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In late August a few of us travelled to California to a conference of students at University of California campuses and folks from AFSCME union working for change across the entire UC system. A living wage victory in the UC system would be a massive victory, as campus living wage campaigns have been rarer among public universities.

Last week we had our first two campus visits, one to the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, and another to Washington College in Chestertown, MD. Among the highlights:

» At Mary Washington, where a sit-in by students last semester won acommittee with administrators to talk about living wages, we got to hear the story of an amazing woman working two jobs in addition to her job at UMW but still could not afford decent housing or healthcare.

» At Washington College we learned that WC is the largest employer in its country, and the press and community are finally starting to take notice of poverty wages being paid to many employees there.

Early this morning a bunch of us will head towards St. Louis for the annual conference of Jobs with Justice and the Student Labor Action Project. LWAC will be helping to facilitate a few of the workshops at the conference, and we'll be strategizing with "SLACtivists" from around the country about campus living wage campaigns this year. From St. Louis the tour continues into the midwest!

Coming soon: Calendar of stops for the LWAC tour, and updated information about workshops and LWAC's 2-day training for campus living wage groups.

(Photos from top: On the beach during the UC conference in August; LWAC facilitators with students from WC; LWAC speaking at UC conference)