In a three-year operation culminating in a difficult hunger strike, Georgetown University’s Living Wage Coalition helped finalize a living-wage policy with the university March 24.
Students at GU began their hunger strike March 15, after the university’s Advisory Committee on Business Practices refused to pay campus workers increased wages.
LWC spokesperson Jack Mahoney said the hunger strike was meant to express the urgency and necessity of passing a new living-wage policy for GU. The LWC initiative for a better living wage had even affected workers before the new living-wage policy was passed, Mahoney added.
“When we first started the campaigning, contractors themselves would often have intimidating workers … telling them not to talk with students [who asked about their living wage],” Mahoney said. “In many instances, workers were not getting paid enough to live in Washington, D.C., or as much as was promised by the university.”
According to Mahoney, two students were taken to the hospital during the hunger strike. One student was having trouble breathing and collapsed during an action near the office of GU President John J. DeGioia. Another student, Michael Wilson, was taken to a hospital after experiencing double vision.
However, on the 10th day after the hunger strike began, protesters were rewarded for their arduous efforts when DeGioia sent a letter to students, faculty and staff telling students he had approved a policy allowing for the wage raise before the end of the fiscal year, July 1.
GU announced its new policy concerning better wages and conditions for contracted workers Thursday.
Donte Smith, one of the 26 hunger strikers, said he was shocked when he heard the news, since the LWC was only trying to bring attention to the issue and never expected action from the university.
“At first, it was just an activist move,” Smith said. “[But] after awhile, it was, ‘Do we really believe in this cause?,’ and we came to the conclusion … we do.”
GU Senior Vice President and ACBP Chair Spiros Dimolitsas said in a letter the new proposal reflects much of the best thinking of the ACBP.
The new package will increase the total compensation for full-time contract workers to $13 per hour before July 1. Additionally, the new deal will give $14 per hour before July 1, 2007.
Workers will also be promised a “safe and harassment-free environment.” This includes allowing workers to freely associate and organize without intimidation and to have access to libraries, English-as-second-language courses and campus transportation.
“These steps are valuable for workers and will make a real difference,” Dimolitsas said in a letter. “The approach we have developed … is consistent with our Catholic and Jesuit identity.”
According to GU spokesperson Julie Green Bataille, the new policy reaffirms the GU’s commitment to fair policies for contract workers.
“This isn’t something that can be dealt with one time and go away,” Bataille said. “[GU and LWC’s] work together made us be able to improve the lives of workers on our campus.”
The University of Wisconsin held a hunger strike recently when a coalition of UW, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse groups took action against the state’s stance on proposed tuition rates.
ASM Chair of Academic Affairs Ashok Kumar, a participant in the UW strike, said he was amazed by the success of the GU hunger strike.
“I think that just shows people who had questions about hunger strikes and direct action in general, how students can affect their campus community,” Kumar said.
