Use OCCUPY LA

Go to OCCUPY LOUISIANA for updated info on the student struggle against the destruction of our universities.

This blog will remain up as an archive, there is lots of useful information on here as far as what cuts have happened so far.

RESIST // STRIKE // OCCUPY

Exploitation Makes Us Lose Our Appetites

This Friday, nearly 100 Tulane students are planning an “Eat-In” in their cafeteria as a peaceful act of civil disobedience to protest their food service contractor Sodexo's behavior on campus.

Tulane and Loyola university cafeteria workers have been standing up for better working conditions for months—just like thousands of other Sodexo workers across the country but have faced retaliation from Sodexo.

In New Orleans, workers earn as little as $8.00 an hour without access to affordable health insurance. Due to such low wages, some workers are forced to turn to government assistance for housing, food, and health care.

Check out www.CleanUpSodexo.org for more details on nationwide activity and global support.

Previous New Orleans Activity includes:
- City Council hearing on 4/13 where Sodexo workers testified to protest the pattern of illegal behavior on the university campuses. Times-Picayune article:http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/04/labor_concerns_presented_to_ci.html

- Press Conference on the steps of City Hall releasing a report: “Hardship in the Big Easy: How Sodexo’s Practices Leave New Orleans Workers in Poverty” Download here:http://cleanupsodexo.org/2010/04/in-new-orleans-workers-testify-before-ci.php

- Rally and march through both Loyola and Tulane universities campuses on 4/15. http://thehullabaloo.com/2010/04/16/sodexo-protests-reach-city-hall/

- Delegation to Tulane Univ. President Scott Cowan led by well-known author Barbara Ehrenreich. Students delivered a petition with 1,000+ signatures and more than 100+ faculty submitted their own petition in support: http://thehullabaloo.com/2010/03/26/campus-rally-supports-unionization/ and http://thehullabaloo.com/2010/03/26/ehrenreich-addresses-optimisim/

* * * * * * * * * *
Anthony Thomas, a Sodexo worker at Tulane University who spoke at City Hall said, “After 5 years I received two raises—one for 24 cents, the other for 12 cents—and now I make $8.12 an hour which makes it hard even to pay my bills. Just because my coworkers and I are trying to create better jobs for everyone, Sodexo has threatened and illegally questioned my coworkers and that isn’t right.”
By the way, $8.12/hr is $324 for a 40 hour work week...before taxes.
• 23.8%: Percentage of individuals in New Orleans below the poverty line
• 13.2%: Percentage of individuals nationally below the poverty line
• $22,050: Federal poverty line for a family of four
• $16,640: Annual earnings of a Sodexo worker in New Orleans making $8.00 an hour

UNO Students Protest Jindal at GOP conference

UNO students and over 250 others took the streets on Friday in downtown to protest Jindal's cuts to UNO, as well as other policies that are harming our future, like the closing of Charity Hospital, while he was in town for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.
The organizers of the protest did a great job. Keep up the pressure.

Gambit Weekly story about protest at UNO

UNO students and faculty protest budget cuts

This is a Gambit Weekly article about the recent protest at UNO against the budget cuts. There is video, too!

Banner Hangs against the cuts. Protest Jindal tomorrow!

Some students dropped a banner to oppose the immediately effective cuts that could harm our education and make our state fall further behind as an educational leader. We oppose the possible faculty furloughs and pay cuts, we oppose the possible closure of the university on certain days to save money at the very time we should be expanding higher education if we have any hope of economic development in the future, and we oppose Bobby Jindal's plans for further cuts in the future, while at the same time allowing the LSU system top administrators to take home the state's highest salaries. Cut from the bloated and over-paid administration, not from the people who directly are providing the education our state needs to be competitive in the future.

Tomorrow, Friday, 4/9/10 there will be a protest march/second line downtown at 5:30pm against Bobby Jindal and the GOP while they are in town having a convention. the Save UNO group will be there, you should, too!
More Information

UNO Prepares to Fight Back

The awesome folks at Students for Social Justice have added some important content about the cuts to their blog, check it out.

Their is also a plan for a UNO Jazz Funeral protest:

UNO Jazz Funeral and Rally/Protest

Our education system is dying! Fight for it!

Time:12:00PM Tuesday, March 23rd

Location:UNO Quad
For questions, email bajones1@uno.edu

The folks at LSU appear to be getting ready for March 4th.
What will happen at UNO? It's up to you to take action.
Check out the kids in CA, they are already starting to get wild! We can learn a lot from them!

LSU students have a website up for March 4th.
http://lsustrike.wordpress.com/

Yay!