Map

Physical Plant

On March 27, 1980 a group of housekeepers presented the Physical Plant Director, Claude Swecker, with a list of demands that included the removal of two supervisors widely known to sexually harass female employees, the ability to use vacation time at any time during the year, the elimination of “warning letters” for employees who were late to work because of inclement weather, and the establishment of regular meetings for all housekeepers. Swecker and others in the Housekeeping Department did not meet their demands, but out of this action, in 1983, an early version of the Housekeepers Association formed.

Gene Alston Leading Confrontation, Photograph in the Chatham County Herald, 23 April 1980, in the John Kenyon Chapman Papers #5441, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Organization: UNC Housekeepers Association

Space Use: Facilities

Spatial Organizing Approach: Contestation

Date Created: 1968

Campus Space: Cheek-Clark Building

Citation: Housekeepers Confrontation of Plant Manager Photograph in the John Kenyon Chapman Papers #5441, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.