Labor, Students Occupy Georgetown President's Office

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

"I've lost 13 pounds since I stopped eating 8 days ago,” Georgetown student Zachary Pesavento told the cheering crowd, “and I will continue not to eat until the University accepts a living wage policy for all of its workers." One by one, more than 20 Georgetown students on hunger strike stepped up for their daily weigh-in yesterday, joined by more than 200 union members, campus workers, students, and allies at a student-worker solidarity rally. “You’ve had three years to discuss and research this issue,” thundered AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, “Now is the time to treat your workers with the respect and dignity that we all deserve.” Trumka joined Metro Council President Jos Williams and DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and others in thanking the students for their sacrifice and pledging their support. “I expect more from this University,” said Norton, who teaches at Georgetown’s law school. After the rally, student, labor, religious and community activists briefly occupied the offices of Georgetown President John DeGioia, dramatically escalating their demand that the University pay its workers a living wage. Labor, religious and community leaders pledged to carry the ongoing hunger strike through the Spring Break that begins Thursday if the issue is not resolved by then. Check the Council’s website for details on how to participate in the rolling 24-hour hunger strike.
- reported by Bernie Pollack