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Matt Stoller alerted me to the
situation at the University of Miami, which absolutely made my blood boil. Donna
Shalala was in a fight with janitors on the University who were trying to
unionize and get their wages up. Meanwhile, Donna and her dog Sweetie live the good life, which is fine. Right up until this “Democrat” decided that everybody doesn't deserve a working wage. She's no “Democrat” as far as I'm concerned.
Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services under President
Bill Clinton, is betraying everything Democrats stand for, as far as I've been
able to glean from the situation. Get ready for this because it's the worst
of the worst from someone who got all uppity over Clinton's consensual affair.
Let's see, what's worse? Having a consensual affair, or making people live and
work below the poverty line while you're living in luxury? Not even close. Listen
to this one.
Shalala lives in a “9,000 square-foot mansion, 29-foot-motorboat,
collection of fine antiques, and luxurious garden — where she grows fresh
mangoes and grapefruit,” according to a dishy little article on Wonkette.
It makes me just want to slap her. She makes $516,904 a year.
The janitors make $7.53/hour.
What's so hard to understand about paying your people a living
wage? Stoller had a guest post today, which is really important to share. Make
sure you read the whole post by Andy Stern, President of SEIU. There's more
at YesWeCane.
Donna Shalala, now the President of the University of Miami, is supposed
to be a friend of working people. So why is she siding with a lawbreaking
anti-worker janitorial contractor instead of the hard-working janitors who
clean her campus, as they wage an historic struggle in Miami to win the right
to decide their own future, protect themselves on the job, and get a shot
at the American Dream?For the last two months, campus janitors who work for the outlaw contractor
UNICCO at the University of Miami have been urging Shalala to exercise her
power over her contractor and her leadership to let them choose to form a
union without fear of intimidation or reprisals.They've been forced to go on strike because UNICCO began cracking down on
their civil rights when the workers began organizing to take control of their
own futures by forming a union with SEIU. Most of the workers are women and
recent immigrants from Cuba and South America who are paid poverty-level wages
and struggle to pay their bills.On The University
of Miami Strike, by Andy Stern
According to Michael Froomkin, the strike is over, but the
blowback has just begun. If you care about unions, the Democratic Party and giving the average
person a break, you should read what Stern and Froomkin have to say. It's an out
of the way story with mainstream implications.
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