A “Bargaining for the Common Good” teach-in and speak-out hosted by the Africana Studies Department on Monday, April 29 sought to demonstrate how unions across the country—not just faculty or teacher unions, but all worker unions—can utilize their bargaining power to fight for broader community changes. The event was the last session of the Sankofa series, which was funded by the Faculty Staff Union Anti-Racism Grant.  

In addition to his comments on union bargaining, Van Der Meer called for UMass Boston to educate its students about “all the histories of wealth accumulation among the economic elites, racism, white supremacy, endless war, islamophobia, anti-Asian violence, queer and trans violence, attacks on women’s reproductive rights, anti-immigrant violence and an ongoing white settler colonial violence against native peoples everywhere and on every continent.” In his eyes, these struggles are connected to the common struggle of exploited workers across the globe. 

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