Community Coordinators at Brown University vote to authorize strike

my name is fisa hello everyone thank you so much for coming to everyone if you're a community coordinator or if you're a Community member that P off support thank you so much you really appreciate it how are you guys feeling after this morning I think we went out there we made some noise I don't know if you guys saw um got's face the director of R life he uh he found our destruction I think we made ourselves today I'm really yeah so we have a couple of speakers so I'm just going to invite our first Speaker up to speak they're going to be amazing and they're going to tell us a little bit about you know likeing and all [Music] that our first speaker is Miguel Sanchez he is Provident city counselor and he has come out today to support us so thank you so much girl hi everyone how's it going uh my name is Miguel Sanchez I have the honor of representing uh Ward six on the Provident city council um most importantly here I just want to be here um in the form of solidarity uh with all you Brave uh students workers uh today uh the decision that you guys made today to uh take this action is a strong one and it's one that support orted by the Prov city council I'm not sure if folks have seen uh there was about eight of us that uh uh signed a stat uh showing full solidarity it would be it would be higher but we gave folks um only like 5 hours to sign on so I I know it is uh much more than that uh but more importantly uh I know there's a lot of you are students uh to to welcome you to the city of Providence uh there's a lot of amazing stuff going on um not only here on campus uh but in the city of Providence so I encourage you to get out get connected with the community support our local businesses and know that you can count on us as allies in these fights against institutions like Brown University that are so being so so unfair they're unfair to the taxpayers of the city of Providence when it comes to property taxes now they're being unfair to the workers and students and you guys are workers all workers in the city of Providence deserve to live uh in a dignity uh City to have a fair uh payment to have uh safe working conditions uh so I know it's been a long day uh but I'm here to support and and reach out and be here as much as possible um I know a bunch of my colleagues wish uh they could be here a lot of them have uh daytime commitments uh if you don't know Steve alquest he is the local media Legend right here and and to continue this fight uh sometimes uh these fights get uh demoralizing and they get tiring uh but understanding why we do uh these fights uh for the greater good if it's not for us directly it'll be for the CC's next year um it's important to keep focus on the end goal and what is that end goal that's a a life where all of us are able to live enjoy uh be uh productive uh safe residents of of the city of Providence um so yeah I just want to thank you from the bottom of my li heart for allowing me to come share some words uh but more importantly keep that line of communication as much as possible it's on all of us these fights are about people power and people power organized we win thank you app it uh I will I guess we will make this the impromptu stage uh our next speaker is Frank Flynn Frank is the president of the Rhode Island Federation of teachers thank you for welcoming tonight to this great event that you put together the weather gods have been blessed us have blessed us today maybe a little bit too much but we appreciate it so I represent the Rhode Island Federation of teachers I'm also a vice president of the American Federation of teachers and we represent uh teachers nurses Healthcare employes School support staff as well as a number of public employees but uh a larest growing segment of our representation is higher ed we have uh people at R Island College we have three locals there including on faculty the adjs the professional staff we represent the faculty at Brown University excuse me at Bryant University we represent the uh faculty at University of rhod Island so we're happy to welcome all the great work that Michael and Shina and everyone before them uh put together and started this great movement here at Brown University and we expect that they're going to be very successful and one day Brown University can be wall toall Union that's our goal and I think it's really important what you're doing here and we're here to tell you that all workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and that means Fair wages and safe working conditions predictable working conditions and a voice and the job and I think this is a great opportunity for you to learn about unionism and you become actively involved in some today you will be the leaders of the union movement throughout this country after old people like me are done which is hopefully pretty soon so so thank you keep up the good work and whatever we can do at the AFT or the RF to support this and get that first contract across the Finish Line we here we would love to see a all you need brown okay uh our next speaker is Michael Ziggler he is the president of the gr labor organization here at [Applause] Brown yeah yeah I know a thank you thank you okay yeah I'm projecting people can hear me yes I got okay uh y'all are making history today all right woo you are the first unit of local 6516 to strike against Brown yeah the way things have been going you very well may not be the last so look uh yeah I just want to say we're all part of a union family here okay your your siblings all right we're out here to support you we're out here to support you materially we're out here to walk that picket line with you um I just want to say having heard about what's been going on at the bargaining table um they' reached a new level okay um and I understand they hired on a new Junior Deluxe vice president for Labor Relations something like that um and you know I think I've actually kind figured out why they keep hiring so many vice presidents they're getting ready to start an Department of clowning they've actually they got a car that could fit all 15 um maybe not the best use of their money but it is what it is um so look we're going to be out here for you we're out here for you today we're going to be out here for you as long as it takes you to get this first contract you guys are going to win a hell of a good contract we're going to get you room and board fully comped we're going to get them to back off from this bull about not respecting your other commitments you make Student Life at this [Applause] University thank you thank you we are definitely an essential part of stud Lake here at Brown our next speaker is Paul Paul is a representative from the national American Federation of teachers which is the larger Union that we are part of here [Applause] BR so as she said my name is Paul May I'm a aft National representative I uh I'm here on behalf of Randy weard the national president and all of the AFT executive board um I will say over from 202 2 to 2024 we grew over 100,000 members from 1.7 to 1.8 million members and you all here sitting here are part of that 100,000 making us one of the fastest growing unions in across this [Applause] country you know so just you know this morning breakfast all the support you know that's all from the national we want you to know that they are behind you and so I'll just leave at the the 1.8 million members across the country are behind you in your strike and winning this first contract so thank you so much for that our last speaker but certainly lot least is Tiara Mack Tiara is a Rhode Island state senator and is also an alumni of Brown University [Applause] it's so great to be back on campus even though I live like half a mile away from here now um but CC's quite literally do make up the Future Leaders of not just Rhode Island but also the entire nation when I first moved to Providence as a low-income student as a freshman year at Brown it was a cc that connected me to the swearer center where I started working in Providence Public Schools and teaching sexual health education that then led to yeah that it was my cc's in Keeny my freshman year who encouraged me to join the rugby team where I then became the first Captain after suing the university to become the first Varsity Sports program for our women's team and one of the first in the entire nation [Applause] and it was the CC community that led protests and sit-ins and that made sure that students felt affirmed when they were challenging the university and making sure that our campus was a place that low-income students and black students like me could find a home in a place that was forign and it's the work that y'all do every day to build culture and community on this campus that leads every single student no matter where they come from across the globe GL to feel included in the brown community and it's also y'all that carry on the legacy of holding the university accountable to the world that we want to see from the 68 walkouts of black students demand that the university has a larger number of black students matriculated every single school year to C like the one I sat in in my sophomore year when commissioner Ray Kelly one of the pioneers of the Stop and brisk law was invited onto campus students and the community organized and said not on our campus so thank you all for [Applause] W thank you all for being a part of the legacy of not just activism on brown but fundamentally changing the way the university interacts with its students and student activists and built a stronger more robust Brown Community here in Rhode Island but also across the globe so thank you all for [Applause] your you know what only is strong with our Union so when I say how strong you say Union strong how strong union strong how strong union strong strong thank you so much to all of our community speakers uh last we have any CCS that want to come down and give a couple of words about how you've been feeling today or just general your experiences [Applause] okay standing next to me is the amazing Aya is a very see in Upper he's going to give us a couple of words of WID I love you love hi everybody um f thank you for the introduction yes so I'm AA I'm a thiry cc actually in Dan officer GPT um but I was one of the first CC's um my sophomore year is when they started the CC position and I felt for the first time very empowered to provide the resources and support um that I had my freshman year to really every student that I came across whether in my dorm or outside um and just you know FP two years later I am so incredibly proud of the precedent that we're setting for better working conditions Fair pay and really just basic respect as one of the main stewards of our community and I said this to Anna the other day um I mean honestly if anybody's better according Community it's us but we all come together in an even stronger Way by fighting for each other and fighting for the CC's really any employee not student or who comes after us um yeah so I'm just super proud of all of you and just want to remind you that with the work that we're doing [Music] today the work that we're doing today is amazing I'm never going to forget this as a senior it's my last year um but really this is just the beginning so let's keep fighting this afternoon and really well with you [Applause] guys okay next up we have the amazing Zoe Zoe is a seconde cc and she will also be Jing so worth the with for us wo [Applause] hi everybody um I am a CCE it is my second year I am living in Sears again so that is upper Division I do not work with fman sadly um but there are a lot of First Years here that really really care about their residents and they showed up today not because they didn't want to help or they didn't want to be there when they were moving in it's because of the lack of disrespect that has been put on CC's from Brown in us trying to fight for better working and like programming conditions for the [Music] stud okay that's I'm so [Music] sorry wa I'm [Applause] oh my God I was here oh okay I was over here pushing like the down I guess that was um okay yeah but I would also like to mention that a lot of us were scared about how this would be perceived by the public and I know a lot of people that wanted to be here but they were threatened and they were afraid but I would like to notice that all of you showed up here despite the fear that you may have had yesterday or in the morning so give a round of applause to yourself so after this morning I would like to to just like mention how freshman and parents were really supportive we even have two freshman in the crow they help me P pamplet so that we can pass them out the par and keep them more informed very nice um but really we do this for the residents I love putting up my programs of like cooking and like doing things things and now we only have like1 to $3 per person like I what am I supposed to do with that like here you go have a cookie I'm I'm in half of a cookie because you can't have a full one um but yeah and then lastly I just really want to thank Elijah and Anna because they are too [Applause] big yeah they are really inspiring like you just have to look at the way Anna and like this and how they went from like very very very very small group to the big group that we have today and it's really all thanks to them setting at the bargaining table and fisa too and then we also have new CCS that are really active and really participating and yeah so just a big round of applause to everyone [Applause] thank you Zoe um to took away because she's an incredible human CS goddess um so she chilled me back um any other CS who feel compelled to share we could maybe take one more testimonial yeah car [Applause] for Kayla for Kayla Cara forgive me my voice is a little bit shock from screaming all morning I am no stranger to this megaphone here if you would have told me that a few mons ago I'd be on the pick line losing my voice with a community of a lot of people who I otherwise probably wouldn't have gotone to know here at Brown I would have looked at you crazy but I'm here today and that's a huge testment to this community that we built up here uh I'm a second year CC I uh am now in GPT I was in GPT last year and last year I had the privilege of being a cc in Machado and for those of you who don't know Machado is a living space um a residential hall that houses a lot of um uh communi who share identities uh we have the latinx house there we have KAS Mach and we also have French house um being in Machado last year was one of the best experiences because [Applause] I'ma and I was able to be placed in a in a community in a residential hall where not only did I I share experiences with my residents but they also share experiences with me um and I think that value cannot be overstated um I also want to say thank you to CCS like AA um I was a first year last year and to put it frankly our training isn't always very adequate um they are can be quite redundant and they leave out the more important things and so last year you can ask Aya how many text messages I said her asking how do I use star resz how do I do this how do I do that um so it's because CC's like Ayla and other ccs and other returners that I'm here today and that I'm able to do the job that I'm able to do um so let's give them a round of [Applause] applause lastly I want to say that uh I don't know about everybody here but I'm at Brown on fin unfortunately unfortunately the full cost of my tuition and room board is not covered by that financial [Applause] aid so one of the things that actually drew me to the shop was being able to provide for myself and support myself throughout the school year because if my parents are too burden with having to figure out how they're going to pay the cost of my ition for me to be able to register for classes the next semester I can't put the burden of supporting me on them too and that's also a burden that I've had to take on and so just to give people a dose of reality this is what a lot of ccs are dealing with and this is what a lot of people this is what goes left unset a lot of the times but I'm proud to say that I'm here on financial aid and that brown needs to meet my needs they need to meet my needs [Applause] I need to meet my needs so that I can meet the needs of my residents I [Applause] okay we have two more speakers who are here joining us from the community we have the wonderful state representative David Morales if you would like all right y'all I just want to say first and foremost how much we appreciate the work of rcc's day in and day out because we recognize that they are long semesters and I find it ironic that a university that Prides itself for its liberal views and Progressive values that they would have the task of giving the responsibility of cc's to care for the students under your supervision and ensure that they are safely housed on a daily basis yet they are not willing to do the same for you the university and their Administration is always proud to bring out the golden shovels and to talk about the ongoing expansion happening across Providence they're always happy to brag about their endowment that continues to grow each and every single year here yet when it comes to the conditions of our workers they seem to be voiceless shame they seem to hesitate they seem to refuse to negotiate in the good faith that y'all deserve because the work that y'all are doing is essential it is essential to the extent that students are not able to be safely housed unless you are there present to ensure that your there for their daily needs the socio emotional support that yall provide so why is it that you're not giving full access to housing stability cuz it's not enough to have a measly stien that doesn't even go far enough to cover all of your housing to begin with much less food and much less every other expense that a young person in college has to endure and we also need to talk about Merit the fact that some of y'all have been busting your behind for year and year at a time having to balance classes extracurricular responsibilities as being an Engaged member of this campus and of course your responsibility as a community coordinator why is it that despite having to break your back and have this level of effort and labor that you are not guaranteed job security going into into the following year if you have successfully taken care of your students while maintaining your responsibilities and being at good academic standing you should be guaranteed job security going to the following [Applause] years and as we stand here and reflect on these values they're not radical it's not radical to demand that a university with the size of this wealth provide you with a stien that covers all of your housing expenses in addition to other daily needs it's not radical to demand that the university guarantees job security going into the following school year all of these are basic demands and they're demands that y'all recognize is your rights which is why you're organizing it is why you have community members and fellow students here joining you in solidarity because we recognize that these are basic basic ass demands they're not radical you're not asking for a lot you are asking for fairness [Applause] and so I am going to close out by asking that all of our community coordinators take a moment to reflect and feel proud of the energy that you have in front of you feel proud of the precedent that you are setting because organizing organizing on the ground and having conversations with your fellow workers with your fellow students this is revolutionary it is revolutionary because this will impact the Next Generation of community coordinators that come after you what y'all are doing is going to be generational because for too long brown university has been the sole negotiator when it comes to dictating what a student workers's working conditions are going to look like right but y'all are saying no no we're not playing that script anymore we're going to be the ones in charge of our future in charge of our conditions and together we're going to make sure that y'all are successful [Applause] thank you so much we have two final speakers that are going to come up on behalf of Theo our sibling Union the brown postto labor organization um and then we're going to get ready get HED to travel up North so I'm going to welcome Caroline and Tara up here um to share a few words W hello Community coordinators and community members and everybody here it is amazing to see you all out here it gives us Post hope and strength and energy because we are also sitting at the bargaining table right now with the energy vampires that are not giving us anything that we deserve and that goes for you as well you deserve the things you're asking for because quite frankly those things are the bare minimum [Applause] yeah I have been in grad school for a very long time and have gotten to where I am today and I've been at many different institutions and I have not been at one place that would not cover room in board for their raas or their Community coordinator right to me that is just shameful that brown will not give this to you and it goes into the pattern of brown refusing to give Fair wages safe working conditions and job security to workers from students grad students to posts and Beyond so what you're doing here today is incredibly important for all of the workers here at Brown you have the full support of all of the posts in bllo we will be out here every day St with you that you need us and know that we are behind you we support you we're proud of you and we're so proud to be part of a parent Union with you and hopefully if we ever get to the same place we'll see you out there as well coordinators I am so proud of you all uh when I saw you picking earlier I couldn't didn't stop smiling you have set the basically the goals right for our Union uh because it's about all of us right uh you poost the grads Tallow and so what you are fighting for as Carolina said as David said as everyone has said is the bare minimum Brown likes to call you all peer leaders right they they talk this big game about how important you are to the experience in the University why don't they put their money where their mouth is and show it make no mistake real can do the right thing they are choosing not to it is a choice and so until they do the right thing we will be out here with you every day if you continue to go on uh every day you have our full support so again I'm so proud of all of the energy that I've seen today from you all uh you are leading the way so thank you on of Deo uh we stand in solidarity with you all all right thank you to all of our amazing Community speakers if we could just give them all one more big round of applause