Greg Halpern grew up in Buffalo, New York, and graduated from Harvard in 1999. He then spent three years interviewing and photographing cooks, custodians and other service workers at the University while working for the Harvard Living Wage Campaign. In April 2001 there was a sit-in at Harvard on behalf of the blue-collar workers. The institution that didn't pay "living wages" - while collecting $5 million a day in interest on its endowment - had actually lowered the workers' pay in the months leading up to the confrontation. The personal accounts from the employees about their lives and work are illuminating reminders of the wide disparity of circumstances that exist in this land of plenty.
Greg Halpern grew up in Buffalo, New York, and graduated from Harvard in 1999. He then spent three years interviewing and photographing cooks, custodians and other service workers at the University while working for the Harvard Living Wage Campaign. In April 2001 there was a sit-in at Harvard on behalf of the blue-collar workers. The institution that didn't pay "living wages" - while collecting $5 million a day in interest on its endowment - had actually lowered the workers' pay in the months leading up to the confrontation. The personal accounts from the employees about their lives and work are illuminating reminders of the wide disparity of circumstances that exist in this land of plenty.