2008 Woodie Awards
Students recognize labor rights
Anniversary examines local workers' status
Kaitlynn Riely
Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: News
The scene at Fieldhouse Mall Tuesday afternoon felt alternately like the city of London's Speaker's Corner and a church revival. Students, professors, campus employees and area residents gathered to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to criticize the status of workers' rights at Notre Dame and in South Bend and the nation at large.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. The professors who spoke called the audience's attention specifically to the declaration's Article 23, which stipulates that "everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection of work." The document also enumerates "equal pay for equal work," "just and favorable remuneration" that provides an "existence worthy of human dignity," and advocates the "right to form and to join trade unions."
"The idea for this event … is to create an awareness of labor issues and put them in the context of the situation on campus," said senior Nick Krafft, one of the organizers of the event.
The point, he said, is not to make demands of the University, but to explain the work situation on campus and the ideals put forth by the "Human Rights" declaration.
"Hopefully this will create conditions for actual change on this campus," he said.
Krafft is a member of the Campus Labor Action Project (CLAP), but was not at the event in that capacity.
Professors from Notre Dame and Indiana University South Bend, a labor group representative and Notre Dame workers spoke about the meaning of the document's 60th anniversary and the work conditions at Notre Dame. Ellen Gunn, a member of the custodial staff in Siegfried Hall, ended the event by leading the crowd of approximately 100 people in song.
Prudence Dorsey, who works for building services in the Hesburgh Center and in the Early Childhood Development Center, told the crowd she works 10-12 hours a day and took a loan from Notre Dame but is still one payment away from facing foreclosure on her house.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. The professors who spoke called the audience's attention specifically to the declaration's Article 23, which stipulates that "everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection of work." The document also enumerates "equal pay for equal work," "just and favorable remuneration" that provides an "existence worthy of human dignity," and advocates the "right to form and to join trade unions."
"The idea for this event … is to create an awareness of labor issues and put them in the context of the situation on campus," said senior Nick Krafft, one of the organizers of the event.
The point, he said, is not to make demands of the University, but to explain the work situation on campus and the ideals put forth by the "Human Rights" declaration.
"Hopefully this will create conditions for actual change on this campus," he said.
Krafft is a member of the Campus Labor Action Project (CLAP), but was not at the event in that capacity.
Professors from Notre Dame and Indiana University South Bend, a labor group representative and Notre Dame workers spoke about the meaning of the document's 60th anniversary and the work conditions at Notre Dame. Ellen Gunn, a member of the custodial staff in Siegfried Hall, ended the event by leading the crowd of approximately 100 people in song.
Prudence Dorsey, who works for building services in the Hesburgh Center and in the Early Childhood Development Center, told the crowd she works 10-12 hours a day and took a loan from Notre Dame but is still one payment away from facing foreclosure on her house.