Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) in Boston (USA) placed two workers on indefinite administrative leave on 5 May for attending a student-organised demonstration that demanded divestment from weapons and an end to the genocidal onslaught against people in Gaza. The two workers are members of the Association of Professional Administrators (APA), a Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) union affiliate.
One of the workers, Peggy Wang, is a member of the Independent Socialist Group – the Socialist Party’s sister party in the US. She was formerly targeted by the MassArt administration for fighting against cuts at the college. Peggy is an active MTA trade unionist and ran in recent union elections.
We demand that the MassArt administration immediately take the workers off administrative leave, allow them to return to work, and take no disciplinary action against them or MassArt students over their exercising of their rights to free speech, assembly and protest.
Visit ‘APPEAL | Solidarity with MassArt Workers and Students in USA’ at socialistworld.net for details on how to show solidarity. Sign and share the petition, get your trade union branch or campaign organisation to write a statement of support, and use the model protest letter to write to MassArt administration.
