“Trick or Treat” took on a whole new meaning Wednesday during the All Campus Rally for a Living Wage protest, hosted by the Teaching Assistants Association.
The TAA, the union of graduate workers at University of Wisconsin, lead a march starting at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery and ending at Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s office in Bascom Hall.
This protest is nothing new. Two years ago the “Pay us Back” campaign was founded by the TAA in order to protest the fact that they have to pay 10 percent of their salary back to the school, Eleni Schirmer, co-president of the TAA, said.
“This campaign was started because it makes it really hard to support even a single person,” Schirmer said.
The march was not only in support of graduate students, but undergraduate student workers as well.
It is not fair for only graduate students to get raises, Schirmer said. All workers on campus should get a raise.
The protest was planned with other unions on campus, such as the blue-collar workers’ union and the faculty and academic staff’s union, and word of the event was spread through social media such as e-mail and Facebook.
When the protestors reached Bascom Hall, Chancellor Blank had already left her office for the day, as well as most of the other staff members in Bascom. However, that did not concern any of the protestors.
The protestors went back outside to share their stories of hardship, and ended by singing “Solidarity” while raising a fist to the sky.
Cynthia Burnson, a mother and university employee, was involved in the protest and brought her son Viggo to join in.
It’s important when a person works at a public university that everyone is being treated fairly, Burnson said, adding that people want to be proud of their institution.
“It’s incredibly hard to have health care for him, to have a living wage, to make sure he has food and a house and all the things kids need,” Burnson said regarding her son.
Parental leave is another issue the TAA is fighting for.
UW is a “disgrace” compared to other universities regarding how much time off a person gets to take care of their children, Burnson said.
“The protestors would just like to see all campus employees having a living wage. Every person in this country should be able to raise a family, have health care for their family, have a place to live when they work full time. That’s just a basic right,” Burnson said.
This protest ultimately has two purposes, Schirmer said.
The first purpose is that Chancellor Blank listens and gives the protestors the “treats” they ask for, Schirmer said.
“But there’s also the second purpose, which is that we get to see each other, that I get to march alongside people in other unions, that I get a chance to talk to the custodians, and the undergrads, and that I get a chance to figure out why my situation is similar to someone else’s. We need to start to see each other,” Schirmer said.
