Subject: A Sit-In for Jobs with Justice at Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 15:03:09 -0400
From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@osu.edu>
To: mlg-ics@andrew.cmu.edu

A SIT-IN FOR JOBS WITH JUSTICE 
AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 

In support of Local 4501, Communications Workers of America, students have organized a sit-in in front of the office of President William Kirwan (Bricker Hall, 190 N. Oval Mall) at the Ohio State University. The sit-in began after a support rally for the CWA workers on Wed. April 26. Today is the third day of the sit-in. Hundreds of students, unionists, faculty, and community supporters have already taken part in the sit-in; our number is growing, and we shall not move until the OSU will meet all the demands of the CWA workers and negotiate a fair contract that respects the needs of the lowest paid OSU employees (two thirds of whom are people of color) that have been neglected for the last fifteen years! 

Current OSU pay rates are 10-25% below the market, and one fourth of the Local don't even make $8.00 per hour. One half earn less than $10.00. Many workers of this academic sweatshop have to work more than one job to make ends pay. The
CWA is demanding modest pay increases (which affect less than 1% of the OSU budget) as well as opportunities for training, education, and promotion, but the management has been intransigent, forcing the workers to strike. 

While the OSU workers' wages have lagged behind their counterparts' at comparable institutions (adjusted for inflation, in fact, workers made more money ten years ago!), the top OSU administrators have recently given themselves gigantic raises. This is injustice! A flagship university in the state of Ohio has come to behave like the greediest corporation. We, students, demand that
the OSU respect its workers and pay living wages, instead of exploiting them. 
 

for more recent news on this event contact
Yoshie Furuhashi at 614-299-3313 or furuhashi.1@osu.edu or Mark D. Stansbery at 614-252-9255 or walk@igc.org.