Students call for unionization

John Sweeney, this year's commencement speaker, picked the right campus to visit this May. The president of the AFL-CIO will be speaking to a campus Monday that, thanks to the work of a growing core of student labor activists, saw several significant victories for labor this year.

Starting in October, Oberlin will be one of the first schools that refuses to buy apparel produced in sweatshops. The policy, which sets up a committee and an intern position was signed by President Nancy Dye in May. Members of the Student Labor Action Coalition had been researching and writing the proposal for more than a year.

In addition to the anti-sweatshop measure, student labor activists also spearheaded a campaign to organize student dining hall workers. In March, after four months of petitioning, the Student Worker Organizing Committee announced that they had obtained union authorization from almost 60 percent of student dining hall workers, more than the required 50 percent.

The unionization drive is currently being held up by the international office of the United Auto Workers, the union that represents the rest of the dining hall workers.

Unionization

Although students had been researching the prospect of unionization for months before, the issue of dining hall worker dissatisfaction was first publicized in November, when five students walked off their jobs at Dascomb dining hall to protest the elimination of some positions at Dascomb.

The five students were joined by about 10 others, who marched throughout Dascomb wearing placards and chanting slogans.

Student protesters argued that the job cuts will increase the workload on other workers at Dascomb. "If one person were to do the job that two are doing now they would be overworked," first- year Libby Fleming, spokesperson for the group, said.

Ty Moore, a member of SWOC, works in Stevenson. He agreed that sometimes there are not enough workers at Stevenson, but disagreed that the remedy was to move workers from Dascomb. "You have to ask why the available jobs haven't been filled. Why are they such unpleasing jobs?" he said.

The concerns raised by the protesting students were more completely and clearly articulated at a meeting held a week before the protest. The meeting, organized by SWOC, was designed to demonstrate the benefits students would enjoy from unionization. It drew about 25 students.

Speakers at the meeting included members of SWOC and representatives from campus unions; the UAW, Oberlin College Office and Professional Employees and the Oberlin College Security Association.

"It's a good move," Grant Grace, president of the campus UAW local, told the group. "Be as stubborn as you have to be. Do whatever it takes to become unionized."

Julie Weir, president of OCOPE, stressed that unions are the way to have a voice in the workplace. "There is not an avenue unless you're in a union," Weir said.

This was a theme that others reiterated. Christine Diewald, vice president of OCSA, said student workers have far fewer rights than their unionized counterparts. "Because they have a union they have a voice. Because you don't have a voice," she said.

The representatives from all three unions said their memberships are excited at the prospect of adding student workers.

Despite the positive sentiment voiced by union representatives in November, the and logistical support of union officials in the actual unionization process has been lacking.

Although the SWOC gathered the necessary signatures in March, the UAW is yet to offer their official and full-fledged support.

In March Moore said, "Members of SWOC are frustrated at the delays and bureaucratic blocks that we ran into from the UAW, but at the same time we have been very encouraged by the support we've received from UAW workers on campus." This week Moore said that students are still working with the UAW and continue to be hopeful that the drive will reach completion.

While SWOC members support unionization, some college officials and students are more doubtful. Ruth Spencer, director of human resources, said in April, "The critical question is what is it going to do and are there other forms to do what is desired that might be more efficient or desired? You have to determine what is really to be gained and what is to be traded-off, because there are always trade-offs."

"This isn't the only avenue for students to have a voice," she added.

Some students are cynical about the unionization effort. In a section in the Review's commentary section that ran in December, seven students expressed their opinions on the issue. All but one was negative. Junior Andrew Bayer said, "It is just another ploy by the socialists to get more attention. Student workers need to unionize about as much as Bill gates does."

Anti-sweatshop

The second major labor-related issue to hit Oberlin this year was a policy that forbids College offices and departments from buying apparel made in sweatshops. The policy, which was written by a subcommittee of SLAC, creates a committee and intern position that will work together to research companies the College buys from, and determine if their labor practices fall within the College's code of purchasing.

"This is another progressive first for Oberlin," college senior and co-chair of SLAC Ursula Lawrence said. "We are the first school of our size to jump on the bandwagon."

One aspect of the policy which was often critics' first question is the presumed price tag. SLAC and Dye, however, say the only cost of the new policy will be the wages of the research intern.

The intern will be responsible for researching firms the College buys from, gathering information about the labor practices and reporting that information back to a committee, made up of representatives from athletics, purchasing, the Co-op Bookstore, Student Senate, the faculty and any other interested community members.

The committee, which the intern is also a member of, will use the information gathered by the intern to decide if a company's practices are within the College's purchasing code.

The College will be bound to decisions made by the committee; departments will be required to stay away from companies deemed to be breaking the code.

"It becomes College law," Lawrence said.

The policy enumerates those practices which define sweatshops.

Companies cannot use forced or child labor. They must have established health and safety standards, recognize the right of workers to organize a union, pay wages competitive with the prevailing wage of the industry and area and limit the hours of work per week for an employee to 60, with 12 as overtime. Companies must not employ temporary workers permanently, or as a weapon against unionization.

The policy also states that the College will prefer companies that pay a living wage to their employees.

SLAC members were pleased with the reception they got from administrators. "There has been a lot of support all around," Steward said. "It's really nice to get support from the administration."