Students Unite for Economic Justice

THE STUDENT LABOR ACTION PROJECT

A new generation of student activism is on the rise. Whether supporting worker organizing on their campuses and in their communities, standing up against corporate bailouts and increasing layoffs, or fighting for living wages, immigrant rights, and an end to sweatshops, students everywhere are organizing for social and economic justice with renewed vigor. In 1999, Jobs with Justice and the and the United States Students Association joined together to create the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) to support, advise, and solidify the student-labor work that is energizing campuses and communities across the country. SLAP has maximized the depth and breadth of this new student movement by facilitating networking, training, material development and technical assistance for student activists.

On April 4th, 2000, SLAP took the lead coordinating the first-ever National Student Labor Day of Action to commemorate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King the by organizing student labor actions on 59 campuses. Dr. King was assassinated while he was in Memphis supporting the 1968 Sanitation Workers' strike. The Student Labor Day of Action links the wide range of student interests in worker justice and organizes support for student actions from unions and local Jobs with Justice coalitions. In 2001, SLAP along with the United Students Against Sweatshops and the Prison Moratorium Project worked together to help organize over 80 actions on and around April 4th. By 2002, the number of actions had grown to over 100! The growth of this day of action signaled the growth of the campus movement for economic and social justice as students demand immigrant workers' rights, living wage jobs and the right to organize, no more sweatshops, and an end to private prisons!