Union protest supports wage increases to $15 an hour
By: Bri Heaney, News Editor
Saint Louis Community College at Meramec’s Adjunct Teacher Kat
Fossell was arrested in the SIUE Janitor’s protest on Jan. 27.
The protest was in reference to wages of Saint Louis Local 1 Union Janitors to receive a pay increase to $15 an hour. Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted about the protest in downtown St. Louis.
“I’m proud to stand with the brave janitors of @SEIULocal1 and their allies who are risking arrest today in St. Louis to fight for living wages and respect on the job,” tweeted Sanders.
According to the Union members’ message on Twitter, this wage increase is the difference between being able to feed themselves and their families. The Union’s Twitter also claimed that this is in line with a pay increase that Saint Louis City Mayor Lyda Krewson signed into effect in 2018.
Although the protest was for increased wages for the janitor’s union, it is the same union that the adjunct teachers of STLCC, Washington University, and Saint Louis University are members of as well.
“I thought it was important to be at the protest for the janitors because there are a lot of groups of labor here in St. Louis right now that have a chance to stand together and we are all fighting for very similar things,” said Fossell.
SIUE declares itself as an international union of 1.9 million members that focuses on public service, health services, and property services. Adjuncts will be returning to the bargaining table for their own labor agreements this spring. Currently they are not permitted to have their own strike or protest, although some are choosing to stand with all members, including those of different trades, said Fossell.
“I was willing to be arrested for the janitors’ fight for a living wage because I understand that these hard-working people, like us adjuncts, [who] just want to be able to do their jobs,” said Fossell. “It is unprofessional and inhumane to expect people to perform jobs with no support from the system they work within.”
Sixteen protestors were arrested alongside Fossell, according to a union spokesperson. She was accompanied by City Alderman Meagan Green, Lew Moye, the former president of the Saint Louis Collation of Black Trade Unionist, and Rev. Daryl Gray, a pastor and civil rights activist, among others.
Fossell was the only adjunct to be arrested in the protest, and said that they were locked up for a few hours and even took a couple selfies while they were in the “clink.”
“It was a really cool group of people to be arrested with,” said Fossell.
