engraved and retouched and edgewiped and pudden-padded
There’s been a spate of interesting articles in the past few days, about scams operated by and through Farmville (and similar applications), and now Facebook clamping down on groups that ‘sell’ fans to those wishing to increase their numbers.
Joe Feria-Galicia has done awesome coverage of the recent GEO events, and he has created an MP3 with his raw audio:MP3
In a successful 2-day strike – the first by a union local at the University of Illinois in 10-years, and one of the largest in the history of graduate unions in the US – the GEO has secured a commitment to retain tuition waivers for graduate employees. The University had previously refused to commit to retaining them for the contract period, after considering removing them for certain graduate employees earlier this Spring, as well as actually pulling them (mid-year) from undergrad assistants just a few weeks ago.
This strike, over waivers, which are a necessary element of making grad school accessible to those other than the wealthy (and, in Illinois, the well-connected), is clearly situated in a broader context of struggles over the future of public education, as recognized by Amy Goodman on today’sDemocracy Now!, where she was talking, in California, with some of those engaged in the struggle (with credit to Rich Potter of the GEO for making contact with Amy over this issue):
AMY GOODMAN: And Professor Roy, maybe you can comment on this and what is happening at the same time here at home with the state budgets, with our educational system. UC Berkeley is not the only one going through this. For example, the news from the University of Champaign-Urbana in Illinois: apparently, in this last week—let’s see if I can find the information—graduate teaching assistants at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign went on strike yesterday after the university refused to guarantee continuation of the teaching and grad assistant tuition waivers.
Strikes have many elements. There’s the ‘above the fold’ part, the most visible: the pickets, the rallies, and (in the case of the GEO) an amazing drum corps. There’s the bargaining: tedious, important in the formal process of getting an agreement that lets the strike come to an end. And then there’s so much background work. The people who planned and organized: both over the past months, and the many years of activism, work, and sacrifice that brought the union into being and made this week’s action possible, not only necessary. The people churning out press releases and materials, taking care of the administrative overhead and much more. Congratulations to my colleagues, my comrades, at the GEO, IFT/AFT 6300, for their success this week.
My old grad union (still feels funny to frame it that way) is going on strike in the morning, after they failed to reach agreement with the University of Illinois. The sticking point in the end turned out to be tuition waivers – the University wanted the right to remove them from out-of-state students, something that would make graduate education unaffordable for many, and make the University far less competitive. The union had made concessions on other areas – including being amenable to a proposed raise of just 10% over three years, even though that would leave grads continuing to earn far below a living wage – but the University refused to budge on this last issue.
As GEO members head out on the picket line, the union is looking for help from supporters around the country – specifically phone calls to top administrators. The union will be meeting with administrators on Tuesday, so a successful two-day picket, coupled with calls from supporters, could just provide the momentum needed to get this thing finished. Here’s what the union has sent out: Read the rest of this entry »
This Thursday, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees will meet in Springfield. Members of the GEO will be there to remind them of the urgency of reaching agreement on a fair contract. You may not be able to be in Springfield, but you can play your part in persuading the University’s administrators of the importance of meeting the needs of graduate employees.
Graduate employees have been working without a contract since August, as the University offered regressive proposals in response to the union’s call for a living wage, protection for tuition waivers, and improved conditions for families. In recent meetings, as the threat of a strike has increased, the GEO has reached tentative agreements on a number of items, but the administration continues to refuse both a living wage and a guarantee that tuition waivers will continue to be a condition of employment. [The University tried to unilaterally remove waivers from those on 25% appointments earlier this year.]
Call Interim Provost Robert Easter and new BoT chair Christopher Kennedy this Wednesday, and urge them to reach a fair contract with the GEO. Then pass this message to colleagues and friends.
WHEN: Wednesday, November 11
WHERE TO CALL:
Interim Provost Easter: (217) 244-4545
Christopher Kennedy: (312) 527-7890 x7890
WHAT TO SAY:
It’s useful if you can put your message in your own words, but the following provides a basic template for you to use. (My text suggests leaving a message, but if you can talk directly with these men, even better.) Remember, what’s most important is that the message of support for the GEO position be communicated to administrators.
Hello, my name is __________. I’m a graduate of the University of Illinois, and I’d like to leave a message for [Provost Easter/Mr Kennedy.]
I want to urge him to reach a fair agreement with the Graduate Employees Organization, and ensure that graduate employees, who teach a quarter of classes at the University, receive a living wage.
Thank you.
OTHER POINTS YOU MAY WANT TO USE:
Graduate employees have voted for strike action, but there is still time to avoid that if the administration engages positively with the wage concerns of those employees.
The campus budget grew by 7% in FY09, but the percentage devoted to instruction grew by only 0.8%. I urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that the university lives up to its responsibilities as a land grant institution that serves the public good and is committed to high quality instruction and research.
The public higher education system has a responsibility to ensure accessibility to all. The GEO’s requests for a living wage, secured tuition waivers, better health care, and better support for working parents, would increase access to graduate education and would also improve the quality of instruction and research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
My ICR colleague Andrew Kennis has a fairly comprehensive overview of the US healthcare situation at Al Jazeera.net, drawing in part on an interview with Wendell Potter, but with far more facts and figures, from a range of sources, drawn together. A good primer for those who’ve been out of the loop so far.
Fianna Fáil backbenchers have been predictably reactionary in their response to the proposal to reduce the drink driving limit in Ireland. However, there have been some interesting suggestions from the head of Macra na Feirme (the young farmers’ association), who has largely supported the change, while looking for policy changes that would address the circumstances that have led drink driving to be associated with rural areas:
Mr Gowing’s statement said “problems of rural isolation and drink driving are unfortunately being linked. We need to tackle rural isolation by the provision of better rural transport, keeping rural communities alive and by maintaining post offices and other essential services in communities.”
It also called on publicans to be much more proactive in facilitating rural people to socialise in a safe and cost-effective manner. This includes further promoting the provision of transport to and from pubs.
Mr Gowing suggested that a relief on VAT and excise on seven-seater vehicles for publicans should be considered.
There are fewer than 5,000 pubs outside Dublin, of which even fewer are in rural areas outside the reach of public transit. That would suggest that creating minimal transport options for those attending these pubs should not be a terribly expensive proposition. The tax relief idea, consisting of revenue foregone rather than actual outgoings, should be a relatively palatable suggestion.
From RadioWorld:
“There are a total of 30,473 licensed U.S. broadcast stations. That’s as of June 30, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Of that total, 14,355 are radio stations, breaking down as 4,789 AMs, 6,460 FM commercial and 3,106 FM non-commercial. Another 858 LPFMs are counted separately.”
Le sigh! World Carfree Day 2009 (today), would fall on the first rainy day we’ve had in a while here in Cazenovia. So, rather than biking in – as I usually do – I ended up getting driven in to work. It’s a short enough journey (under a mile) that it could be walked, had I budgeted another few minutes in the morning, but I must say it’s events like this that make me miss the Champaign-Urban MTD. Not sure when I’ll be back in a town with such a comprehensive, reliable service – or, indeed, any public transit service. Until then, I’m guessing cars are going to play a larger part in my life than I would otherwise like (though I do have the aforementioned advantage of being close enough to work not to need a car on a day-by-day basis, even if I’ve been warned that biking in the winter is going to be a bit of an adventure here).
Well this could be awkward. (Are we expected to cut off all communications?) The EU is threatening a visa war with Canada, because of its withdrawal of visa waivers from visitors from the Czech Republic. That decision, in turn, had been prompted by a large number of applications for asylum by visiting members of the Czech Roma community, who face significant discrimination within that country.
The Canadian decision has been criticized by groups such as Amnesty, who point to that pattern of discrimination:
“Last year there was a big pogrom against Roma in the north of the Czech Republic in Janov. And the whole incident has still not completely been resolved and there are no conclusions yet,” Dasa van der Horst, the head of the Amnesty International branch in Prague, told Czech Radio.
And now – as expected for a while – the EU has weighed in. However, one hopes that apart from putting pressure on Canada to reinstate the visa waiver, member states (and the Commission) are taking the opportunity to put pressure on the Czech government, and push for greater action to combat discrimination and prejudice against the Roma community.
