Word: pslm
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Professor Epps was pleased with the way the PSLM handled labor issues. “What impressed me”, he says, “is that they maintained consultation with workers throughout and possessed a deep knowledge of labor force structures and union practices. It became a pooling of intellectual and political resources from a variety of positions...
Professor Epps’ positive assesment belies the more ambigious attitudes that PSLM members themselves feel toward the multitude of class issues which complicate their actions. PSLM members continually speak of the importance of inclusiveness in their campaign, both of the workers they protest on behalf of, and the majority of students at Harvard who are not part of the activist movement. Bartley admits that while most students were familiar with direct action strategies through the anti-globalization protests, “this direct action movement has not been ingrained in workers today because of a more passive brand...
Harvard’s past may have helped PSLM as well. Bartley points to the pressure of alumni as something that forced the University administration to finally cave in to their demands: “If the New York Times calls Harvard greedy—which they did—it has a tremendous ripple effect on alumni. I would like to think that we changed the corporation’s mind on the issue, but more importantly, perhaps, we changed their calculations on how the institution would be affected by this action...
...decision to move forward with a sit-in threatened to tear the PSLM apart internally. DiMaggio and Elfenbein both confess that there was soul-searching within the group from the first time the tactic was suggested in January of 2001. “We were asking, ‘will it end our campaign forever?’” Elfenbein says. While the sit-in undoubtedly raised the profile of the living wage issue on campus—Epps admits that he had “barely heard” of the struggle prior to the takeover?...
...PSLM also had to confront the question of whether students can ever protest on behalf of workers...