I got this through the labourstart list. Perhaps someone could enlighten us about the issues here.
Parvati
Parvati Raghuram
Geography Department
The Open University
________________________________
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thu 4/20/2006 10:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Hunger strikers at the University of Miami need your support now
Janitors, housekeepers and groundkeepers at the University of Miami have been demanding
what is a simple, basic human right -- the right to join a union. Their
employer is threatening them and intimidating them, and the university is
refusing to lift a hand to support them in their struggle. (now showing on http://www.labourstart.tv)
They are demanding that former Clinton administration official Donna Shalala,
who is president of the university, intervene in the dispute and tell the
company (called UNICCO) to recognize these workers' right to form a union.
Shalala is stubbornly refusing.
They have gone on a liquids-only hunger strike -- both the workers and a half
dozen university students. Civil rights leaders, politicians and labour
leaders have rallied to their cause. The workers are laying their very lives
on the line for dignity at work. Already, several have been hospitalized.
They are asking us to do two very simple things:
1. Go right now to this page --
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=87
-- and send off your message to Donna Shalala.
2. Forward on this email to everyone you know, especially students and others
at universities. Publish it on your blogs and websites. Print it out and hang
it on bulletin boards. Reproduce it in your newsletters.
Help us mobilize thousands, and then tens of thousands, to overwhelm Donna
Shalala with emails of protest in the next few hours and days.
Thank you.
Eric Lee
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