The headline of a Feb. 7 article, 'Students support union referendum, WUD says,' was unbalanced. Although I appreciate the efforts by WUD and the Cardinal to keep me apprised of what I support, it might make for more effective journalism if the article had taken note of concerns raised by students and labor advocates rather than quoting exclusively WUD members.
The WUD-supported ballot initiative would raise student fees by $96 per student per year for the next 30 years to 'renovate' both student unions'including a plan to flatten and rebuild Union South with a new hotel catering to corporate donors and conference attendees.
Meanwhile, dozens of workers at both unions, illegally classified as limited-term employees, earn as little as $7.25 an hour. With the union's poverty-level wages in mind, AFSCME Local 171 and student labor groups opposed a similar initiative last year, and students voted it down.
This time around, WUD has learned to pay lip service to worker rights, making dubious promises of 'improving the working conditions in the kitchens and break rooms.' Although these and other aspects of the renovation plan are steps in the right direction, if the union genuinely cared about its workers it would pay them a living wage and respect their right to form unions.
This spring, like last, the ASM elections will give students the opportunity to make a demonstrative statement: unless every UW employee is paid a living wage, we will not fund the union renovation plan.
