GenDFA, Young Democrats, and STAND get pay raise for U of Miami workers.

[madfloridian]

This is really true activism in motion. These groups combined with the local DEC to call attention to the poor treatment of the workers at the University of Miami. They were unable to get them unionized, but they did get a pay hike in the works for that group.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/007632.html

Franco Caliz-Aguilar is he GenerationDFA organizer for Coral Park Young Democrats and the Student Organizer for DFA-Miami. He is a high-school junior.

Coral Park Young Democrats and DFA-Miami have recently become involved in an effort to unionize workers at the University of Miami.

Leading the unionization effort is small group of University of Miami students called Students Towards A New Democracy (STAND). Recently, they gained support from the SEIU and the local DEC. Soon, STAND was holding rallies every month on campus, and gaining support from the faculty. University workers went on strike. The Miami-Herald ran an article about the uproar on the front-page, and then another on the front-page of the Metro Dade section. Coral Park Young Democrats and DFA-Miami held a letter-writing campaign and phone-banked the university, as well as City Commissioners, mentioning that, as potential customers of the university, we were disturbed by the treatment of the workers. We demanded that they be paid a living wage and offered health benefits.

All of our efforts paid off! Last week, the Herald ran an article on the front page, announcing that "striking workers at UM to get raise." Although workers did not unionize, the university raised their wages to $8 per hour, but STAND has not let up their pressure. STAND leader Jacob Coker-Dukowitz was quoted in the article, saying that $8 an hour is still not a living wage, and that the new policy was a result of University of Miami President Donna Shalala facing "the threat of unionization and immense public pressure."

This is a large and active group of GenerationDFA in Miami. Here is their website.
http://www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=32

Here is a link to STAND at Democracy Matters.
http://www.democracymatters.org/StudentOrganizing/ResourceCenter/Articles/Stand_090004.php

And the Young Democrats of America.
http://www.yda.org/

[madfloridian]

1. Giving this a last kick because building young Democrats is vital.

Not very exciting to read about, but it is going on everywhere now.