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.