint project from AFSCME and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to let eligible college students experience what it's like to be part of the labor movement. http://www.afscme.org/organizer/12094.cfm

AFSCME's 2009 Alternative Break Sessions: Session 1: March 15 - 20; Session 2: March 22 - 27
Campaigns and locations to be announced. Open to College Seniors and Graduates who are seriously considering a career in union organizing. http://www.afscme.org/altbreaks/ .

Apply to the Master's Degree program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Labor Center. We offer a unique multi-disciplinary program that combines coursework and an internship toward an M.S. degree in Labor Studies. Find out more about the Labor Center at http://www.umass.edu/lrrc, or contact Stephanie Luce, at sluce@econs.umass.edu or 413-545-5907.

The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund has applications available for student activists who are building the progressive movement and will be enrolled in school during the 2009-10 academic year. http://www.davisputter.org .

Union Leaders of the Future. The program provides annual scholarships, up to $3,000, to help women and people of color with the cost of continuing their education or training. This is for current union members who wish to further their education. For more information, see: http://unionplus.org/benefits/education/scholarships/apply_diversity.cfm.

Conferences