All workers’ unions have a moral imperative and a moral duty to fight against the white supremacist capitalist structure to create more power for vulnerable workers, and to center the needs of poor, trans, and disabled black people in that struggle.
We recognize that we live within a white supremacist capitalist society, in which institutions extract labor and capital from the most vulnerable in the population, particularly from poor black and brown people. All workers’ unions have a moral imperative and a moral duty to fight against this white supremacist capitalist structure to create more power for vulnerable workers, and to center the needs of poor, trans, and disabled black people in that struggle. Unfortunately, there is a long history of racism within union organizing that we must contend with, make amends for, and change.
As labor activists, the IC Contingent Faculty Union committee expresses not only solidarity but common cause with the activists, organizers, and protesters who are working for justice for those murdered by the police, including most recently George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet. We are all part of this white supremacist capitalist system and we must all work together to dismantle it, to end the plundering and disciplining of vulnerable bodies. We support unequivocally the abolition of police, police “unions,” and prisons, and call for racial justice on our campus and beyond. We recognize and condemn the role of academia in general, and Ithaca College in particular, in exploiting teachers, scholars, and students of color, and how the systemic racism in our institution punishes and pushes out black and brown members of our community (for many examples of this, see the current hashtag #BlackInTheIvory).
The IC Contingent Faculty Union has always advocated for fair wages, freedom from arbitrary termination, non-discrimination policies, paid sick leave, and other essential rights that support justice at the intersections of race, class, ability, gender, and sexuality. But we must do more: we must all do more. To continue our work of defusing and dismantling the white supremacist capitalist system as it manifests on Ithaca College campus, we must prioritize racial justice where it intersects with labor justice. Using the tools at our disposal – our Collective Bargaining Agreement (which we will negotiate again in 2021), our advocacy for contingent faculty, and our voice on campus – we commit to work for the following:
- complete divestment from policing on campus (see https://www.scholars4blacklives.org/divestment-petition)
- complete divestment from companies or institutions that rely on prison labor
- disarmament of campus security officers
- a change to the handling of public safety calls on campus that uses police-abolitionist strategies, emphasizing peer counselors and health professionals, so that the first person called in an emergency is not a security officer
- greater benefits, security, resources, and paths to advancement for our Dissertation Diversity Scholars, a group of early career minority faculty who are part of the union membership and often face exploitation of their intellectual and emotional labor
- faculty development opportunities that focus on practicing and teaching anti-racism in the classroom
- resources for faculty of color to facilitate networking, scholarship, and solidarity
We also commit to developing closer relationships with organizations on campus and in the community who are fighting for racial justice. We commit to showing up for them when they call upon us.
There is no single action that will end the predations of white supremacist capitalism: instead, everyone must take action within their communities, with whatever power they have, to make what change they can. We must prioritize black lives, because the system we live in does the opposite, and black lives matter. We know that many people at IC have been working towards racial justice for a long time, and we hope that our entire campus – faculty, staff, students, and upper administration – will join in the struggle. We welcome the contributions of anyone who wishes to work with us to further develop and enact these goals. If that’s you, please reach out to iccontingentfaculty@gmail.com.
In addition to the work we can do together as one united campus, individuals can go to https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ to volunteer, sign petitions, make donations, find resources, and get involved in the movement.
Signed, The IC Contingent Faculty Union Committee
Footnote: This statement is indebted to the intellectual and activist work of Kimberlé Crenshaw, Sara Ahmed, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Angela Y. Davis, Michelle Alexander, Mariame Kaba, and many others.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20200608101625329