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American Morning

Harvard Students Protest Blue-Collar Wages

Aired April 25, 2001 - 10:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A student protest at Harvard University has moved into its second week and, from what we can see and hear, it looks like there is no end in sight. About 40 students now are occupying the office of the university president and there are others outside, as you can see here.

What they're doing is they're demanding higher wages for Harvard's blue-collar workers. The university says it believes in fair wages, but it won't break collective bargaining agreements. And the university says it won't negotiate as long as this building is being occupied.

Well, it's being occupied by a bunch of protesters, as we just said, and one of them is Aaron Bartley, and he joins us now on the phone.

Aaron, are you there?

AARON BARTLEY, STUDENT PROTESTER: Yes, I am. Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: I guess you guys are like the folks in that Snicker's commercial, "not going anywhere for a while."

BARTLEY: I think that's right. We're trying to raise consciousness about the poverty level wages paid to the 1500 workers on Harvard campus, We are frustrated by the lack of movement on the part of the administration. There are plenty of very wealthy people in this university community who could make a great improvement in the lives of 1500 service workers. We're asking for a very simple commitment to pay a living wage.

HARRIS: What are they being paid right now?

BARTLEY: The wages range from about $6 to $9 for the sector of workers we are talking about, which are dining workers and custodial workers, some security guards, and other grounds crews on campus.

HARRIS: And how many are we talking about? Do you know?

BARTLEY: A total of 1500 workers; some of those are directly employed by the university, others are contracted out to private companies. HARRIS: Aaron, what I find interesting is that you all are the ones doing the protesting; why aren't these workers doing the protesting?

BARTLEY: Well, actually, it's a very powerful worker/student alliance, and this is just one component of a long-term campaign. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) negotiating with the university of three years to take action on this issue, and there's been absolutely no movement.

And for a university with $20 million in the bank, there's no excuse to pay poverty-level wages. So, we felt students had a role to play in this issue. We are working closely with rank-and-file workers on the outside and unions have been behind us the whole way, too. But students can take risks that workers just can't. Workers -- low wage workers can't afford to miss a week of work and we've been in this building for a week demanding that Harvard take action.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something that may be a very basic question. You've been there a week; how have you been eating and, more importantly, showering, while in this building?

BARTLEY: The first question; the only stuff that gets through is food, so we are -- we do have daily food deliveries, and the community has come out and supported us. We've had two U.S. senators, Kerry and Kennedy in Massachusetts formally endorse the campaign, and encourage our action. And countless community groups, unions, student groups, come out and feed us basically for a week.

HARRIS: OK. We have to go. One last quick question: any chance this could get violent there?

BARTLEY: No. We are completely committed to peaceful consciousness raising, but this is a very direct action. We've occupied the president's building; he's not come back since he left a week ago. We are proud of the impact we are having on the university at this point; I think it is a very positive way to make it a more Democratic and hopeful institution.

HARRIS: Well, you got a lot of people's attention, including ours. Aaron Bartley, a Harvard University student, locked up in the building there. We will try to get more information on this story, and in fairness, we do need to get something from the other side of the story, so we'll see if we can track someone down to talk about this. Thanks, much.

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