Today at noon in the pit (the one that Sonic Youth sang about), there was a rally in support of Ms Vel Dowdy, which culminated with the demonstrators marching through Lenoir Dining Hall, her former place of work. Many believe that Ms Dowdy's arrest is more so a tactic of intimidation, of which the University has a long history, in response to her activity with the formation of UE-150. Besides UNC's long history of workers' rights abuses, which arguably can be traced back to it's very founding, as seen by the White names that adorn buildings built by the sweat of Blacks (slaves and the poor freed), this case is further complicated by the fact that dining services are taken care of by contract with Aramark...who, simply put, suck when it comes to workers' rights (including collective bargaining and livable wages). Because Ms Dowdy is a beloved member of the UNC family (which excludes jackass bureaucrats and other worthless money stealing upper management-types...like the Board of Governors and such), students, both organized activists and individuals, are uniting with union activists to try and petition Aramark to drop their charges (which include embezzlement, for letting kids up to eat the shitty food of Lenoir without making them pay) and to reinstate her.
And in other news, UNC's men's basketball team is gearing up for a throw-down in St Louis, tonight...
strange times.
No comments:
Post a Comment