NEWS
Thursday, November 06, 2003
The Daily covers the Borders' employees plans to strike this Saturday at 9:00 AM. An interesting sidelight to the story: the Michigan Student Assembly failed to pass a resolution in support of the union, proving once again that even in student government, politics matters."... Dave Pratt, an employee at Borders for over five years, said he is skeptical of Borders' recent hiring practices in light of the strike. "Borders last week had a job fair where they interviewed 100 people … The ostensible reason is for the Christmas season, but our feeling is that they’re hiring to replace us in event of a strike."
At a meeting Tuesday night, the Michigan Student Assembly debated the passage of a resolution that pledged student support for the Union. Ultimately, the resolution failed.
MSA President Angela Galardi said she was upset that the resolution did not pass. "Some (representatives) got bogged down with numbers and living wage ideas where this is simply more about asking a corporation to negotiate with workers just as we ask the administration to negotiate with us over student issues. It's about bringing people together in good faith."
> From "Borders employees set date to strike for better pay, benefits"
In their aptly named editorial "Borders patrol" the Daily urdges students to support the strike: "For a store that can rake in $125 million in profits in a year, Borders can certainly afford to pay its employees a wage that at least matches the cost of living in Ann Arbor and provide adequate benefits. This would be the responsible and ethical thing to do. But since Borders management has refused to offer its employees a fair wage and benefits package, they have forced the union to the brink of striking.
And in what I'm sure will prove a controversial viewpoint, titled "With blood on their hands," Aliya Chowdhri, Rahul Saksena and Irfan Shuttari write about the warming relations between the governments of India and Israel, saying "It is an alliance that should not be celebrated, it should be denounced."
Posted by Rob at 2:10 AM
