Students work with university administrators to pass these Campus Compacts to ensure workers are treated fairly (living wage), create mechanisms that allow an easier process for unionization with protections for workers on the campus (regardless of contract status with the university), and build student power in a way that allows the students that make the university work, work for them. The key points of the Compact are:

• Student and worker voices in decisions that raise fees, tuition and other costs that prohibit working families from attending colleges and universities
• Living wage for all workers on campus
• University will respect the rights of employees to vote for union representation
• Addresses the need to adjust salaries to prevent tuition increases, compression and layoffs
• Majority of students composing campus Request for Proposals (RFP) committees and contract renegotiation regarding non-university contracts.
• Create representative assessment body from equal numbers students, workers,  administrators, faculty, faith leaders, etc. tasked with monitoring and advising on the future of the compact.

This compact serves a larger vision of creating universities that operate as “community wealth builders,” able to create good jobs in an industry that can’t be outsourced.When universities make this commitment, we see lives of not only campus and student workers improve but of all workers in our communities by using our large employment power to raise floors for all workers.

Campus Compact allows students to have a say in how our campuses operate in a long-term vision, empowers and protects students and workers, and builds a strong community influenced by solidarity for one each others struggle.

Currently, Walmart’s goal to expand their profits is leading them into key urban areas across the country. Walmart is campaigning to win support from important community leaders, faith leaders, and public officials that will help them expand into new urban markets. Walmart’s efforts include media, community, and political maneuvers to position themselves as a good corporate citizen and jobs creator, when in fact the company has a record of not creating good jobs, not paying their fair share of taxes, and having the effect of forcing small businesses in their orbit to close down.

Student Labor Action Project and Jobs with Justice are making change at Walmart on two fronts:

1. In cities where Walmart is looking to expand, SLAP chapters and Jobs with Justice coalitions are working to ensure that Walmart has a positive impact in our communities. For example, some local coalitions are working to get Walmart to sign community benefit agreements that ensure good jobs, and to ensure that their stores do not negatively impact local communities.
2. SLAP chapters and Jobs with Justice coalitions are working with the Organization for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) to build a voice for Walmart associates.

What we’re demanding from Walmart is what we’re demanding overall: creation of good jobs, the right to organize and collectively bargain, and the right for dignity and self determination for our families and the communities we live in.  Communities should decide is Walmart should build in their neighborhoods based on whether or not Walmart meets their standards on these questions.

Some say that Walmart cannot be organized. But many said the same about auto workers at Ford before 1935 or about janitors before 1985. Both victories not only changed the lives of the workers involved, but they raised the floor for working people and our communities across the country. They changed the entire economy for the better by creating sustainable, union jobs and dignity for our communities. If we can change Walmart, we can improve the lives of all working people.

As the baby boomer population ages, a shift with enormous economic and political implications is taking place in the United States. People with long-term care and support service needs are projected to grow from 13 million in 2000, to 27 million in 2050. The current long-term care workforce numbers at approximately 3 million workers. The gap between the care that is needed and the current workforce could present a social crisis of immense proportions. At the same time, we are faced with one of the most severe economic downturns in decades, with unemployment rates remaining high. Millions of jobs have disappeared without hope of returning.

Caring for the aging and people with disabilities is among our most important responsibilities as a nation. Older adults hold the lessons and historical memories that are the foundation we stand on today. And yet, families are left on their own to find appropriate care, with limited options. Individuals with disabilities who are hiring and managing their own care are facing the same challenges. Across generations, individuals and families struggle acquiring and maintaining quality care and the support they need. As a nation, we have yet to take collective responsibility for upholding the right to a dignified quality of life for our elders and people with disabilities.

Long-term care workers help ensure our elders, parents and loved ones with disabilities receive quality care and support. The work they do is vital. However, the care workforce — whether direct care workers or domestic workers — is compelled to work under strenuous, highly vulnerable and often exploitative conditions. Domestic workers are often pulled into the care gap to provide vital care for the aging population, yet lack access to appropriate training or pathways to career advancement and citizenship. Connected by the need for care and support, we count on one another to realize a dignified quality of life. We all have a stake in transforming care.

We propose the 5 Fingers of the Caring Hand:

1. Two million new jobs in home care
2. Labor standards and improved job quality with a path to unionization
3. Job training and career ladders
4. Path to Citizenship
5. Support for families and individuals, struggling to pay for care – including a tax credit for private pay families

To learn more about the campaign in your local area, click this link.

Each year, students have to fight tooth-and-nail on both the state and federal level to make government invested in fully funding and supporting higher education. It’s politically popular for elected officials to advocate for college students and higher education funding. however, most politicians are silent when it comes to education budgets getting slashed. Therefore, it’s up to us, the students, to ask our elected officials “where’s the funding?!” At a time when the road to socio-economic justice for our communities, personal fulfillment, and a thriving civic society is increasingly tied to higher education, where’s the funding to ensure that this path is clear of all unnecessary barriers?

Not only are we asking these questions, we’re proposing solutions. SLAP & USSA’s “Where’s the Funding” campaign will connect state and federal budget cuts to the larger student movement, so that we raise a strong national voice on behalf of higher education. Our ultimate goal is to propose federal legislation that will make higher education a right. Will you join this historic effort?

Short-Term Goals
•Mandatory funding of the Pell Grant program
◦The Pell Grant is the cornerstone of federal financial aid. Each year, millions of low-income students are awarded thousands of dollars from the federal government to continue their college education without having to take out huge loans that drive young people into debt. The Pell Grant program is incredibly popular politically because elected officials love being the college student champion, especially for disadvantaged youth. However, the program suffers from funding shortfalls almost every fiscal year because Congress isn’t required to fund higher education. When push comes to shove, funding is directed away from students. The purchasing power of the grant has fallen over 100% in the past 30 years, which is indicative of just how far higher education has fallen in the eyes of most federal appropriators. We want to change that. This instability is dangerous for low-income students who deserve a dependable and effective financial aid program. The 112th Congress is proposing massive cuts to the Pell Grant, which, matched with state budget cuts and tuition and fee hikes, would throw many students out of the classroom and into unemployment. Therefore, we need to make the Pell Grant a mandatory spending program!

•Protect financial aid programs
◦While the Pell Grant is an essential federal financial aid program, it isn’t the only one. From access and retention programs like GEAR UP and TRIO to work study, there are numerous other programs that are being targeted for reduction or elimination by the current Congress. The fiscal year 2011 appropriations fight begins when President Obama proposes his budget on February 14. From that moment on, we need to fight for the programs that ensure access and affordability for all students who wish to pursue a college degree!

Intermediate Goals
•Turn our solutions into federal law
◦Students are going to propose federal legislation that will clear the path towards making higher education a right. Too often civic organizations like SLAP & USSA are reactionary to public policy. We support a piece of legislation and are forced to settle for what is politically realistic, rather than fight for what we believe is right. That practice ends with this campaign. Join the dialogue to help form this legislation and be a part of a truly historic endeavor! Some of our ideas for this legislation are:

■A federal program that incentivizes states to spend a certain amount on higher education each year. It would be similar to the federal legislation passed under President Reagan that, while leaving authority to set the legal drinking age with the states, directed federal highway funds to only the states that set the drinking age at 21. Our program would have federal funding that is essential to a particular industry related to education be appropriated only to the states that fund higher education by a certain amount.

■Create a student state stabilization fund that directs federal funding to states to lower tuition. The amount a state receives would be tied to the number or percentage of Pell Grant recipients who graduate from state institutions, say 90% (this number is still being worked on). If an institution falls below this number, the state can still receive federal funding if it adequately funds outreach and retention programs like TRIO and GEAR UP.

◦What would you like to see in a federal law that aims to make education a right? Tell us! After all, this is your law.

Long-Term Goals
•Make education a right!
◦USSA’s founding mission is to make higher education a right in the United States. If someone works hard in high school, he or she deserves the chance to go to college unhindered by financial and other access barriers. Through a coordinated local, state, and national grassroots campaign that advances this goal through public policy and discourse, we will make higher education a right!

Click here to see a list of USSA member SSAs and to visit their websites to read up on what they’ll be fighting for in 2011!

•Ensure shared governance
◦For the first time in history, public four-year institutions are receiving almost or over half their revenue from tuition payments instead of state appropriations. Essentially, universities are becoming privatized with students and families becoming burdened with providing the private shares when a higher education is public good. Students will be fighting back against the rapid, fundamental shift towards public colleges being privately financed by those already struggling to keep up with the rising cost of a higher education. If the United States is going to maintain a public higher education system, it must remain public in more than just name.

•Protection of academic diversity programs
◦Elected officials often talk about higher education in terms of a conveyor belt; students are the “product” for the “consumer,” society. While this metaphor can be helpful in securing more higher education funding, it leads to a massive gap between “high demand” programs, like math and science, and humanities like ethnic studies. Of course math and science are worthy of funding, but programs that teach students about their heritage are equally as important. Deeply and thoughtfully exploring culture and history, independent of any financial justification, is a main pillar of the college experience. To weather the current storm of budget cuts, students will be working to preserve and enrich these vital programs.

•Full and fair employment for campus workers
◦As university budget shrink, many campus workers are being either furloughed or fired to save money. USSA students stand in solidarity with campus workers, many of whom are also students. We support campus unions and will be fighting for their right to maintain good, fair jobs on campus.

Organizing Kit