25 Arrested at USC Labor Protest : Dispute: Activists target university for refusing to give job security to workers. School officials say they need flexibility.

Protesting the University of Southern California’s refusal to guarantee job security for workers, 25 demonstrators, including two clergy members, were arrested Tuesday for blocking a campus intersection to conduct a prayer service, police said.

The arrests followed a protest rally by about 500 workers and 20 religious leaders of different denominations in support of USC food service and housing workers. The workers, represented by Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, have been deadlocked in a bitter four-year dispute with the administration over a new union contract.

After the rally, 25 protesters joined hands in a circle, sat in the middle of the intersection at Hoover and 32nd streets and bowed their heads. Police officers on horseback and wearing riot helmets surrounded the group and arrested them without incident. Clergy members and workers watching from the sidewalk cheered and sang spirituals as the protesters were taken into custody.

The Rev. Altagracia Perez of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in South-Central and the Rev. Sylvester Warsaw of First New Christian Church in Los Angeles were the two clergy members arrested. The others included USC workers, union advocates and community members.

At the protest, Warsaw said clergy had gathered in solidarity with the workers. Like many of the other religious leaders, Warsaw said he became moved by the workers’ situation when he learned that a member of his congregation worked at USC.

“The issue becomes spiritual because you have to deal with frustration and hopelessness,” he said. “We’re hoping this will prick their conscience, and they will realize these are people, not machines.”

The USC labor dispute stems from the union’s demand that the university provide a written guarantee in the new contract that it will not hire outside contractors for jobs now handled by the 360 union employees.

Philip J. Chiaramonte, USC’s associate vice president for auxiliary services, said the university has no plans to subcontract union jobs.

But USC cannot agree to a demand that strips it of flexibility to meet unanticipated changes, he said. “We want a contract that is fair and equitable,” he said. “But we have to stay flexible enough to provide all university services, no matter what the future holds.”

Chiaramonte said that although workers have no contract, the university has continued to provide full benefits and given them wage increases totaling $1 million.

“It’s important that clergy get both sides of the story, and I’m not sure that’s happened,” he said.

Several clergy at the protest, such as Perez, said labor conflict continues even as USC receives accolades from Time magazine and Princeton Review as college of the year for its community service programs.

“This should be the thing that tarnished their reputation,” Perez said. “A contract can be just or unjust, and not guaranteeing job security is unjust.”

For the past year, union advocates have used protests and fasts to press their demands. In May, Maria Elena Durazo, president of Local 11, fasted for 11 days to call attention to the dispute.

Soon, several politicians, labor leaders and celebrities, including Martin Sheen, began a rolling hunger fast where each person took turns fasting for short periods to show their support.

More than 120 religious leaders from across the nation, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, signed a “David & Goliath” statement calling on USC President Steven Sample to abandon all efforts to hire outside contractors and seek a resolution with the union. Before Tuesday’s protest, clergy delivered the statement to Sample’s office.

“We can write a new ending to David and Goliath in which no one is crushed and in which Goliath realizes that power must not be used to oppress others, but to protect those with less,” the statement reads.

The rally and statement come at a time when Southern California clergy increasingly are becoming more vocal in labor disputes and more visible in their support of workers. Several USC workers say the religious support has re-energized their fight for job security.

“To have the religious people here inspires us. We are gathering strength little by little,” said Alex Rivera, a food service worker who has been with USC for 32 years. “It’s a simple thing to ask for. Job security.”