In response to the letter "Protest for labor rights presented nothing new" (April 5): Although students have been in the forefront of the public eye, it is a huge mistake to think that workers have not been involved in the campaign. It was the workers of UB who set the demands that have been recently won. But students, unlike workers, cannot get fired for organizing. The workers represented in the April 4 rally risk being unlawfully fired should they speak publicly about the discrimination they face in the workplace. Workers took initiative in spreading the word about this rally - much of the flyering for the event was done by workers.
And while the front-page article ("Rally celebrates move to union janitors," April 5) stated that "Officials have been working on changes in custodial staffing for a year and a half," the fact is that UB has been union-busting for over 10 years. It was only under pressure from UBSAS and the Buffalo community that changes are actually occurring. At colleges nationwide, workers and students are fighting together and winning. In the recent past, students have taken over administration buildings (University at Miami) and gone on hunger strikes (Georgetown) in protests that have disarmed institutional power. It would be na??ve to say that UB administration was unaware of these demonstrations when making their recent decision.
The ignorance expressed on the opinion page was not an affront to the students who worked so hard to make the rally a success - it was an affront to the custodians who work extremely hard to keep a campus of 25,000 students clean. I would suggest that anyone who shares the sentiments of "Halldor Grimsson" should talk to workers on our campus before attacking them and their supporters.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
