4/3/02

CHANGE to speak out on injustices

By Jessica Coomes
Daily Kent Stater

Student groups will stand up against labor injustices today through Friday during the second annual National Student Labor Days of Action.

The student group -- Coalition for a Humane And New Global Economy -- organized the event, which will be highlighted by a three-hour labor rally in the Student Center plaza tomorrow. Renowned historian Howard Zinn also will speak tomorrow night.

CHANGE will address issues such as sweatshop labor and exploited overseas labor.

Mike Pesa, a CHANGE member, said a lot of workers are being exploited and are suffering. He said conditions are going to get worse unless people stand up.

"The goal is to raise awareness about social issues, especially pertaining to labor issues and worker rights and bring together everyone who has a common purpose."

The national event is held this week because it's the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, who was killed when he was standing up for sanitation workers on strike. He was assasinated April 4, 1968.

"A lot of people might not realize, but his (King's) activism went way beyond racial justice because he realized all forms of oppression are intertwined," Pesa said.

CHANGE members invite anyone to participate in the events, regardless of political beliefs.

"It's for anybody who's willing to be informed," CHANGE member Casey Greene said. "We don't want to express any political issues. The main task is labor related. Everyone is invited to be involved and informed."

Greene studies U.S. labor history, and he said the country has made much progress with labor laws by getting an eight-hour work day, ending child labor and improving general working conditions. But he said companies today are pushing back that progress by using labor overseas, where working conditions aren't as good.

At the rally tomorrow -- from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. -- representatives from different student groups will each give speeches about how labor relates to their group. David Rovics, an activist musician, will perform at noon.

Zinn will speak at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Student Center Ballroom. Greene said Zinn's book, <ital>A People's History of the United States<ital>, "details stuff from the unlooked perspective that other historians have not covered."

"He's not only an important documentor of history; he helped make it as well," Pesa said of Zinn's activism.

Today, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., two labor-related movies will be shown in Room 303 of the Student Center. And two workshops will be held at the same place, one at 4 p.m. and one at 7 p.m.

Also, local artists will put on a benefit concert at 8 p.m. Friday at Kent Presbyterian Church.

Last year's events also were sponsored by CHANGE. Pesa said he believes the group's efforts were successful because the university later adopted a code of conduct promoting fair working conditions. The code prevents the bookstore from selling clothes with the Kent State logo that are made in sweatshops.

"We're the richest country in the world," Pesa said. "We can afford to pay our workers right, and we can afford to stop exploiting the rest of the world," Pesa said.

E-mail: jcoomes@kent.edu

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