Question

HELP ! :'(

i need help writing a letter to the president ! about why Cesar Chavez should have a holiday, why is he important to American history ?

why civic and political participation is important?
how the person influenced change?
what issues or events motivated the person to action?
why the person deserves a national holiday?
how society is different because of the person's work?
how you and others living today benefit from his or her efforts?

Answer 1

Research Cesar Chavez. A quick Google search can answer all these questions.

This site should get you started : http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez.html

Answer 2

Dear President of Wesleyan University Michael Roth,

The purpose of this letter is to notify you about what is currently happening to us, the custodians of Wesleyan University. Last year, your administration brought a new cleaning company to Wesleyan: Sun Services. Sun Services was contracted by Wesleyan University after representatives from this company presented Joyce Topshe, Associate Vice President for Facilities, with a sustainable fiscal plan and an agreement that would insure the ethical and fair treatment of the custodial staff as well as the enforcement of our Union’s contract policies. We understand that, when the contract between Wesleyan University and Sun Services was made, an agreement was reached that if the new company broke any of the Union contract policies, the contract with the company would be broken immediately.

We the custodians that work at your facility ask that Sun Services be removed from campus on the premises that it has allowed not only for the breach of the contract but also for the harassment, mistreatment, and exploitation of us the custodians. Some company policies demand that custodians be in their assigned work place 5 minutes after punching into the clock card machine. This is preposterous given that many of us work on parts of the campus that are far away from the clock card machine. If we arrive late, our supervisors immediately give us a warning even though they are aware of the fact that we have to walk long distances from the clock card machine to our assigned posts. Another policy, enforced during the summer—when it can get as hot as 100 degrees Fahrenheit—demands that we custodians work without stop in enclosed spaces with little ventilation. If you are not aware, some dorms like Clark Hall and High Rise have poor ventilation. Fresh air does not enter these buildings, and these working conditions have caused some of us to suffer from suffocation and exhaustion.

The current manager of Sun Services at Wesleyan is Luis Mariano Pelaez, and the two current supervisors are Carlos Alzate and Blanca Avila. These three people have harassed us constantly. They have also used derogatory language against us. During Reunion and Commencement week, we discovered that our positions had been reposted with three times the amount of work per custodian; for instance one position required one custodian to be in charge of cleaning the entire Butterfield Colleges. These workloads are unreasonable. Another position required one person to clean all of West College and Nicolson. We are only given 8 hours to complete our workloads. If we do not finish on time, we are given a warning.

These new workloads put additional strain on our bodies. Some of us have already suffered lesions and joint pain due to the excessive manual labor we do. Others have developed respiratory problems because the work we perform in enclosed spaces requires us to use cleaning chemicals, many of which we end up breathing due to the lack of ventilation.

Wesleyan University, Sun Services, and the Union directors have stated that they care about our safety. Yet the fact that our voices have been ignored shows the contrary. We have been forced to contact the authorities of the state of Connecticut in order to protect and assert our rights as custodial workers. We have contacted various news outlets from Hartford and the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities of Connecticut. The CHRO came to Wesleyan University to speak with Joyce Topshe in order to put a stop to the harassment toward us custodians, but so far these abuses continue.

We ask that you get rid of Sun Services and open the contract to another cleaning company that will be beneficial rather than detrimental to us. We have cleaned Wesleyan University for a long time; some of us have been cleaning Wesleyan for over 20 years. We feel welcomed by the students, many of whom see us as members of their own families. Some have been supporting us during these hard times.

But do not mistake our roles as custodians for subservience, and do not mistake our lack of education for stupidity. We are willing to fight back against those who oppress us. We do not want this situation to escalate to any undesired levels. All we are asking is that we are treated as human beings and that our rights be not violated. We would like to know if the Associate Vice President for Facilities, Joyce Topshe, has made you aware of our working conditions. Students from the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC), and the CHRO have notified Joyce Topshe in the past about our deplorable working conditions. Due to the lack of effort on the part of your administration to listen to us or help us, we have been led to assume that this information has not reached you. Anyway, we thank you for reading this letter and hope to hear from you soon.