[act-ma] TUES 3/31, 5 PM: PICKET AGAINST DISCRIMINATION AT HARVARD!

[Geoff Carens]

On Tuesday, March 31, starting at 5 pm, workers, students and allies will
protest <https://www.facebook.com/events/841834082540123/> employment
discrimination at the world's richest university. Please join us in Harvard
Yard at Massachusetts Hall, steps from the Harvard Sq T stop in Cambridge
(a map is here
<https://www.google.com/search?q=massachusetts+hall+map&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=HScTVfvdK8y1oQTpzoDYCw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1600&bih=688#tbm=isch&q=massachusetts+hall+map+harvard&imgdii=_&imgrc=R43Bp1rC-7MmWM%253A%3B0ZxaKvo8Jq5WJM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fweb.mit.edu%252Fmsfweek%252FImages%252FHarvardHall.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fweb.mit.edu%252Fmsfweek%252Fdirections.html%3B632%3B450>).
We'll expose three specific cases of discrimination at Harvard:

*Judy Davis* was a UNITE HERE shop steward in a dining hall where managers
called workers of color derogatory names. She was disciplined in
retaliation for her union activity and even assaulted by a manager. When
she called the Harvard Police to report the assault, Judy was fired and hit
with a no-trespass order.

* Nassim Kerkache* was famously helpful
<http://www.thecrimson.com/column/harvard-personalities/article/2011/10/9/mail_center_interview/>
to students as Coordinator of the Science Center's mail room. A union rep
in HUCTW,* Nassim's reward for standing up to a racist boss, and defending
a co-worker who was sexually harassed, was to be told he had to choose
between being demoted three salary grades, or a layoff. Unfairly passed
over for promotion, Nassim was later fired after he took a disability leave.

*Paul Casey* worked at Harvard for more than 30 years. He pushed himself to
return to his busy job as soon as he could after he had his hip replaced.
But just a few weeks after he came back from surgery, he was told he was
being laid off for "lack of work." His many duties were given to other
workers, to justify Paul's being fired merely because his boss perceived
him as disabled.

The picket is sponsored by the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), the
IWW @ Harvard and the International Action Center. Please forward this
message!

*Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers