October is Working Class Celebration Month

We’re right in the middle of Working Class Celebration Month and really excited about tomorrow’s event, Steel Strings and Breakbeats, at 7:30 p.m. on the 4^th floor of the SAC.

You can check out the artists on the tour at riotfolk.org and broadcastlive.org.

Join us on Tuesday nights in 1221 Humanities at 6 – 8 p.m. for these events:

“Keys to Financial Success in College”

featuring UW Credit Union

Oct. 20

“Finally Got the News”

documentary viewing and discussion

co-sponsored by Student Labor Action Coalition

Oct. 27

“Class and Access to Health”

a discussion on healthcare and how class has an effect on the access to services

we will be showing a short film and discussion to follow

Nov. 3

WCSU is also really excited to offer our first-ever event for student-parents and their families:

WCSU Fall Festival

Join us for pumpkin painting, scarecrow stuffing, scavenger hunts, and other fall activities – breakfast snacks will be available

Saturday, Oct. 24, 9 a.m. -12 p.m., on Library Mall

WCSU is Hiring! Applications due Wednesday @ 5 PM!

Working Class Student Union is Hiring!
Applications due this Wednesday @ 5 PM!

We are hiring for a Communication Secretary and a Finance Secretary.
These positions will begin on July 1, 2009 and will each will be paid $9.19/hour.

Applications available at: http://uwwcsu.org/page_attachments/0000/0005/WCSUapplication.pdf

Communication Secretary Job Description
* Coordinates with the Working Class Student Union Assembly Officers about publicity.
* Coordinates history of past work for institutional memory.
* Maintains the WCSUA publicity materials, including the website, news publications and campus outreach.
* Writes and contacts all media outlets when needed during campaigns.
* Shall work with the WCSUA Officers to assemble the agendas, minutes and other items as needed by the WCSUA.
* Will receive agenda item requests and meet with the Chair to distinguish what will go on the agenda.
* As appropriate, serves as the primary contact person for WCSU to the media, for campus events/committees, and as otherwise requested.
* Required to hold weekly office hours at the WCSU office or other agreed upon and posted location.
* Attends weekly officer meeting(s) to ensure communication and collaboration.
* Prepares all necessary press releases for WCSU campaigns.
* Chairs the Communication Taskforce.
* Attends all Committee meetings as necessary, particularly those of the Activism Committee.
* Coordinates all media contacts, campaigns, and releases.


Finance Secretary Job Description:
* Prepares and presents SSFC Budget Requests, End of Year Reports, and Eligibility Applications to SSFC, with input from all staff.
* Educates staff about financial procedures (so that everyone understands how our budget operates, how we pay for expenses, etc.).
* Works with coordinators to stay within budget while efficiently and effectively using funds while expending all funds responsibly.
* Works with the SSFC Financial Specialist to pay all bills in a timely and efficient manner, through use of blanket orders and specific requisitions.
* Oversees and reviews all WCSU operational policies, documents, and outreach efforts to ensure compliance with SSFC, UW-Madison, Wisconsin, and Federal laws.
* Prepares all eligibility and budget applications, documents, and spreadsheets as required from the funding source.
* Works to solicit in-kind donations from community organizations and unions.
* Is a trained and authorized signer for financial matters.
* Required to hold weekly office hours at the WCSU office or other agreed upon and posted location.
* Attends weekly officer meeting(s) to ensure communication and collaboration.
* Represents WCSU at all required funding meetings and hearings.
* Works with WCSU officers, advisors, committee chairs, and members to prepare the budget and distribute funds appropriately.
* Maintains in house accounting system.
* Gathers statistics necessary for fiscal accountability: calls for referrals, advocacy meetings, attendance numbers of all WCSU events, number of volunteers, etc.
* Manages the payroll system and the bank account at the UW Credit Union.
* Collects, processes, and submits coordinators’ timesheets on a biweekly basis.
* Orders and purchases office supplies as necessary.


To turn in your application, you can:
1) E-mail to wcsu.president@gmail.com
2) Drop off in our mailbox, which is located on the 3rd floor of the Student Activity Center. Get off the elevator, turn left. Note the large wall of mailboxes--our mailbox is the one furthest to the left and on the very bottom and is labeled "Working Class Student Union"
3) Slide the application under our office door. Our office is 3153 of the Student Activity Center. Get off the elevator on the 3rd floor, turn left, walk all the way down the long hallway and our office is the very last office on the left-hand side.

We look forward to receiving your application!

Through a Different Lens

The Sunday morning edition (2/22/2009) of the Wisconsin State Journal features part one of a series it calls "Rebuilding Wisconsin."

It says:

"Some of the state's infrastructure has been virtually ignored since the New Deal or before because we haven't been able, or willing, to spend on repairs. And the billions included for Wisconsin in the stimulus bill won't come close to fixing all the problems with roads, sewers, and other facilities."

Ok, no argument there.

The picture the State Journal so prominently used to illustrate its point about the state's infrastructure, however, needs to be examined through a different lens.

It's not that the WSJ's staff used this picture in a malicious fashion. They didn't. But, when examined through a 'working class' lens, this picture takes on a different meaning. The caption says, "Aging infrastructure in Wisconsin means more frequent breakdowns, such as this valve failure on a water main on Midvale Boulevard in Madison last week. Madison Water Utility worker Bob Kempfer had the cold, wet task of making the repair."

Out of all the pictures that could have been used for this article, WSJ chose this one. Symbolic connections can be drawn between the photograph and the caption ("aging," "breakdowns," "failure," "worker"). Though we know that many will accuse us of being "too sensitive" in our discussion of this photo, we challenge you to see it from our perspective. For many working class students, the first reaction we have to the photograph comes from our personal connection to it--we picture our fathers or uncles in place of Bob Kempfer and suddenly its not a nameless worker on the frontpage of the paper, but rather a very personal attack on our class, our culture, and our family.

--Working Class Student Union Communication Team

Woe is Me in NYC

As I casually gazed over the NYTimes homepage today, this article caught my eye. It is entitled, "You Try to Live on $500K in This Town." It outlines how difficult it will be for Wall Street banking executives to maintain their upscale lifestyles if their firms accepted federal bailout money--because it would mean their maximum salary would equal a mere $500,000. It details how much private school fees cost per year, an annual mortgage payment in the area, the fees for a nanny, taxes, living expenses, personal trainer expenses, the sum for formal gowns for charity functions. Oh, and "frozen hot chocolate" costs $8.50.

I'm sure you get the feel for the article by now.

Perhaps this quote sums up my reaction:

"Few are playing sad cellos over the fate of such folk, especially since the collapse of the institutions they run has yielded untold financial pain."

The article says, "the cold hard math can be cruel."

Yes it can, so let's look at the bigger picture. This is not to say the Times has not written articles, columns and blogs on the dramatic economic downtown. For that bigger picture, however, I give you some other numbers--numbers, that in my opinion, warrant the Times' attention more so than nanny fees and pennies for personal trainers.

Via the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Approximately 598,000 jobs were lost in January alone. Approximately 3.6 million jobs were lost since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. BLS estimates the current unemployment rate at 7.6%.

Think about what that means. How that affects those workers without jobs, those workers' families. Not about an $8 frozen hot chocolate.

--Cassie, WCSU's Research & Communication Assistant

On 'Working Class' and the 2008 Election

Throughout the election, and as the economy veered into deep recession, citizens undoubtedly noticed each candidate's rhetoric turned to what's best for the "working class" and "working families." While these words certainly overlapped with "middle class" in much of the rhetoric, it's worth thinking about how the candidates pitched to the working class and also how the media covered their rhetoric about it.

For example, a Washington Post article from July 1, 2008, gave the transcript to an Obama ad, in which Howard Kurtz noted:

"The key image here is the last one: Barack Obama throwing his arm around
one of several older female workers in hairnets and aprons. The picture conveys
the message that the senator from Illinois cares about working-class folks and,
in particular, women over 50 -- a demographic he had little success with in the
primaries.The commercial, like an earlier biographical ad, is designed to
neutralize perceptions of Obama as an Ivy League elitist by playing up his
background as a Chicago community organizer. Obama did, however, work as a New
York financial consultant before that, and by his own admission he had little
success helping Chicago neighborhoods cope with plant closings."

Or, consider how the media talks about "working class folks." Here is Chris Matthews as he characterizes the working class:

"What's the Republican route to the regular Joe or Jane—the person who didn't go
to college for four years, may have ended up going to community college, maybe a
craftsperson, who's not elitist by any definition. What's the Republican
trick for getting the non-country club vote?"

Or, take this Reuters article from June 12, 2008. Here, working class is juxtaposed with trade policy. Is there a fundamental misunderstanding and/or stereotyping at work here? Does it matter?

--Working Class Student Union's Communication Team