The 17 Under Fire!

OCDA FILES CHARGES AGAINST 19 STUDENTS AND SYMPATHIZERS FOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT OUTSIDE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE AT UCI

SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) filed charges today against 19 students and sympathizers for being disorderly outside the Chancellor’s Office and refusing to leave the University of California, Irvine (UCI) campus. John Bruning, 24, Santa Ana, and James Eric Lagergren, 23, Irvine, are both charged with one misdemeanor count each of false imprisonment and obstruction of a public place. Lagergren is also charged with one misdemeanor count of being a public nuisance. Eric Kitayama, 26, Anaheim Hills, is charged with two misdemeanor counts of trespassing, and one misdemeanor count each of disturbing the peace and refusal to disperse. The following 16 co-defendants are charged with one misdemeanor count each of trespassing, disturbing the peace, and refusal to disperse:

     Moosa Matt Azadian, 21, Anaheim
     Rachel Denice Burton, 21, Irvine
     Juan Antonio Castillo, 48, Santa Ana
     Fernando Chirino, 28, Irvine
     Ryan Sinclaire Davis, 22, Santa Ana
     Saron Ephraim, 22, Tustin
     Sandra Flores, 20, Irvine
     Dennis Lopez, 32, Irvine
     Evangelina Nevarez, 36, Los Angeles
     Sylvia Van Pham, 22, Fountain Valley
     Celene Perez, 28, Los Angeles
     Whitney Lauren Shepard, 22, Irvine
     Indar Smith, 22, Irvine
     Aida Belaynes Soloman, 21, Irvine
     Irendeep Kaur Srai, 22, Irvine
     Samiyyah Jowharah Tillman, 22, Irvine

All the defendants are UCI students except Castillo, Nevarez, Perez, and former student Kitayama. If convicted on all counts, they face a sentence ranging from probation to one year in jail. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 29, 2010, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. The Department and time are to be determined.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 24, 2010, 17 defendants except Bruning and Lagergren are accused of trespassing onto the UCI campus, entering the fifth floor of Aldrich Hall, and gathering outside the Office of the Chancellor. The defendants are accused of disorderly conduct involving over 40 people inside and outside the building. They are accused of chanting, yelling slogans from their various protest groups, blowing whistles, and pounding on the walls and floor. They are accused of disrupting approximately 400 UCI employees working in Aldrich Hall, who were evacuated at 11:00 a.m. due to the protests.

While the 17 defendants were inside Aldrich Hall, Bruning and Lagergren are accused of pushing a dumpster against the doors of the west exit outside the building. Lagergren is accused of heaving a dumpster into the middle of Pereira Street, one of the main streets on the UCI campus, and blocking traffic.

At 11:15 a.m., UCI Police read a dispersal order using a portable bullhorn. The 17 defendants inside are accused of refusing to leave, sitting down in a single-file line, continuing to yell, and banging on walls. The UCI Police arrested each defendant. The Irvine Police and Newport Beach Police assisted in dispersing those gathered outside. Bruning and Lagergren were not arrested at the scene.

UCI has designated areas to practice free speech in a safe and effective manner without disrupting the normal operations of the University. The UCI Code of Student Conduct places appropriate limitations on where demonstrations may be held without discrimination, and all students are expected to adhere to this Code. In California, entering any land with the intention of interfering with or obstructing lawful business is misdemeanor trespassing.

Deputy District Attorney Lynda Fernandez of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.

UCI's BSU Presents: "The Murder of Fred Hampton" Movie Night

Time	Thursday, November 18 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location	HH 112
Hosted By	Black Student Union
More Info	Come to the Black Student Union's first movie night to watch the documentary "The Murder of Fred Hampton." Fred Hampton was the leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. This film depicts his brutal murder by the Chicago police and its subsequent investigation, but also documents his activities in organizing the Chapter, his public speeches, and the programs he founded for children during the last eighteen months of his life (imdb.com). The film will be followed up by a quick discussion.

TEACH-IN: (Not Just) Fee Hikes

Time	Wednesday, November 17 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location	Humanities Hall 262
Hosted By	Dispersal of Knowledge
More Info	Global disinvestment in education and cuts to government social spending are the norm, and taking a stance against this in any form is becoming increasingly difficult. Recent media attention directed towards the tens of thousands of people engaged in protests over fee hikes in London elicits needed attention to the global climate surrounding social issues. In this light, how can we broaden the conversation on the proposed local UC fee hike of 8% to be inclusive of a global context? We invite you to bring your friends and community members to participate in the teach-in this evening, in Humanities Hall 262. Although some will be provided, if anyone would like to bring snacks and drinks to share will be appreciated and enjoyed by all. See you all there! :)

WTF?! Fee Hikes Again?? RALLY Nov. 18 @ UCI

Time	Thursday, November 18 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Location	UCI Flagpoles
Hosted By	Bobble Bobble
More Info	Day of Action against: UC BUDGET CUTS!-TUITION HIKES! (AGAIN?!?) -Proposal to change fees to TUITION (falling into line with the historical trajectory of privatization of the UC) ...... -Additional 8% increase of already cost-prohibitive student fees/tuition, forcing students to pay a whopping $12,000+ when including student services fees -Cuts to progr...ams, classes, wages... -In addition to the already decrepit status of public education. FIGHT BACK! And any negative impacts of the budget cuts.We must unite to save our school!!!!!ROLLBACK TUITION HIKES AND WAGE CUTS NOW! INSOURCE WORKERS AND FIX CALIFORNIA’S PRIORITIES NOW! Public education is in crisis. Politicians and the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) demands that we—UC students and workers—pay to safeguard their bottom-line. The budget cuts have resulted in: 1. A proposed 8% tuition imposition, DIRECTLY AFTER last year's 32% tuition increase that affected all students, even though tuition and fees already went up more than 105% 2000-09 . 2. Classes in all subject areas being drastically cut while the remaining classes are being increased to unmanageable sizes; teacher’s assistants (T.A.) are being made responsible for 80-100 students in some units and asked to cover more than one class (lecture) in others. In some departments (like sociology and psychology), continuing graduate students in good standing are losing funding because they are no longer being hired as T.A.’s in spite of the shortage caused by increased enrollment and fewer classes! 3. The elimination of critical educational programs like SAAS, which provide assistance to low-income and first-generation students. 4. Paralyzing cuts in staff, hours, and operations for UCI’s libraries and Gateway. 5. The use of subcontracting to AVOID giving campus workers even the most basic union wages, benefits, and legal protection through third-party hires that profit by paying these workers miserable wages with “little to no” medical benefits, sick days, or vacation. 6. Statewide pay cuts, forced furloughs (unpaid temporary leaves of absence), and LAYOFFS for university and hospital staff, lecturers, and faculty! While students are being run dry by cost-prohibitive measures, the State legislature shows no qualms with defunding public education while proposing a 31% tax break to the rich . Likewise, UC administrators, CEO’s, and CNO’s have no problem with giving themselves regular raises and bonuses. The median bonus given to CEO’S and CNO’s was $39,000 last year; the median salary is $555,000 (UCI Medical’s CEO) . Last year, Terry Belmont (Associate Vice Chancellor for Medical Center Affairs and CEO) received a 22% salary increase—bringing his yearly income to $659,000. Dr. Peter Breen (UCI Medical Center), who was accused of forging surgery records and resigned in 2007, had a yearly salary of $472,000 . Several executives received 11% to 59% higher than their predecessors. The regents also voted to give “administrative stipends” ranging from $24,000 to $58,625 to several employees, without any extra duties, and added several new highly paid executive positions. And yet, Gov. Schwarzenegger and UCOP chief Yudof dared tell us that the economic crisis is forcing all of us to make sacrifices. WE DEMAND the State fix its priorities and adequately fund public education (UC, Cal State, Community College, & at all elementary/ secondary levels) and healthcare; no more bailouts or tax breaks for the rich! WE DEMAND tuition hikes stop, associated fees be rolled-back to affordability, and full employment for continuing graduate students because the UC system is being gentrified. WE DEMAND all faculty and staff pay-cuts be withdrawn; all laid-off lecturers, staff, and service workers be rehired; and all service workers finally be inhoused (hired directly by the university). WE DEMAND State lawmakers, UCOP, and UCI’s administrators publicly fight on behalf of the students and workers—not against us. WE DEMAND transparency in all budgetary decision-making and shared governance to be SHARED. WE DEMAND WE NO LONGER BE MADE TO SACRIFICE FOR THESE BOSSES! If it’s time to make sacrifices, these administrators and politicians must be forced to lead by example and take massive wage cuts, retroactively return their bonuses, refuse their posh allowances, and sacrifice their pensions before attacking the people who make the UC work. STUDENTS, WORKERS, & COMMUNITY: SOLIDARITY IN DIFFERENCE! UNITE!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • 12pm NOON RALLY AT THE FLAGPOLES: PLEASE COME SUPPORT UCI AND PROTEST THE BUDGET CUTS TO PUBLIC HIGHER ED IN CALIFORNIA. FEATURING: SPEAKERS REPRESENTING STUDENTS, FACULTY AND WORKERS! • TEACH-IN on Wednesday, 11/17/10, in room ____ (TBA) Stay tuned for follow ups!!!

Jornaleros en La Lucha

Time	Thursday, November 4 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location	Bio Sci III, 1200
Hosted By	ASUCI, Dreams At UCI, Umbrella Council, and Orange County Dream Team
More Info	...In the context of the passing of SB1070 in Arizona and other anti-migrant laws in cities throughout the nation such as Costa Mesa, and the student struggle for the Dream Act as a Stand Alone Bill, Jornaleros en Lucha (Part One) is a documentary that depicts the struggle of day laborers in the cities of Orange and Costa Mesa located in Orange County. The film documents the obstacles and struggles of day laborers as they try to organize into a collective in order to fight anti-day laborer ordinances in these cities and establish safe-corners or sites where they can congregate and provide their labor without fearing police harassment. About the Collective that produced the Film: The film was produced by Collectivo Tonantzin. The collective does work with day laborers in Orange and Costa Mesa as well as with youth and cop watch collectives in Orange County and L.A. Mission Statement: We are a collective that struggles for justice, equality, dignity, and respect for all. We struggle for a community in which many communities can fit. We work to educate and raise consciousness about issues that affect our community as a whole. We promote education and subscribe to the principal of each one, teach one. We constantly work to educate ourselves and our community in a collective, non-coercive environment. THIS THURSDAY, November 4, at 7 pm. Bio Sci III, 1200

All out for sentencing day

Time	Friday, November 5 · 8:00am - 10:00pm
Location	LA County Criminal Court 210 W temple st Los Angeles, CA
Hosted By	Los Angeles Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant
More Info	On Nov 5 Judge Perry will sentence Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant. Come out and demand that he get the MAXIMUM SENTENCE ( 4 year for involuntary manslaughter plus an extra ten years for the gun enhancement) We will be there from 8:00am until the sentencing is announced. -- After the sentence is read meet at Lemeirt Park (Vernon and Crenshaw) at 5:00 for reaction and responses from the community. Come out and voice your opinion, and discuss next steps in the movement to stop police brutality! Next L.A Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant meeting will be: Sunday Nov 7th 5:00 Chucos Justice Center 1137 E Redondo blvd Inglewood, Ca 90032

Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide

Time	Thursday, October 28 · 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location	Crystal Cove Auditorium
Hosted By	Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCI, Maisam Alomar
More Info	Ben White, a freelance journalist from the UK specializing in Palestine/Israel, will be introducing his recently published book, 'Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide.' This event will be co-sponsored by SJP and Alkalima: Muslim students at UCI. Doors open at 6 pm. This will be preceded by: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135435699840473&num_event_invites=0#!/event.php?eid=135435699840473

Protest at Chancellor's Awards Dinner

Time	Thursday, October 28 · 4:20pm - 5:30pm
Location	Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center 100 Academy Way Irvine, CA
Hosted By	WORKER STUDENT ALLIANCE
More Info	Chancellor Drake will be distributing awards to researchers and donors in translational science. UCI honors technological innovation to bolster its reputation while it consistently denies accessibility to public education for its students and fair employment practices for its workers. We'll be there to remind the university of its lack of prioritization and harmful effect on the university community. http://www.icts.uci.edu/newsevents/index.cfm?id=23

Representations of Black Students on Campus(es)--II

Time	Wednesday, October 20 · 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location	Student Center--Doheny Beach C
Hosted By	Dispersal of Knowledge
More Info	This week we are meeting to continue a discussion on representations of black students on college campuses, this time in a more historical context. The discussion will likely progress if we are prepared to rethink the power of words and photojournalism in direct relation to race, gender, and formations of identity.

WSA Meeting Monday, October 18th

WSA's next General Meeting is this Monday, October 18th at 6:00 PM in SSL105.

 
Objective: To evaluate progress of ABLE insourcing campaign, actions related to the UC Budget Crisis, and racism on campus.

Agenda:
- Representation of Black students on campus (15 minutes)

     - Updates
     - Next Steps
- ABM Insourcing Campaign (20 min)
    - Updates
    - Next Steps
- Sabado obrero - documentary with the workers (10)
- Student documentaries (10)

Check out our blog: www.wsauci.blogspot.com 

Questions?  Send an email to WorkerStudentAllianceAtUCI@gmail.com

Arizona Raza/Ethnic Studies in Riverside Thursday 10/21

Ethnic Studies Under Attack!  Join the Struggle!

Raza/Ethnic Studies Teachers  From Embattled Arizona

To Speak !!!

 

thursday, Oct 21

UNLH  (Univeristy Lecture Hall)

5 – 6:30 pm

This Thursday educators from Tucson’s highly successful RAZA/ETHNIC STUDIES PROGRAM will visit UCR on a Southern California Tour to raise awareness & funds in their struggle to defend the teaching of Chicano/Ethnic Histories, Literature and Culture in Arizona. They file a case in Federal Court this week against Arizona Bill HB 2281 – the anti-Ethnic Studies bill. Learn about issues of censorship, cultural rights and the endangerment of academic freedoms.

Opening Song “Rosa Parks Soliloquy” (a Cranky Box Performance) by Prof. John Avalos. Opening remarks by Dylan Rodriguez (UCR Ethnic Studies), MEChA. Program also features Film Trailer of “Precious Knowledge,” a PBS Documentary on the Raza Studies Program in Tucson.           Co-Sponsored by MALCS-UCR, the Ethnic Studies Department, and Chicano Student Programs. WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE.

Insource ABLE Workers. Protest Wednesday, Oct 13 at 2pm

Time	Wednesday, October 13 · 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Location	Marching from Lot 16 (Nat Sci) to Aldrich Hall

END SUBCONTRACTING AT UCI!  INSOURCE ABLE WORKERS NOW!

Although the University of California, Irvine only began subcontracting custodial services through ABLE Services on July 01, 2010, the University has a history of relying on outsourced labor for over three decades. UCI administration is the last within the University of California system to continue this exploitative hiring practice to manage campus service workers.

According to ABLE’s website “ABLE Services solid reputation within the facility service industry has been built on providing ‘best in class’ services at a reasonable cost.”1 In order to provide customers a “reasonable cost”, the company pays its workers poverty wages, does not allow custodial workers access to adequate cleaning supplies, thereby lowering sanitation standards and  increasing the UCI community’s risk of exposure to infectious disease. Despite these risks, University administration consciously relies upon outsourced labor with companies like ABLE as a way to “cut costs” regardless of budget deficits. UCI’s administration has long been complicit in keeping our service workers and their families living in poverty as a “cost effective” measure. Another cost effective measure currently threatens both students and workers:

 UCI Violates Federal Safety Regulations Putting Student and Worker Health at Risk

 The effect of exposure to cleaning agents used by ABLE custodial workers ranges from moderate irritation to severe burns and central nervous system damage. ABLE workers are not provided any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or training on the use of PPE and disposing hazardous chemicals (carcinogens, toxins, irritants, corrosives, sensitizers, hepatotoxins, nephrotoxins, neurotoxins) and biological wastes (infectious agents, blood borne pathogens, other biohazardous materials). ABLE’s practices are in direct violation of the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which requires that workers are provided PPE if exposed to chemicals causing “injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation or physical contact” (Standard - 29 CFR: 1910.132a).2  The contract between the University of California, Irvine and ABLE agrees to provide workers with such training, yet workers have yet to receive it.

 More recently it was discovered that ABLE workers are currently not provided with proper cleaning supplies posing a serious health risk to the entire UCI community. As part of the “reasonable cost” measures dictated by ABLE, the company has continued to lower sanitation standards by limiting the use of detergents and protective materials from workers forcing them to dilute scarce detergents at hand and in many instances cleaning surfaces and public areas solely with water. Such extremes by ABLE and UCI administration to “balance the budget” on the backs of workers places the entire UCI community at serious health risks in an era of H1N1 viruses and other dangerous flu epidemics.

Stop UCI administrators from exploiting our service workers and help hire them directly by insourcing them.

Stop UCI administrators from creating serious health risks by shifting its responsibility to subcontracting companies like ABLE who seek to reduce their own costs at the expense of our health.

Stop UCI administrators from keeping our service workers and their families from living in poverty.  

¹ http://www.ableserve.com/Why-Able/Quality.aspx

²http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owasrch.search_form?p_doc_type=STANDARDS&p_toc_level=1&p_keyvalue=1910

Representations of Black Students on Campus

Time	Wednesday, October 13 · 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location	Meet at the Flagpoles
Hosted By	Dispersal of Knowledge
More Info	Recently, a photo taken during a protest on campus of a black, female student has become a serious issue. On October 7th, there was a protest on campus where a black student performed a spoken word poem and a photo was taken of her by a fellow student who is frequently published in the New U. The photo was presented with a caption stating: "Something about nappy hair and booty". This incident presents an opportunity for a public dialogue about representations of black women and the consequences of such portrayals in social space. We invite you to join us in this discussion, which aims to take what could be treated as a local, minor issue and show that it is a situation that reflects a systemic problem.

The Struggle Continues: Protest at Bren Events Center (Monday, Sept. 20)

 

Same Enemy, Same Fight!!

UC regents, administrators and executives often talk about “shared sacrifice” at the same time that they viciously attack us (workers and students) and force us to sacrifice to protect their wealth and power. The proof rests in that, no matter how bad the budget gets, these UC bosses receive substantial raises and bonuses annually.1  This last school year, for example, the UC bosses justified layoffs, pay cuts and time reductions for the lowest paid UC workers across the State while giving themselves raises and bonuses.1  Today, students, teachers, and workers continue to be forced to “bailout” California’s budget crisis through tuition hikes, wage cuts, and cutbacks in social services that prey on working-class communities and communities of color.

In this regard, outsourced labor is one more way for the UC bosses to balance their profit margins and bottom line on the backs of workers and students. Outsourcing, as a labor practice, forces workers to accept lower wages, fewer benefits, and increased workloads in order to compete with each other over jobs. This economic competition benefits the UC bosses because it cuts labor costs and increases the amount of money they can spend on themselves or their pet projects. Although outsourcing has been successfully eliminated from all other UC campuses, UC Irvine is the last campus that still uses this highly exploitative labor practice.  The UC bosses' ultimate plan is to use preserve UCI's outsourcing model in order to reintroduce the practice of outsourcing into the rest of the UC system to deal with future budget problems.

Through ABM/ ABLE Industries, UCI currently outsources 150 custodians who do not receive the same wages, vision and dental insurance, retirement benefits, or vacation time as other UC employees because they are not hired directly by UCI. Even though they do the same work as other UC custodians and workers, UCI’s outsourced custodians are not treated equally.

After two years of unrelenting actions (by workers and students) against outsourcing at UCI, UCI’s administration and labor relations were forced to enter into discussions with us regarding the direct hiring (insourcing) of the ABM custodial workers.  On June 5^th 2010, we successfully insourced 17 custodial workers: 16 were formerly outsourced through ABM, and 1 was a UCI groundskeeper laid off due to departmental cuts in October 2009.

Only by uniting with outsourced workers and destroying all outsourcing practices within the UC system can we (workers and students) begin to reassert our full power over the UC!

1  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/06/BASG194N2P.DTL

Major updates since spring quarter:

• ABM’s three year contract with the university expired June 2010.  ABLE industries won the new contract for the subcontracted custodial work at UCI.
• 17 workers have been successfully insourced and are now working directly for the university.
• Human Resources at UCI remains uncooperative with the insourcing of the remaining 130 subcontracted workers. 
• Workers and students have resumed actions.  Our first action was a letter delegation to Chancellor Drake’s office on September 15th. 
• Our next action will be at the New Student Convocation for Welcome Week at UCI on September 20^th.  We will be meeting at 8am in front of the Bren Center.    Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147592748611471
  

WSA Meeting Friday, June 25th

WSA's next General Meeting is this Friday, June 25th starting at 7:00 PM.

 
Objective: To evaluate progress of ABM insourcing campaign and actions related to the UC Budget Crisis.

Agenda:
- MSU support letter (10 minutes)

     - Updates
     - Next Steps
- ABM Insourcing Campaign (10 min)
    - Updates
    - Next Steps
- Restructuring WSA (30)
- Preparation for Fall Quarter (10)
   - Brainstorm

We'll be meeting at the University Town Center Shopping Center at the tables near Asia Noodle Cafe. 

Check out our blog: www.wsauci.blogspot.com 

Questions?  Send an email to WorkerStudentAllianceAtUCI@gmail.com

Worker Protest at UCI North Campus

**CENSORED**

	Date:       Friday, June 4, 2010
	Time:       1:30pm - 3:30pm
	Location:  Jamboree and Campus (meeting at Lot 90)

The action tomorrow will be at 1:30pm at the worker orientation and training for the recently "insourced" workers. Cross streets are Campus and Jamboree and we'll be gathering at parking lot 90.

Debunking the Myth of Post-Racial U.S.

Date:       Tuesday, June 2 (Tomorrow)
Time:       6-8pm
Location:  HH 242

Disproportionate incarceration rates, higher unemployment and poverty figures, targeted police brutality and profiling, super-exploitation and unsafe working conditions, mass detentions and deportations, heightened xenophobia and jingoism, imperialist wars for profit and empire, an enduring legacy of colonialism and slavery that condemns two-thirds of the world to ever-growing impoverishment and oppression. Racism is alive and well in the twenty-first century, and continues to impact in devastating ways the lives of millions of workers, students, and families across the globe.

Racist police violence against Black and Latino men is a common occurrence in cities across the U.S., while immigrant Mexican and Central American workers become the victims of increasing xenophobic attack in a time of economic crisis. On college campuses, Black students are targets of racist insults and vicious acts of violence while administrators refuse to act. College attendance rates for students of color and working-class students dwindle in the face of rising tuition and a racist culture of intimidation on campuses. Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism is promoted by politicians, the media, and in schools to justify domestic repression in the U.S. and genocidal wars for empire in Iraq and Afghanistan (and, in the near future, possibly Iran). Across the world, governments spend billions upon billions of dollars to “save” predatory banks and global capitalism while New Orleans remains largely in the same condition five years after Katrina, world poverty and misery increase from Southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America, and Haiti lies in ruins.

Racism stands at the center of our global economic, social, and political system, and for this reason, the continuing international fight against injustice, oppression, and exploitation must be decidedly antiracist and multiracial. Join our panel of student-activists and worker-activists for a discussion of the negative impact racism continues to have today and the possible ways to build anti-racist unity and struggle.

RYAN DAVIS will discuss the persistence of structural antiblackness in American society and the recent incidents of antiblack racism on college campuses.

OSAMA SHABAIK will discuss the fostering of “Islamophobia” and anti-Muslim racism in the U.S. and across the globe under the guise of a “War on Terror.”

CELENE PEREZ will discuss the subcontracting of Latina/o workers at UCI and other UC campuses, and the struggles to end the super-exploitation of subcontracted workers within the UC system.

WSA Meeting Monday, May 31st

WSA's next General Meeting is this Monday, May 31st starting at 6:00 PM.

 
Objective: To evaluate progress of ABM insourcing campaign and actions related to the UC Budget Crisis.

Agenda:
- Finalize plans for Anti-racism panel (15 minutes)

     - Advertising
     - Moderator?
- ABM Insourcing Campaign (15 min)
    - Updates
    - Next Steps
- Future Actions and Events (10)
   - Brainstorm

Since campus will be closed for Memorial Day, we'll be meeting at the University Town Center Shopping Center at the tables near Asia Noodle Cafe. 

Questions?  Send an email to WorkerStudentAllianceAtUCI@gmail.com

Student Conduct Hearings for UCI 17! Come Support!

The student conduct hearings for the UCI 17 begin tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9:30 AM and last til' 3:00 PM. Show some revolutionary solidarity with your fellow comrades by coming out to the Dean of Students office! Be there! 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122116987820874#!/event.php?eid=122116987820874&ref=mf

General Meeting is this Monday, May 24th

WSA's next General Meeting is this Monday, May 24th starting at 6:00 PM.

 
Objective: To evaluate progress of ABM insourcing campaign and actions related to the UC Budget Crisis.

Agenda:
- Debrief action at UCSF UC Regents meeting (10 minutes)

     - What went well?
     - What can we improve on next time?
- ABM Insourcing Campaign (15 min)
    - Updates
    - Next Steps
- Arizona Racism (10)
   - Updates
   - Next Steps
- Irvine 17 hearings w/Dos (15)
   - Updates
   - Next Steps
- Future Actions and Events (10)
   - Brainstorm

The weekly general meeting is in the Social Sciences Lab room 171.  It's your chance get involved organizing actions and events that actively fight inequality through multi-racial, anti-sexist, working class solidarity.

Questions?  Send an email to WorkerStudentAllianceAtUCI@gmail.com

Crashing the UC Regents Meeting at UCSF

On May 19 AFSCME 3299 and the Worker Student Alliance at UCI decided to take an 8 hour trip up to the UC regents meeting in San Francisco.  Since Chancellor Michael Drake refuses to meet with students and workers on our campus, it is necessary that we go wherever he goes and make him listen to us.

HARVEST OF LONELINESS: THE BRACERO PROGRAM

COSECHA LATINA series, in association with the UCI Latin American Film Festival:

Thursday, May 20
HIB 100
Reception: 6:15 p.m.
Screening: 7:00 p.m.

World Premiere of

HARVEST OF LONELINESS: THE BRACERO PROGRAM
directed by Gilbert G. González and Vivian Price
(U.S./Mexico, 2010, 58 min.)
In English and Spanish with English subtitles

Followed by Q & A with director

co-sponsored by the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies and the Department of Film and Media Studies

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Hidden within the historical accounts of minorities, workers and immigrants in U.S. society is the story of the millions of Mexico's men and women who experienced the temporary contract worker program known as the Bracero Program. Established to replace an alleged wartime labor shortage, research reveals that the Program was intended to undermine farmworker unionization. Blending rare archival footage and photographs together with recent interviews, HARVEST OF LONELINESS shows how several million men, in one of the largest state managed migrations in history, were imported from 1942 to 1964 to work as cheap, controlled and disposable workers. This documentary features former braceros speaking of their experiences and addresses what to expect from a new temporary contract worker program.

Gilbert G. González is Professor Emeritus, and Historian in the Chicano/Latino Studies Department. He is the author of several books: CHICANO EDUCATION IN THE ERA OF SEGREGATION, CULTURE OF EMPIRE: AMERICAN WRITERS, MEXICO AND MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS, and co-author with Raúl Fernández of CHICANO HISTORY: EMPIRE, NATIONS AND MIGRATION.
Vivan Price is a filmmaker, professor, and activist. She received her doctorate in Politics and Society at UC Irvine (2000) and is presently Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where she also coordinates Labor Studies. Her latest projects include a Tradewomen's Archive, funded by a Digital Humanities grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a community project, Tradeswomen Address the Next Generation, funded by the California Council of the Humanities, for which LGBT youth and tradeswomen produced a series of interviews and posters. Dr. Price has published articles on gender, labor, and technology in scholarly journals and books, and her films include HAMMERING IT OUT (2000) and TRANSNATIONAL TRADESWOMEN (2006), both distributed by Women Make Movies, along with various other short films, http://www.hardhatvideo.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE XI LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL, PLEASE GO TO: http://www.humanities.uci.edu/spanishandportuguese/conf2010/

Meeting is this Monday, May 17th

WSA's next General Meeting is this Monday, May 17th starting at 6:00 PM.
  

Agenda items include:
- Debriefs: May 14th action  (10 minutes)

- Updates: Progress of ABM insourcing campaign, Arizona racism, Irvine 17 hearings w/DoS (40 minutes)
- Organizing: UC regents meeting in San Francisco, future actions & events (40 minutes)

  
The weekly general meeting is in the Social Sciences Lab room 171.  It's your chance get involved organizing actions and events that fight inequality through multi-racial, anti-sexist, working class solidarity.
  

On Facebook: Worker Student Alliance
Facebook for the ABM insourcing campaign: ABM Workers at UCI in Crisis!

Questions?  Send an email to WorkerStudentAllianceAtUCI@gmail.com

FIGHT PRIVATIZATION & EXPLOITATION AT UCI!!!

Date:	Friday, May 14, 2010
Time:	9:30am - 1:00pm
Location:	Sue & Gross Stem Cell Research Center (Bison and Peltason)

UCI will be holding an opening ceremony for the newly constructed Sue & Gross Stem Cell Research Center, an $80-million building funded by a public-private partnership. The swift development of this state-of-the-art facility in the face of fee hikes, layoffs, and furloughs embodies UCI’s eagerness to chase prestige and profit at the expense of its students and workers (including faculty). UCI has invested in technological innovation to bolster its reputation while accessibility to public education for its students and fair employment practices for its workers are consistently denied.

As the new stem cell research building is dedicated to advancing medicine, custodial workers who have been employed at UCI for more than 20 years do not have access to the most basic healthcare. Custodial workers outsourced by UCI through subcontracting company ABM are now facing layoffs and reduced working hours, and continue to be paid poverty wages.

Contrary to dishonest claims made by UCI administration, ABM WORKERS HAVE NOT BEEN INSOURCED by the university. In reality, UCI is attempting to circumvent negotiations with the union AFSCME and endanger the workers’ campaign by insourcing some of the positions, and not the workers. Come join us in defense of workers’ rights on this campus and tell UCI administration, NO MORE LIES!!!

Furthermore...

Governor Schwarzenegger has been invited to the opening ceremony.

He is responsible for signing the Higher Education Compact with UC President in 2004, which allows the UC system to increasingly rely on private funding and raise student tuition by 10% each year. The new stem cell building is the materialization of their privatization agenda and dismantling of public services.

COME PROTEST IN DEFENSE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND WORKERS’ RIGHTS!!!

http://www.ucifuture.com/StemCellCenter/