On April 19 students began an "indefinite" sit-in in the building, demanding Harvard pay a "living wage" to workers at the university. They estimate that between 1,000 and 2,000 people working on the campus--janitors, kitchen staff, guards and others--are paid less than $10.25 per hour plus benefits.

In 1999 the Cambridge city council passed an ordinance setting the living wage at $10.25. The Harvard Living Wage Fact Sheet distributed by the students explains, "Although living wage standards do, by definition, vary from region, they are all considerably higher than the federal minimum wage. This is because the minimum wage does not begin to meet the needs of working people or families anywhere in the country: in fact, it puts a parent with one child below the federal poverty line. A living wage aims to correct this by establishing, at a local level, a more reasonable minimum wage."

The protest is being led by the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM).

In Harvard Yard, which Massachusetts Hall faces, dozens and dozens of tents are pitched in a tent city. Handmade banners and signs hang from rope between trees and on the sides of buildings expressing support for the occupation. "Society of Arab Students support PSLM," "Brandeis Students say 'Living Wage Now,'" and "Tufts supports PSLM," read several banners. "Si se puede" (Yes we can), said another. A sign in Creole, "Working together with the students," reflects the majority Haitian and Hispanic composition of the workers at Harvard.

Seven hundred workers and students rallied in Harvard Yard April 30. Among the speakers were AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, and Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. "We will stand with you until Harvard University agrees to pay a living wage to the men and women who do all the tasks that are so important to running the university," Sweeney told the rally.

Ted Leonard is a meat packer in Boston.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home