Compromise Ends Hunger Strike (Georgetown Living Wage Coalition)

[struggle4progress]

Two dozen students at Georgetown University ended a nine-day hunger strike Thursday after the university approved a new policy that increases the pay and benefits for janitors and other contract workers. <snip>

Twenty-five members of the Georgetown Living Wage Coalition began their protest on the evening of March 15, after the university put forward a proposal that they rejected as inadequate. In the days since then, the students (one of whom bowed out when he was hospitalized with vision loss, and was replaced by another protester) said they had lost a total of 270 lbs. and drew a significant amount of attention from the news media and labor leaders.

On Wednesday night, though, Georgetown’s president, John J. DeGioia, sent a universitywide e-mail announcing that the university had adopted a “just employment” policy. In several major ways, the policy was identical to the one the students had rejected eight days earlier. <snip>

But student leaders said that Georgetown had made some important nods in their direction by meeting some of their demands. For instance, the university agreed to ensure that all those who work at Georgetown — even those who are employed by subcontractors — have benefits such as library privileges and access to English as a Second Language courses. And the university included language in the new policy giving all workers the rights to “a safe and harassment-free environment,” “to freely associate and organize,” and “to vote for or against union representation without intimidation, unjust pressure, or hindrance.” <snip>

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/03/25/hunger