Follow Up to CORE Crew on Strike
Emily Cobb | November 29, 2023
The Community Oriented Regeneration Efforts (CORE) Crew announced they were going on strike on Nov. 20, 2023. When students walked around campus that morning they were sure to see messages such as “CORE on Strike” and posters with a link to their memorandum.
CORE Crew originally went on strike due to not having a working supervisor, a lack of communication and support and the issue of trash pickup.
In response, Dave Ellum, the dean and director of the center for working lands, and Paul Bobbitt, the associate dean of work, have had two meetings with CORE Crew leaders. The first meeting was Tuesday the 21, and the second was Tuesday the 28.
“I understood some of their frustration,” Ellum said. “They were without a crew boss for a while, that was unavoidable. Ivy Beach, the crew boss, had a tragic family incident. And so while they were out of a crew boss, it wasn't because of a lack of anything on our part. They [CORE Crew] were doing a lot of work down there because they're so passionate about their work. So they were filling in a lot of the gaps.”
Bobbitt also commented on the situation at the Student Government Association (SGA) on Nov. 28.
“Our primary vehicle for communication is through the supervisor, so I think this is one of the unique situations where without the supervisor, I made the false assumption that the supervisor was in better communication with the crew,” Bobbitt said. “Dave [Ellum] and I overlap some Center for Working Land responsibilities. I also assumed that Dave [Ellum] was having more communication with the crew. So it was really just a false assumption on my behalf. The lesson I learned in that situation was to not make those assumptions.”
Through the meetings, some resolutions were made.
“We've locked in a start date, or at least a no further than this start date for the supervisor to come back,” Ellum said. “As far as the support goes, Paul Bobbitt is going to be down there every day working out of that office until the supervisor comes back so they have more support. While we haven't completely figured out the PEG three credit they're gonna get, because each student's going to get [something] a little bit different, the students that have been doing leadership will be getting PEG three credit for that work. They want to see action, they've seen some action. I think we're in a good place with the strike right now.”
Ellum also highlighted the importance of CORE Crew on campus both for the school and its sustainability measures.
“CORE has been a huge part of sustainability efforts in the college for a long time,” Ellum said. “Sustainability is really triple bottom line. It's environmental, economic and social. One of the things that I've been really excited about with CORE over the last couple of years is that CORE has really leaned into the education piece of sustainability on campus. I really like to see CORE continue being leaders in educating the campus on what sustainability is. Not just, you know, environmental sustainability, social sustainability is also really important, as is economic.”
To the knowledge of Bobbitt and Ellum, CORE Crew is the first crew ever to go on strike, setting a precedent of sorts.
“I think it's really important to get out there that the CORE Crew did this respectfully,” Ellum said. “They had legitimate concerns, and they did this respectfully. Now, if a crew was to go on strike and damage property, or do something like that, obviously, there could be ramifications. But in this instance, it was done respectfully. They had some valid concerns, and they professionally dealt with us on it. So, you know, there's absolutely no bad faith on my part in any of this with them. In fact, the truth of the matter is, students are supposed to advocate.”
When contacted by The Echo, CORE sent a crew-wide statement:
“We have received an outpouring of support from other crews, faculty and staff. We are an essential crew both to the campus as a whole and in fulfilling our sustainability goals.
This strike comes from a place of love and care for the crew and the school. We want to create a better and more supported work experience for all student workers at Wilson. With the support we have seen, we think this is possible. Our solidarity meeting had almost fifty students in attendance with only a few hours notice. It is clear – students want more communication, collaboration, and support. Workers deserve more from the school they work for.”
“We also want to clarify that these are not the first times we have attempted to fulfill our demands. We have been in contact with administration since our supervisor left asking for the same things we are asking for here. We were especially asking for communication in the form of a hard return date for our supervisor and Paul Bobbitt or Dave Ellum at crew meetings.”
After two meetings with Bobbitt and Ellum
We are picking up compost
We are scheduling a meeting with President Damian J. Fernandez, Bobbitt and Ellum
Ivy Beach is coming back in January, she has been getting paid this whole time
We have been receiving more communication, Bobbitt has been working out of the CORE headquarters
We have been receiving more support with meetings and plans to update student leadership role descriptions. We will be included in working with Ellum to create the sustainability goals to be implemented next semester
No compensation yet but it will be in the form of PEG 3
Harpers had to clean out the nasty dumpsters the day after Thanksgiving, not necessarily related but is unfortunate for them
The school is searching for a new dumpster vendor and, hopefully, will have them by the spring semester
If promises are made and not kept we will restart the strike and continue to escalate.”
In terms of how to communicate with the Work Program Office to avoid issues from arising, Bobbitt stressed how he uses the evaluation feedback students fill out at the end of semesters, saying that it was the most critical tool to monitor success in the work program. You can also reach the WPO and Bobbitt through email.