Amanda Ream
Revson Fellow 2008-2009
Coordinator of Service Workers Rising
UNITE HERE
Amanda Ream is the Coordinator of Political and Community Organizing for UNITE HERE, the North American hospitality workers’ union. She leads Service Workers Rising, a joint effort of SEIU and UNITE HERE to bring justice and dignity to the lives of thousands of workers who provide subcontracted services in cafes at universities and businesses, laundries and elsewhere. She has worked as a union organizer, strategic campaigner, strike captain, interfaith coordinator and at just about every other job in the labor movement. She was the NYC organizer for the 2003 Immigrant Workers’ Freedom Ride. She holds a BA from NYU.
Courses, camaraderie, community–the fellowship provided all three in an engaging fashion. I thought as a mid-career professional I would feel out of synch with the students but their perspectives challenged me and the professors, the books I would have never read on my own and the guest speakers refreshed and enlivened my thinking and work practices. The fellowship felt like a sabbatical–only it took place on-campus.
