Student protesters at SIUE just found out that the protest they just supported means less money in their pockets.
Milton Kidd felt he was supporting his co-workers when he carried signs a few weeks ago in support of a better contract for the 60 or so civil service cafeteria workers at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
But Kidd, a junior, felt he had been misled when he found out last week that his summer work hours were being cut to about six hours a week from 20, because of the new contract agreement.
“We thought they were just looking for a pay raise,” said Kidd, noting that union representatives had sought student support.
Students say they weren’t told that the union wanted to decrease student hours during academic breaks and boost civil service worker hours.