By Doug Cunningham

Students are working with labor on campuses nationwide this week on joint corporate campaigns. Silky Shah, an organizer with Not With Our Money, says it pays for labor to forge alliances with university students.

[Silky Shah ]: “The investment is really important from the labor community. A good example is the Taco Bell campaign and some of the stuff that’s going on with living wage right now. I think students play a major role in just getting attention to these issues.”

Shah says a campaign is underway against Farallon, a hedge fund that invests in private prison operator Corrections Corporation of America. Carl Lipscombe, Coordinator of the Student Labor Action Project, says a campaign is also underway against Coca-Cola for alleged human rights abuses. Lipscombe says he hopes these actions reach students who are unaware of unions and labor issues.

[Carl Lipscombe] : “One of the main things we want to do is educate the students that aren’t necessarily involved, students that don’t know what unions are or what the functions of unions are, that don’t know what the workers on their campuses are – what the janitors that are cleaning their rooms – what their plight is. We hope to educate them on workers rights issues and also teach them what they can do to support workers.”