5 Tufts students go on hunger strike over janitor layoffs
Source: AP
MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — Five students at Tufts University began a hunger strike Sunday over the university's plans to cut about 35 janitorial jobs at the end of May.
More than 80 students, janitors and families of the staff gathered outside the main administrative building to mark the start of the strike, The Boston Globe reported (http://bit.ly/1AzmdVC ). About a dozen tents were set up in a circle, and the student group organizing the demonstration, the Tufts Labor Coalition, said about 20 students would occupy the space to support the strikers.
"For me, I see this as the best way to garner mass attention," said freshman Mica Jarmel-Schneider, who said he plans to join the strike. "I have the ability with my body, and as a student ... the university has to listen to me."
He said he's participating because the janitors' contract prohibits them from going on strike. "We're doing this for them because of our relative privilege," he said.
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Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a8f456de132248cdb0b1f4ccc575786a/5-tufts-students-go-hunger-strike-over-janitor-layoffs
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I have relatives who work in custodial work and their wages have gone down the crapper due to "privatizing" their jobs. Instead of being employed by an employer and represented by a union, the employers have contracted out work to so-called cleaning companies that pay barely above minimum wage with the same (if not more) work but without benefits, organized managing, and a wage worth a damn. It's horrible to see a job deemed "throw away" just because it isn't white collar. 
