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News :: Miscellaneous |
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GEO Walkout--Charles' Story |
Current rating: 0 |
by Charles Joseph Smith
Email: cjsmith (unverified!)
Phone: (217)332-2143
Address: URH, 101 Daniels Hall, 1010 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801 |
02 Dec 2001
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This tells about a graduate student who at the last minute
decides to join one picket demonstration at the GEO walkout
at the UIUC to support the friends who are with the GEO. It
is because you are either a TA with the stigma of an under-
represented union, or it is difficult, and in some cases
impossible, to become a TA at the university. |
I had friends who were in the GEO, so I had to support them
in the campus-wide walkout around noon on Wednesday, November
28.
First, seeing about 100 GEO marchers with their pickets
circling the south patio of the Quad, I went to get my own
picket sign that was near the Foellinger Auditorium on the
other end of the Quad, where the GEO temporary canopy was
built under a raw, cloudy, occasionally rainy day.
Second, I made the long, 500-foot walk to meet up with the
marchers who were walking in a counterclockwise circle.
I saw one of the marchers, María Isabel Silva, who was
an expert in Latin-American studies and also an long-time activist. Chants during the march included:
"What do we want?"
"Better working conditions!"
"When do we want it?"
"Now!"
And this one..
"1, 2, 3, 4, UIC went in to door.
"5, 6, 7, 8, Why won't they negotiate?"
In that above chant, I can speculate that "they" refers
to the Board of Trustees.
There also was a chorus chant that was a parody of the
Battle Hymn of the Republic. They were singing "Solidarity
Forever"--the anthem of the GEO.
The weather was rather blustery--about 48 degrees, with
brisk winds that brought wind chills as low as the lower
30s. I didn't even have gloves on but that didn't matter.
Eventually, I got tired of walking so I decided to walk back
and turn in the picket sign around one in the afternoon. At least I was part of the major picket event at the UIUC. |
See also:
http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~cjsmith2/Charles_Home_Page.html
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