TO THE EDITOR:
We are writing to express our disagreement with the DTH editorial (“Break busts legitimate,” Aug. 31) that stated, “the break policy for housekeepers is reasonable and humane.”
We are even more disturbed that University officials have failed to condemn a policy that treats housekeepers like children, demanding that they ask permission from supervisors to sit down when needed.
Write-ups by supervisors, suspensions without pay, and disciplinary action including termination — for sitting down to rest outside of their legal breaks of 15 minutes twice a day and one hour for lunch — are a shameful legacy of the Jim Crow South.
The UNC-Chapel Hill chapter of the American Association of University Professors strongly opposes the UNC break policy as inhumane and unreasonably punitive of the least privileged of UNC workers.
We call on the most privileged of UNC workers — university administrator — to take immediate action to end this policy.
Professor Mark Driscoll
AAUP President
Professor Altha Cravey
AAUP Vice-President
