February 8, 2018

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the California Aggie

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On Feb. 1, workers in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees trade union picketed at the ARC in protest of the treatment they receive in their positions from the UC. AFSCME represents over 24,000 employees across all 10 UC campuses. Others outside of the union came out to support, including both undergraduate and graduate students and community members. Eric Gudz, a former UC Davis graduate student who was pursuing a masters degree in Transportation, Technology, and Policy, elaborated on the reasons he came out to support AFSCME workers. “A lot of the workers, both student workers and non-student workers, have presented a series of demands and certain needs that have been unfulfilled and unmet within our administration system,” Gudz said. “They have a list on their website and Facebook group for all the demands they have, but where it boils down to is pay, benefits and making sure that we do everything we can within the university to protect employees’ right to unionize and to prevent any sort of attack or reduction in unionizing power. It’s very important that we’re here supporting unions and everyone’s right to unionize and organize effectively.” Blanca Centeno, a UC Davis worker with the custodial department, discussed a few of the reasons why she was picketing.

VOLUME 136, ISSUE 15 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

AFSCME workers picket at ARC

STUDENTS AND WORKERS RALLY IN PROTEST OF UC TREATMENT TOWARD SERVICE AND PATIENT CARE WORKERS, INCLUDING THE ISSUE OF THE DIFFERENCE IN WAGES BETWEEN THESE WORKERS AND UC ADMINISTRATORS.

BY SABRI N A HA BCH I campus@theaggie.org

THEAGGIE.ORG

“We’re here right now because we’re fighting for justice, equality, respect and dignity,” Centeno said. “It doesn’t matter how many years pass by, we always have to keep fighting for our future.” UC Davis employee Kristina Torres also discussed her reasons for picketing. “We are here today because the service workers and the patient care workers under AFSCME do not have a contract,” Torres said. “The University of California has not been bargaining faithfully with us and so service workers have been out of a contract since June 30 of 2017 and patient care workers since Dec. 31 of 2017.” Torres talked about what her hopes were for the outcome of the picket. “We’re hoping that the university hears us, sees us in solidarity, and that we’re going to fight for everything that we deserve because they’re coming to the table with giving us zero across the board for any kind of salary wages,” Torres said. “They’re saying that all of us make too much, they want to cut our pensions, they want us to pay more for our health benefits and raise the age of retirement from 60 to 65. This is the second protest that we have had. Obviously, the university still came to the table with no negotiating.” Caroline McKusick, a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology, also came

JESSE STESHENKO / AGGIE

UC Davis team documents deportee

Picketers protest UC treatment of workers

narratives BY GEOR GE LI AO campus@theaggie.org

out to support AFSCME workers. “I am out here today because I am also a part of a union on campus and I am here to support AFSCME workers,” McKusick said. “We have to stand together right now when labor is under attack across the country and at the UCs. I believe that AFSCME workers have every right to be making the contract demands that they are making and UC’s reaction has been insulting.” McKusick also explained the correlation between what the union she is a part of is fighting for and what AFSCME workers are currently fighting for. “I’m a part of the UAW and we have a lot of shared ground and demands with AFSCME workers such as getting sanctuary campus status for the UC and these are things that we can win if we all work together as students and workers on campus,” McKusick said. “It’s my hope that during these bargaining processes we can win some concrete victories for students and workers on campus.” As a worker at the UC Davis Medical Center, Carla Alston schedules specialty appointments. Alston gave insight into why the picket happened to be on this particular day. “Today is the 50th anniversary since the passing of our brothers at Memphis, Tenn.,”

AFSCME on 11

Accessing CalFresh through mRelief UC Davis students can address food insecurity with mobile, virtual aid

THE ASUCD PANTRY, LOCATED IN LOWER FREEBORN HALL.

BY SABRI N A HA BCH I features@theaggie.org

CalFresh is a form of government aid that provides funds for groceries. Although many college-aged students are eligible for it, few access the resources available. Why is this? There are numerous possible explanations, the first being the ignorance surrounding the program itself. What is CalFresh, anyway? “I see CalFresh as a part of the overall support system that we all tap into sometimes in order to move forward in life,” said Rose Afriyie, the executive director of mRelief. “These are resources that have been set aside for you that we in a democracy have voted on that we believe should exist for people that fall under a certain income. That there should be no shame in this.” Afriyie directs and developed the platform, mRelief, which helps to connect individuals to social services virtually. mRelief is a governmentsupported program on the internet and through text messaging. Its goal is to make sure that those in need of social services, like food stamps, can easily discover their eligibility and sign up. In partnership with Yolo County Department of Health, mRelief can now determine your eligibility through 10 questions answered over text. The sign-up process is another potential barrier for food-insecure students. In the past, it has been difficult to know whether or not one is eligible for the resources. Now, it can be determined in a 10-question survey available online or via text. “I do think it’s really helpful for students

to find out, in 10 questions or less, whether or not they qualify,” Afriyie said. “Sometimes when you’re stressed out [...] we want to just give back their time and their energy and their efforts. Use that mental muscle for calculus, but maybe not for finding out whether you qualify for CalFresh.” Ease of accessibility is being addressed by oncampus forces, too. Aggie Compass, a basic needs hub in the MU that will direct students toward available resources regarding food security and mental health, will arrive at UC Davis at the beginning of Spring Quarter. Third-year economics and psychology double major and former ASUCD Senator Daniel Nagey is working to create Aggie Compass, as well as the Aggie Food Connections Coalition, which has hosted a CalFresh Clicks events in which representatives are available to help students sign up. “One of the biggest things about CalFresh is [...] a lot of people don’t know about it,” Nagey said. “It’s not very heavily advertised, I think the statistic I was told, which might be out of date, that [of ] about 8 percent of students at UC Davis who qualify for CalFresh, only about 8 percent of them are using the CalFresh resource. It seems to me that students are kind of unaware. We just want to get the word out.” Former ASUCD senator and current ASUCD presidential candidate Michael Gofman similarly focuses on food security, especially broadening the impact of The Pantry on students’ lives and on their plates. “Primarily, as a senator back in Spring Quarter, and as a presidential candidate today, I fight to CHECK OUT OUR

Humanizing Deportation project tells story of deportees through video

increase The Pantry’s budget and resources,” Gofman said. “I successfully lobbied for more money allocated to The Pantry during the last budget hearings, and hope to do so again next quarter.” In addition to ignorance of the program itself and difficulties with signing up and identifying qualifiers, Afriyie said that there tends to be a stigma surrounding aid. “We have to also honor [...] stigma and sometimes shame about government aid,” Afriyie said. “That should not be the case, because we all get support from the government at some point in time.” Fourth-year environmental science and management major Stephanie Lew admitted that she didn’t always feel confident in using CalFresh. It was desperation and stress around food security that pushed her toward it, and she now knows that it was the right choice. “When I became aware that I was actually eligible for it and I was desperate, I was like, ‘I’m going to apply’,” Lew said. “At first I was a little bit embarrassed about it but now [...] I don’t mind admitting to people, ‘Hey I rely on CalFresh for groceries.’” Lew’s experience is a testament to the fact that access to healthy groceries is something students are entitled to without added stress. “I really care about my personal health,” Lew said. “That’s where my money should be going.” This belief is often dwarfed by the concern students have that they are not desperate enough MRELIEF on 11

The Humanizing Deportation project is a collaboration between UC Davis and Colegio de la Frontera Norte, in Tijuana, Mexico, to document personal stories of deportees expelled from the United States. The narratives were collected last summer over the course of a month-long field study. Robert Irwin, a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Davis, co-leads the Humanizing Deportation project. “Humanizing Deportation is a digital storytelling project,” Irwin said. “Its objective is [to] help disseminate more true, nuanced and humanized idea[s] about deportation than what we hear about in the media.” Irwin said that the purpose of the project is to provide a more genuine view of deportation. “A lot of people have opinions about deportation and about people getting deported without knowing up close what it is like,” Irwin said. “We devised this project in order to [deliver] to the media and the world through our website a more real view of what is happening.” Irwin also discussed why Tijuana was chosen for the study. “The project was conceived in collaboration with people here at UC Davis and Colegio de la Frontera Norte, which is a university in Tijuana,” Irwin said. “We chose Tijuana as a field site from which to launch the project because it receives more deported people than any other city in Mexico and probably the world, with something like 350 [people] arriving there everyday.” Irwin stated that videos by deportees gave them the ability to tell their personal stories. “We are simply giving a platform for people in the [deportation] community who have something they want to say [and] to say it in an audio-visual form,” Irwin said. “We facilitate the production but we don’t control the content. They are not our stories, and we don’t select just certains kinds of people — anyone who wants to say something about deportation, about their personal experiences with deportation, is invited to do so on our platform.” Irwin also talked about how issues related to deportation have resulted in homelessness, substance abuse and the breakup of families. “It is definitely a humanitarian issue,” Irwin said. “Another problem that occurs in Tijuana, unfortunately, is many of the people end up living in shelters. They have difficulty getting employed. Some of them fall into drug addiction or other forms of substance abuse. Some of them fall into homelessness or semi-homelessness where they are drifting [from] shelter to shelter.” Lizbeth de la Cruz Santana, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Spanish as well as a member of the Humanizing Deportation team, further discussed the separation of families caused by deportation. “We noticed when we were there [that] you could see more men who have been deported and you can see more women and children as well,” de la Cruz Santana said. “Dr. Irwin would encourage us to go to a shelter. There you would see the reality of the DEPORTATION on 11

ROBERT IRWIN / COURTESY TIJUANA FIELDWORK TEAM IN JULY 2017 IN TIJUANA: FRONT ROW = ISRAEL IBARRA, ROBERT IRWIN; BACK L TO R = LIZBETH DE LA CRUZ, MARLENÉ MERCADO, ANA LUISA CALVILLO, MARINKA SWIFT, DANAE VALENZUELA, YESIKA ORDAZ, DÖRTE KREBSBACH, SARAH HART

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