[Linganth] AAAUnite calls for full refunds, with the option to donate money to the locked out workers

[P. Kerim Friedman]

Please distribute widely:

AAAUnite urges the AAA to immediately refund registration fees to any
and all members who request the return of these funds. Members who are
unable (either because of logistics or conscience) to go to Atlanta
should not be penalized because of the AAA EB and staff decision to
move the meeting across the country, during an extremely inconvenient
week of most academic years.

Further, we urge the AAA staff to streamline the process by which
individual members, if they choose, may donate their refund directly to
the UNITE HERE Local 2 Solidarity Fund or the AAA Scholarship Fund.

Many of us called on the AAA to outright break the contract with the
Hilton Corporation (in fact 56% of those in the AAA poll did so). As
members and sections, many of us also pledged to defray the cost of
such a move by making financial contributions. According to a widely
circulated email, AAA EB member William Beeman calculated the per
capita cost of the $1.2 million estimated cost at $150 per member.

The least that the AAA staff can do, barring a direct AAA donation to
the Local 2 Solidarity Fund, is facilitate giving by setting up an
electronic process for individuals to donate their registration fee
directly.

Robert O'Brien and Kerim Friedman
AAAUnite Ad Hoc Committee
http://AAAUnite.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aaaunite/