Monday,A
OPINION
April 17,2000
THE BATTALION
Page
ooking the other way
} urdue students willing to criticize university but not themselves
s cro
)f talent
yrrest Lane, senior politii
ajor and the student bod;
ect, Cheryl Montalbano,
CM Dance Studio in Bra ]
ine Rolls, Class of’96,a4l
i k ISR-1 M 92.1. ■ ecently, students at Purdue Uni-
I reudian Slip, an impro; jH versity went on an 11 day
medy group, served asityHiiunger strike to force the ad-
ceremonies for the thirdiHration to bow to their demands,
e \ ear. eprotesters argue that clothing with
Other performers include rdue’s logo is being manufactured in
v \1 Dance Repertoire. B. eats hops abroad and then sold in the
d Stephanie Rigg, Acoustic® States. The students feel Purdue
tin 1 xplosion, BrandonA JfJting off of child labor and other
nee Lunsford, John Mev, f air labor practices. Additionally, by
l! ( UK | rj n [joining organizations such as the Worker’s Rights Con-
Derek BerEeronandlhefcB!" (y^ C)or Fair l-abor Associali”'! (PLA). which
, , , ' ■.ork against unlair toreign labor practices, the students
i s served as special guest' i _ f , • • , • . • • .
. . | , M; Purdue administration was condoning inhumane eon-
, ions After 11 days of what was described by some as
krguon ic a. o I et Blstock-stvle’' tactics, Purdue’s administration agreed to
endition ol •The StarS F: lI , WRC ifcertain conditions were met.
0,1 bls clectncguitar, |> UR |ue University seemed to have the best results,
I \ .'eie W ranglers.wii (jjjg were happening all over the Midwest. At the
a s \anet\ Show.elosedoL |vtrsity of Kentucky, 12 students were forcibly removed,
h ihcir polka dancing,jit ftd and charged with second degree trespassing after oc-
h\\ i '-stepping routine, pyjng the basement of the administration building. None
Metric Manning, a senio the students were hurt, but what was more important to the
major, directed the MSiBus was that they got their message out. At long last, the
II Variety Show, along will ildren of the ’90s have championed a cause,
the MSC staff and Van. jAt first, all this sounds like something to celebrate. How-
nmittee. er,mese recent protests smack of hypocrisy. No sweatshop
All proceeds from ticket sal; tiditions should be condoned, but neither should the tactics
ISC ft>yyn Hall for further ^ by the protesters across the Midwest.
ftotesting is the easy part. However, much like a child
■owing a temper tantrum, these students have not thought
A past getting what they want. It is obvious these stu
nts were willing to go without cafeteria food for 11 days,
tthc ultimate test will be to see if they can go without their
\P khakis, or their high-priced running shoes. Additional-
thc administration’s provides only a half-hearted solution,
lue makes $600,000 in royalties from logo merchandise,
ost ofwhich goes toward the University or toward scholar-
ips. Ibis is enough money to make a point, but not enough
do serious damage.
i; The protest was a big success on the campus, with the
udent government passing a petition condemning Purdue’s
;j jjse!ice from the WRC. But let’s say Purdue’s football team
as sponsored by Nike, one company that has sustained alle-
ations of benefiting from child labor. Every game day
'ould be an advertising campaign for Nike. The amount of
ash athletics brings to Purdue would overshadow the
mount received by logo royalties. However, there would
Tobably not have been nearly as much support for a protest
igainst the athletic department.
Mt/i all this racket going on at Purdue, one would proba-
iraw the conclusion that Purdue’s collegiate wear was in
faibeing manufactured in sweatshops. On the contrary.
there has been no evidence of this. Joining the WRC and the
FLA means ... well nobody is quite sure what joining the
WRC and FLA means. Probably just that Purdue is aware
of human suffering.
The most ironic twist to these tactics is that it shifted
the focus from children in sweatshops
to the starving college stu-
:nts.
dents. Media from
all over the world
came to cover the
protest. Perhaps these
journalists and others
were living vicariously
through these students.
Perhaps it was
good to see the
“apathy
genera
tion”
riled up
about something. However, in
stead of showing what the students were protesting against,
the inhumane conditions and the long hours and low pay ol'
foreign sweatshops, the media focused on the briefly incon
venienced students.
The timing of the protest must also be questioned. Per-
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
STUART VILLANUEVAiTh
[ Parents’ Weekend.W
Drill Field, alsofeaW
glers, Fade to Black
iternational student
around the field to gi'5
unity to taste cuisine
RKET
Continued from!'
nargin positions.
.'in advisers are hopingll
t’s rout has taught clientsik
buying stocks on credit,
largin is only for those
■nn investing horizonwtio
lose money if the matkfi
illy against them,” said0 |
■ar, editor of The Speat
led in West Hartford,0
ancial markets have a
closing for the observi
haps showing some of these big
name companies in a poor light
would affect advertising
prices during baseball season
and the hallowed upcoming
football season.
Perhaps starving and being
arrested might show dedica
tion to a cause, but maybe a
simple boycott would have
been more effective. Its rather
hard to get $600,000 in logo
royalties if people are not buying
the clothes. Or maybe even a
boycott of the university itself
might have gotten the desired
results with less drama.
Child labor and sweat
shop conditions
are inhumane.
Child labor robs
a nation of its
most valuable
resource: child
hood innocence.
Children forced
to work are robbed of educa
tion and a future. Obviously
something needs to be done.
However, most of
these children
do not work be
cause they want
to. They are not
saving up for a
car or new clothes.
They are working for
survival. And usu
ally not just their
own, but their
family’s.
Child la
bor is a
tough issue,
and one America was
dealing with 100 years ago. Not to make light
of the issue or belittle it, but child labor seems to be a
dark side of industrialization. And while speaking out
against the horrors of child labor and foreign sweatshops
is an honorable statement, the Purdue protesters have
gone about it in a misguided, hypocritical way.
Joe Shwnacher is a senior journalism major.
MAIL CALL
Energy not a priority for people
In response to Brieanne Porter’s April 13 column.
This column, blaming some political entity for the "recent energy crisis" is
a totally misdirected effort.
The next time you are in your vehicle, look at the number of low gas mileage,
high emissions per mile traveled vehicles you see — particularly those with
a single driver. The popularity of SUV's said a lot about our general apathy
about energy conservation. Present gas prices, adjusted for inflation, are no
more than they were in the late ’50s. Porter wants the politicians to "put aside
their differences and solve the problem." If the politicians had the intestinal
fortitude to raise gas taxes enough to reduce demand and make people con
sider more energy efficient vehicles, they would be very unpopular (which is
why they do little in this area).
We, as consumers, are to blame for allowing us to be subject to OPEC’s
whims. When are we going to wake up and take a proactive role in reducing
our vulnerability instead of being reactive and whining about gas prices? Just
travel outside the US and you'll know what high gas prices really are.
John H. Wormuth
Department of Oceanography
riday.
lose four days, a
;s, and signs of strong
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Online voting
a success for
SGA, students
T he dust has settled. The cam
paigns are over. The candy
throwing, howdy-shouting,
shoe-polished pick-up trucks have
been parked, silenced and washed.
But now that next year’s student
body officers and yell leaders have
been elected, it is time to recognize
the hard-working people who made
the elections happen. Thanks to the
efforts of students behind the scenes, it was a record-set-
ting season for voter turnout.
At the front of the line for congratulations are Ashlea
Jenkins, student elections commissioner and Doug Kee
gan, vice president of technology for the Student Gov
ernment Association.
Their most notable achievement was successfully su
pervising the first year of online voting, which allowed
students the convenience and security of casting ballots
in cyberspace.
Expanding student body election to the Internet was a
rousing and unequivocal success.
Contrary to the doubts of naysayers, online voting was
not hampered by slow network connections or long regis
tration procedures. Even the spare, functional design of the
site was conducive to speed and convenience.
Once at the Website, the two-step process was easy.
Passwords, electronically mailed to registered voters, were
waiting in user in-boxes seconds after being requested. In
the meantime, online voters were given easy access to pro
files of major candidates, helping them make more in
formed decisions.
In the voting booth, students simply had to scroll,
point and click — the entire procedure took less than
five minutes.
However, the real success of online voting should not be
measured by minutes saved but by votes collected. Thanks
to 3,693 Internet ballots in the general election, the 10,391
students who voted constituted the largest turnout of the
electorate in Texas A&M history.
Online voting was directly responsible for these record
setting numbers. According to Keegan, the Website was far
and away the most-used polling site, out-pacing the tradi
tionally popular table at the Memorial Student Center.
Keegan said online ballots accounted for about 35 per
cent of the total votes in the general election, and in the
run-off race, that percentage stayed strong at 28 percent.
These impressive figures can also be credited to the ex
tensive efforts of the Election Commission to advertise the
new online option.
Student Body President Will Hurd has worked hard to
integrate his promise of technology into his administration,
which paved the way for new ideas like online voting. Kee
gan had the initiative to design the voting site, and Jenkins
had the foresight and guts to approve online voting during
her watch as election commissioner.
Sadly, Jenkins and the Election Commission had to put
up with the usual heckling in spite of their visionary pro
gram. And challenges filed by yell leaders contesting the
election’s results overshadowed the success of online voting.
So the thankless job of running an election deserves
long-overdue appreciation.
In the meantime, students in SGA will continue to im
prove online voting in preparation for next year. Accord
ing to Keegan, future ballots will be shortened to list only
the races pertinent to the voter and registration will be
conducted in real time, rather than through e-mail. Plans
are also in the works to use the online system to obtain
voter feedback on issues throughout the year.
The popularity of online voting itself should also be a
mandate to the new representatives it helped to elect. The
student body is obviously receptive to more cyber-services
especially if the Internet can be used to make class reg
istration smarter and speedier.
The point-and-click generation has certainly had enough
of the old shaded bubbles of yesteryear. Students see
enough Scantrons in class.
Therefore, a big hip-hip-hooray is in order for the peo
ple who are letting the children of the Information Age vote
in their element — on the Internet.
Caleb McDaniel is a junior history major.
u i
anitors strike, leave too big of a mess for companies to clean up
h orporate offices in
Los Angeles are
lies will report their first ^ getting slightly
y this month, and the
MELISSA
JOHNSTON
could at least help slab ess is getting worse,
analysts said. Rig the first week of
it is a quiet week forgot pril. thousands of L. A.
lie reports, and thatcodM 1 1 '|ors belonging to the
t for stocks to advanceskijice Employees Inter-
Thursday and Friday,5'Plnal Union (SEIU)
n that emerged in thesFled off their jobs. Low pay and hard work
Producer Price Index a release from their contracts — gave
rice Index sparked heat' lese 8,500 custodial workers enough reason
ose two reports still fr^ l,ake a stand - Their employers, 18 cleaning
minds, manywon’twa#f actors who together handle most of the
e on jumping back into# cleanin g’ were left t0 scra P e U P replace-
le analysts believe fi s for strikin g employees in a hurry. In
nately, the marketniay| da y^ ince ’ other cities including San
, . . Chicago and New York have been hit
' ' 1 l " s " Ul - ldl1 ' the same type of walkouts by their custo-
stcnci, nit wit i mot' ialivorkers. It may all seem coincidental, but
[tons for their stockp#g EIU made sure this happened
a ' d ’ , Five years ago when the SEIU negotiated
ise who in all innocent, j n cd j es across the country, it just
cet was a one-way stt- jpp cnec i ( 0 gj ve those contract agreements
plus annual returns: Ipiration dates within months of each other,
innocence in the lurid ■ Squiring future contract renegotiations to take
several weeks,” he said P
place everywhere within a very short period of
time. As stated on the SEIU’s Website, this
strategy is an opportunity for “more than
100,000 janitors [to] join forces in one big in
ternational fight for justice in 2000.”
In a time when the country’s economy is
booming, unemployment is low and
job opportunities are great, it seems sad
that it takes a union stunt like this to
draw the country’s attention to those
who are overworked and underpaid.
Here at A&M, service workers can not
belong to the SEIU or any other union.
Therefore, they pull no stunts, have es
sentially no bargaining power and at
tract little of the attention they deserve.
Recently, however, they are getting
some of that deserved attention. Start
ing salaries for A&M service workers will be
increased in September of this year — not all
salaries, only starting ones. Therefore, not all
current employees are guaranteed a raise in
pay. The only folks guaranteed more cash are
those who currently receive lower salaries
than the new starting salary level. Their pay
will be bumped up to that of starting salary.
For instance, new hires for the position of
Custodial Worker 1 will receive a starting
salary of $6.15 per hour as opposed to the cur
rent rate of $5.56 per hour. This is quite a sub
stantial increase in terms of cents per hour, but
if one takes a larger view, the new salary will
add up to a mere $12,891 per year —just a lit-
This is quite a substantial
increase in terms of cents per
hour, but if one takes a larger
view, the new salary will add
up to a mere $12,891 per year.
tie over $1,000 per month. Knowing that,
imagine what it must be like for employees to
live on the salary they currently make, Yvhich
is even less. It might be enough for a college
student buying mac and cheese for one, but
for a janitor trying to support a family, it falls
sadly short of enough.
Add to this the fact that A&M’s service
workers who earn more than the new starting
salary will not be receiving a proportional pay
raise, and it all just seems for naught. For ex
ample, custodial workers who have been here
for two years and are currently making $6.13
per hour will only receive a two cent bump to
the new starting level. Experience plays no
part in that increase at all. Granted, they
will still be eligible for the same once-a-
year merit pay increase they have al
ways been able to get. But this increase
is based on a review of their past year’s
performance, so it is certainly not a giv
en. It will be possible for an experi
enced janitor and a new hire to be mak
ing the same small amount.
A&M cannot afford to keep service
workers in a “relative step” position,
where every worker would receive an
automatic raise proportional to the increase in
the new starting salaries — the legislature does
not allot enough money to make it possible.
Once again, A&M’s janitors are not union
ized, and those who are not unionized usually
make less money than those who are. The
SEIU janitors who are on strike in L.A. make
anywhere from $6.80 - $7.80 per hour, accord
ing to the SEIU Website. This makes their cur
rent income around $15,000 a year, which,
when supporting a family, is certainly poverty
level. They are asking for a raise of $1 per
hour for each of the next three years. One dol
lar an hour. Sure, that adds up to a very large
amount of money when multiplied by 8,500
janitors who are currently blocking streets and
highways with picket signs, but perhaps our
economics needs a little bit of adjustment.
Supply and demand determines worth in the
labor market, and currently there are more ser
vice workers than are needed. Therefore, the
ones who are chosen get less money because
employers know they can always find others
to replace those who are unhappy. It is even
easier to do that here at A&M, where unions
are not involved in the custodial contracting
process.
The pay is low, and the work is hard, even
thankless. With frustration emerging across
the nation, little is being done to make
amends. These are the people who keep the
world clean. They deserve a lot more — in
pay and in respect — than they are getting.
Melissa Johnston is a senior
English major.