[act-ma] MAR 1 @ 5 p.m., Occupy Ed! MARCH against Harvard's layoff plans!!

[Geoff Carens]

Dear Friends and Fellow Workers,

In 1912, Harvard offered course credit to any students willing to become
strike-breakers, during the famous IWW Bread and Roses Strike. To encourage
students to act against impoverished workers, already under attack from the
cops, Harvard employed the motto, "Defend your class!" In 1927, Harvard
President A. Lawrence Lowell helped cover up evidence that anarchist labor
organizers Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent of murder charges, leading to
their execution. A few years later, Harvard reclassified a group of
"scrubwomen," as "chambermaids," so they could pay them 32 cents an hour
instead of 37 cents an hour for their backbreaking work, scrubbing and
cleaning in Harvard's libraries.

Today in the University's libraries, this grand historical tradition
endures. Hundreds of library workers are now under threat of losing their
livelihoods, all so Harvard can save a little money. The University's
library system is already plagued with problems, readily traceable to
previous waves of layoffs in '04 and '09. Despite this, administrators want
to cut staff even more. Last year Harvard raised over $639.15 million from
private donors, and earned a whopping 21% on its endowment, which is now
about $32 billion. There's absolutely no need to lay off employees, but
management wants to do it anyway. Activists in the Harvard Union of
Clerical and Technical Workers, noting how many members are in Harvard's
sights, see the plan as blatant union-busting.

This Thursday, 3/1/12, starting at 5 p.m., HUCTW members and our allies
will hold a rally and march, to protest Harvard's plans to lay us off.
Please join us! We'll meet at Harvard's Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave. in
Cambridge, half a block from the Harvard Sq. T stop. This will be the
fourth worker-led protest we have held in the last two months. Our
demonstration is one of many being held on March 1 across the country, in
response to Occupy's call to stage actions defending education on that day.
Please help us turn up the heat and save jobs! A flyer is attached for
publicity. For the Facebook event, please click
here<http://www.facebook.com/events/217313841699162/>.


In Solidarity,

Geoff Carens, Union Rep, HUCTW/AFSCME local 3650
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