[act-ma] MON 8/26 5 PM, FIGHT RACISM, UNION-BUSTING BY HARVARD!

[Geoff Carens]

Dear All,

Discrimination, and attacks on union activists and immigrant workers, are
escalating at Harvard, especially in Harvard University Mail Services
(HUMS). On Monday 8/26 at 5 pm, campus activists and our allies will
protest. We'll meet at 1350 Mass Ave, steps from the Harvard T stop. Please
join us!  Here are some of the reasons why we're picketing:

HUMS employee Nassim Kerkache ran for union rep only to be demoted three
salary grades by a manager who told him his English wasn't good enough for
him to be a Coordinator (the position he's held for nine years!).
Management is attempting to punish and humiliate Nassim, an immigrant from
Algeria, for his activism by stripping all responsible tasks from his job
description.

Senegalese immigrant & HUMS staffer Mamadou Ndiaye has been held to 17
hours/wk at $11.50 an hour in a non-union "less than half-time" position,
even though the HUCTW* contract says his job should have been converted to
a better-paying union position 5 years ago. Recently a Labor Relations
administrator said Harvard, with all its billions, "wasn't in a position"
to do anything for Mamadou, who has difficulty just buying food and paying
the rent.

Dedicated, experienced HUMS employee Marvin Byrd, who is African American,
and walks with braces, is the only union member of the Department in his
low salary grade. Held to just 25 hours per week, Marvin has watched as
many others were promoted over his head in a recent reorganization.
Management has offered flimsy excuses for holding Marvin back while others
advance.

Positions of responsibility in HUMS are being given overwhelmingly to
white, American-born, native speakers of English. The department, notorious
to campus activists, has sparked multiple discrimination charges in the
past few years. Please help us put healthy pressure on Harvard to clean up
HUMS' act, Monday at 5 pm. We also gather to support HUCTW member Paul
Casey, who returned from a disability leave to be laid off just once month
later, after more than three decades' service.

In Solidarity,

Geoff Carens, Union Rep, HUCTW/AFSCME Local 3650

*Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers
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