Published: August 26, 2010

(From Giovanna Pompele:)

UM janitor i am not familiar with sees me wearing SEIU purple bracelet and brightens up. in entirely ridiculous spanish i say, "i'm with you in this!" in perfect english, janitor replies, "thank you."

she comes to me looking crestfallen. she says, "they are taking away seniority. do you know what that means? that they can do anything they want with us. i've been working here for 23 years."

she says, "i'm sick and HIV positive, but they won't let me take sick leave even with a doctor's note. they force me to take family leave."

she says, "look at all these students. if they understood, if they spoke up, things would change very rapidly."

she says, "they always take money away from the most poor."