Union Theological Seminary (UTS), thought to be a progressive institution that promotes racial justice and care for its workers, is being accused to union busting tactics against the security guards, who make $17 an hour living in New York.
During the worst part of this pandemic, while other employees were hunkered down in the safety of their homes, the guards were expected to keep working to save the Seminary grounds.
However, when the guards contracted Covid-19, the institution did not support them. One guard was hospitalized with his Covid and missed a month of work. He says the institution did not support him in any way, especially financially. The guards get one week of paid vacation, he was in the hospital four weeks. The guards were essential enough to remain on the job, but not essential when they inevitably became sick.
Once healed, this guard began organizing his co-workers to unionize. His efforts paid off with a 95 percent return of signed cards, they can now petition to unionized with SIEU 32BJ.
Now with union backing, the guards are fighting for a living wage of $26 an hour, but UTS says it contracts with Allied Universal, which is a prison industrial security complex. UTS is claiming only Allied can raise the guards wages.
The UTS students and workers formed Living Wage Coalition and are accusing UTS of engaging in a “classic union-busting tactic” and that UTS decides the wages and benefits of its workers.
UTS is affiliated with Columbia University, and this fight for a living wage comes on the heels of successful Columbia graduate students fight for an additional $5 an hour in pay.
UTS claims to care for its workers, but is proving its words are platitudes that don’t feed, cloth or pay the rent of its employees. UTS is not conducting itself in a Christian manner with regard to its employees, which really surprise anyone paying attention to today’s Christians.
The Living Wage Coalition will hold a Rally in Solidarity with UTS Security Guards on Monday, April 4 at 12:30 p.m. at the corner of Broadway and 121st Street in New York. Cornel West will be the headliner.
There is also a gofundme page: Hospital Bills and Sick Pay for UTS Security Guard for two UTS guards who say they were denied their paid sick leave and healthcare for their entire working time.
More information can also be found on: instagram.com/uts.workers.solidarity
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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