[act-ma] Stop the layoffs at Harvard! RALLY THU 2/9 5 p.m. Harvard Sq

[Geoff Carens]

Friends and Fellow Workers,

As many of you know, last month Harvard administrators announced a plan for
restructuring the library system, threatening several hundred staff members
with the loss of their jobs. Behind the official explanation of making the
library system "more efficient" is the age-old drive of any employer to
reduce labor costs; to have fewer workers doing more work for less money;
to transform good, stable jobs into insecure, temporary ones; to outsource
work to places where it can be performed cheaper, without unions or
benefits.

There is no good reason for the threatened layoffs. Harvard's libraries
never recovered from previous waves of cuts in '04 and '09. At $32 billion,
the University's endowment is sky-high, and the libraries also receive
income from gifts, in addition to what they take in from the endowment.
What administrators and the Harvard Corporation see as labor costs to be
reduced are in fact the livelihoods of hundreds of the University's workers
and their families. The last thing local communities need is more layoffs
by Harvard, which enjoys special tax status as a so-called non-profit.

Please join the Harvard No Layoffs Campaign as we RALLY to oppose the job
cuts, at
HOLYOKE CENTER, 1350 MASS AVE, CAMBRIDGE, ON THU, FEBRUARY 9th @ 5 PM!
The location is steps from the Harvard Red Line T stop. Please forward this
message everywhere! A flyer announcing the action is attached.

In Solidarity,

Geoff Carens, Union Rep, Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical
Workers/HUCTW

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/377015732314356/

For more information, see:
Crimson article about workers' responses: http://www.thecrimson.com/
article/2012/1/25/library-restructure-employees-huctw/

Crimson Op Ed: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/1/24/
Harvard-no-layoffs-library-HUCTW-SLAM-Labor/

Harvard No Layoffs Campaign blog:
http://harvardnolayoffs.blogspot.com/

Harvard Student Labor Action Movement:
http://www.harvardslam.com/
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