TO THE EDITOR:
The editorial regarding the no-sitting policy (“Break busts legitimate,” Aug. 31) is pathetic in the extreme. The issue is our housekeepers — who spend their time performing intense manual labor just so we can live comfortably — sometimes, in between bouts of wiping up our feces, need to rest momentarily. Is that really so hard to understand?
Apparently it is, for the editorial board anyway, which supports the suspension or firing of anyone caught sitting down outside of two short, designated break and lunch periods.
While the board states that employees receive both a “verbal warning for the first infraction” and “a written warning for the second infraction,” this is flatly contradicted by Executive Director for Facilities Services Van Dobson. In the DTH’s first article (“Sit-down policy discussed, Aug. 26), Dobson confirms workers’ complaints that no warnings were given.
The DTH’s news coverage of this issue has also presented a staggeringly biased account. In the Aug. 31st article “Righting the ship,” Ryan Barber spends his time dutifully writing down everything facilities services bosses ask of him, with the highlight of the article being a passage comparing UNC housekeepers to ungrateful Iraqis.
After this incredibly offensive remark, Barber goes on to paraphrase Assistant Housekeeping Director Tonya Sell’s assertion that anyone against the no-sitting policy is in favor of “housekeepers yelling at students” and coming to work in “unacceptable dress.” Talk about a non-sequitur.
This is about respect. The people who spend all day making our lives better shouldn’t be treated like children.
Jim Gulledge
Junior
Philosophy, Political Science
