29369: Hermantin(News) Little Haiti community fights to secure Nova janitors' jobs (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Oct. 22, 2006


LITTLE HAITI
Little Haiti community fights to secure Nova janitors' jobs
A Little Haiti rally of more than 100 people was held to support unionized Nova 
Southeastern janitors whose jobs may be at stake.
BY NIALA BOODHOO
nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com

About 150 people came out to a church in Little Haiti Saturday night to support 
newly unionized janitors at Nova Southeastern University, who they worry may 
lose their jobs.

Singing songs and chanting the union refrain ''Yes, we can'' in English, Creole 
and Spanish, the crowd at Haitian Emmanuel Baptist Church heard speeches from 
NSU workers, union members and a few community leaders in support of their 
cause.

''We're asking the community to support the union and these workers,'' said 
Pastor Clervy Merilus, who asked the audience to be prepared to pitch in with 
food drives to support the janitors if they lost their jobs. Many of the 
janitors are Haitian.

A majority of the 350 employees who clean and maintain the Davie campus voted 
in favor of the Service Employees International Union earlier this month, but 
the victory for the union came days after an announcement from the university 
that it planned to rebid its contract with Boston-based Unicco.

NSU spokesman Dave Dawson repeated the university's position Saturday that it 
was reevaluating its relationship with contractor Unicco. He said there were 
several possible outcomes: Unicco could retain the contract; another contractor 
could be hired; the university could bring some positions in-house; or it could 
do a combination of all three.

''I think that someone who works hard every day and adds value to the 
university certainly will have the opportunity under any scenario to apply for 
the job,'' Dawson said.

Nevertheless, Unicco recently filed notice with the state, as required by law, 
that there was a possibility the workers could be laid off.

And many of the speakers Saturday, which included a dozen workers, community 
leaders and a few politicians, told the crowd they were watching to ensure that 
the workers would be allowed to keep their jobs.

They urged people to send postcards to NSU President Ray Ferrero asking him not 
to ''jeopardize the stability'' of the workers' jobs.

Others passed out fliers asking people to join the union in a protest before 
Tuesday night's gubernatorial debate, which is to be held at NSU.

Haitian-American community activist Marleine Bastien, who hosted the event, 
said she wanted to send a message to NSU that the community was watching.

''We hope the president will come to his senses and will respect the basic 
rights of these workers,'' she said. ``We'll be side by side with these 
workers, until their victory.''

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