Five Tufts University students have been on hunger strike for nearly 48 hours and plan to continue indefinitely until the Tufts administration agrees to stop plans to cut 17% of its janitorial workforce.  Student supporters have also set up an occupation of tents outside the main administrative building on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Dozens of students stayed the past two nights and are planning to remain there until the administration agrees to the janitors’ demands. But as of this morning, the Tufts administration had not issued any response to students or janitors aside from enclosing the tent occupation with fences.

At a kickoff event for the action held Sunday afternoon, members of the janitorial workforce and their families were present in support of the students’ action.  “The cuts will affect many workers … many will lose their work, and many of us will receive a heavy load of work,” said Adelaida Colon, a custodial worker on Tufts campus.  “I have seniority at this job because I have spent many years here. These cuts would not lead me to leave Tufts or lose my job. But, my workload would increase because the work of those 35 people would be placed on those that remain … We feel discriminated against by the administration of Tufts and by DTZ.”

Given these concerns, for the past several months, janitors, the students of Tufts Labor Coalition, faculty, and community representatives have been united in a campaign against these cuts. Last month, the Somerville and Medford City Councils passed a resolution urging Tufts to discontinue plans for the cuts. Tufts Labor Coalition has organized increasingly large-scale actions in opposition to the plan put forward by the Tufts administration. Janitors have held weekly rallies on Tufts campus. Nonetheless, Tufts plans to move forward and fire 1 in 6 janitors in early June.

“Our decision to hunger strike and occupy space on campus is in solidarity with the janitors’ calls for no cuts. This culmination comes from a long history of Tufts treating workers poorly,” said first-year student Nicole Joseph, an organizer with Tufts Labor Coalition. “We have decided to pursue this drastic action to make Tufts administrators’ priorities align with the rest of the Tufts community, given that all previous efforts from workers and students have been silenced and ignored.”

Students plan to continue to strike and occupy with the support of the janitors and the larger community until the administration agrees to discontinue plans for cuts before contract renegotiations in spring of 2016.

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