A thank you to “Unionizing the Ivory Tower”

Al Davidoff came to Cornell University as a student. He also became a member of a maintenance crew cleaning dormitory rooms and a colleague of those he worked with. He then became an advocate for coordinated action to create a union to improve the lives of those who do not make the university famous, but those who make it work.

Al’s book “Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers’ Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage,” was just published by Cornell University Press. It is a memoir, and it is a detailed history of the creation of the union, and a look at life in Ithaca and the region.  

This is a powerful book about Al’s growth—and willingness to spend two years cleaning student bathrooms, to Al’s using his life experience, his time as a student in Industrial Labor Relations, and then, with a degree in hand, continuing as a maintenance worker at the university where he once was a student. 

It is also the story of people who were proud to work for the university but whose salaries left them vulnerable, and in need, in many cases, of public assistance, to put food on the table and homes heated.  

The union story is compelling, involving long hours identifying persons who might see the value of organizing, then lining up others, of learning to work together, creating empathy for others, then gaining recognition from Cornell University to act as a separate bargaining unit, to then accepting and being accepted by UAW, whose support came with much positive help and some difficult moments with outside organizers who did not understand the culture within which Union 2300 functioned. 

The struggle involved some people unused to speaking out or taking leadership roles, stepping up and claiming their rights against a powerful institution. Read the story of Frankie. Of Emily Apgar, of Pamela Mackessy, of Cathy Valentino. Come to understand the racism, sexism, bigotry, and arrogance of overseers who controlled hiring and work life, who could send one “down the hill”—that is terminating employment for scant or personal or for no reason at all. 

It is also the story of hard-won success, of aiding others, and of seeing that collaboration with others is the way for growth, both for the institution and for change.  

“Unionizing the Ivory Tower,” is a strong story, and an important one. 

This book is more than the story of David and Goliath, the little guy pitting himself against a huge and powerful entity that not only controlled working conditions but also set a standard for other nearby entities. Working for Cornell involved benefits for employees, pride in their place of work, for it was employment for a significant institution with a world-wide national reputation for excellence. A place where inquiry, honesty, and integrity were key words that the university valued and upon which its reputation stands. 

This book is a revelation. “Unionizing the Ivory Tower,” is about a great deal more than creating a bargaining unit that can look squarely at working conditions, needs, inequalities, about creating a better working environment, gaining increase in pay and benefits, neutralizing the power of bigoted or arrogant supervisors, and spreading the word that although workers are separated into different units, by working together they could improve their lives—even when the employer is rich, powerful, eminent, and world famous. 

Al Davidoff’s book is also about the unseen. About the unrecognized. About those overlooked as not the people who make the university famous but who make it work. These are the people who set-up and clean-up, who run the presses and deliver mail. They are the people who are walking by or around. 

There are many others in this book who are unseen and spend much of their lives that way: think of the workers in the kitchen who daily wash and cut vegetables, the young man who pushes the broom that we negotiate around as he cleans the messes others leave behind. Think of the housekeeping staff who daily, but especially on Monday mornings, clean the bathrooms in the dorms where missing the urinal is the least of the offenses that need to be dealt with. Think of the people who maintain the pipes in the heating system, the workers who keep the buses rolling, the people who supply buildings whose trucks get in our way, the shelf clerks who don’t move quickly enough. Think of those who maintain the barns, set up the chairs, move items from one building to the next. And these are just some of the workers to be found at the university. 

There are many other unseen people in our world. This book is about seeing them, allowing them the dignity of being human beings, of having a voice, of being considered with empathy, and who deserve a living wage from the major employer in the community. No one with full time employment should have to turn to food stamps, or to live in a poorly heated house, or to worry about the cost of illness. Our country is better than that, and those who employ workers should care about all employees. 

My thanks to Al Davidoff for bringing this piece of local history to our attention.

Signed,

Carol Kammen