Students keep resolve in face of desist order
Activists want ‘living wages’ for workers.

Published Wednesday, April 13, 2005

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Washington University students taking part in the ninth day of a sit-in seeking higher pay for the university’s contract workers were notified yesterday by the school that they were violating the university’s judicial code.

The students received the notices a day after about 15 students launched a hunger strike and as their efforts are drawing support from national politicians and labor activists.

Several of the 13 students who have stayed at the undergraduate admissions office since April 4 were concerned they could be arrested, face disciplinary action or suffer other consequences for not showing up for classes. But they said their resolve remains to make sure service employees - janitors, food service workers and groundskeepers at the school - receive better wages and benefits.

"First of all, it’s just a basic human cause," said sophomore Irene Compadre, 19, an architecture major. The Little Rock, Ark., resident is participating in the sit-in and the hunger strike. "These are the workers who clean up after us every day. To know that they don’t make enough, that’s just not fair."

[...]

Yesterday, an AFL-CIO official visited the St. Louis campus to let students know they had the support of the 13-million-member organization.

"We are fully, incredibly supportive and grateful for what the students are doing," said Stewart Acuff, organizing director for the Washington-based federation of labor unions.

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