Commencement Speakers’ Boycott Gains Traction at University of Calif. Campuses

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5969/commencement_speakers_boycott_gains_traction_at_university_of_calif._c/

Thursday May 13 1:09 pm

VIPs refuse to cross picket lines formed after layoffs, paycuts and work hour reductions announced


State Senator Loretta Sanchez and Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg announced this week that they were canceling their UC Berkeley commencement speeches to honor a low-wage workers' boycott at nine University of California campuses. (Photo courtesy of the AFSCME)


By R.M. Arrieta

As college and university commencement season gets underway around the country, there’s going to be some last-minute scurrying to fill in slots left vacant by keynote speakers honoring a boycott called by low-wage workers and student groups at nine University of California campuses.

State Senator Gloria Romero, (D-Los Angeles), chair of the state's Education Senate Committee has become another in a growing list of speakers who will not be giving commencement speeches at UC ceremonies. Romero was to have delivered the keynote address at the UC Berkeley Latino Student graduation ceremony this Saturday, May 15.

The speakers' boycott was called this month by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and supported by other unions because of mandatory furloughs and reductions in hours, layoffs and pay cuts of 4 to 6 percent in take-home pay for low-wage service workers in the UC system.

Last year, AFSCME Local 3299, which represents about 20,000 UC workers, including hospital technicians, campus custodians and food service workers, had celebrated a new contract that brought some decent gains in the contract to help workers out of poverty.

But Lakesha Harrison, president of Local 3299, 
tells Working In These Times: "By April, this furlough plan came before the people even saw their first raise. So we’re knocking people back into poverty even further than they were."

FULL story at link.

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