When I was in college, I used to make people laugh when I said I wanted to “slap corporate greed!” What I mean was that I wanted to take part in Student Labor Action Week. Having attended a pretty conservative school, this kind of activity was never easy to do—and was definitely never very popular—which, although sometimes more fun, often simply made me feel more nervous and puke-possible than I normally did as a “lone liberal” on campus.
The cool think about the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP! Get it? “Slap” corporate greed? Yeah… nevermind.) is that it hosts events all across the country on campuses that are likely to be near you. So you can always turn to them to get help in hosting an event, taking action, or even simply attending one of their events.
According to the SLAP website, there are already hundreds of events taking place right now. You can browse through them here to find out if there is one near you. (Big surprise—none are currently scheduled in my home state.)
But if there’s not an event near you and you still want to take action, here are a few ideas you can try:
- Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Doesn’t that always sound funny—like, I’m writing the editor, so what, what’s she or he going to do about it? But it’s actually important to do because thousands of people read the letters that the editor prints—hence, if you write a letter about economic justice and it’s published, you can be heard by all of those people in your community. For talking points and tips, click here.
- Boycott places that fail to practice fair labor standards. You can simply refrain from spending your money at such places, or you could go as far as to organize a boycott. Right now, Dollar Tree employees in my city are picketing their stores because of a labor dispute; you can simply vow never to cross a picket line during such disputes.
- Call in to your favorite radio station and tell them about Student Labor Action Week. Discuss a labor issue in your own community, or talk about a nationwide problem, such as corporations being given rights as if they’re citizens, wage gaps, or minimum wages, etc.
- Donate your social network status at Twitter or Facebook for the week to reflect your labor values. Include quotes by heroes whom you admire, statistics about workers, or any facts or action items you’d like people to know about.
