Unions are playing a central role in organizing buses to the march. At a February 21 planning meeting of the Jobs with Justice Task Force in Miami, it was reported that the International Longshoremen's Association as well as the AFL-CIO are sending three buses to Tallahassee. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has reserved eight buses, one of which is being set aside for youth. Other unions sending buses from south Florida include the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, Teamsters Local 769, and the Service Employees International Union.

Reporting for the youth committee, Stanley Jean said that students will be attending from Florida International University, Miami-Dade Community College, and other schools. Twelve students from the Haitian Society at St. Thomas University are working out how they can attend.

Protests erupted across the state in the past weeks in reaction to Florida governor John Ellis Bush's executive order called One Florida, which prohibits race or gender from being a consideration in government hiring and contracting, or in admission to state universities. At three public hearings in the state, thousands turned out to voice their opposition to the plan. Rallies have also been held in cities and on campuses.

On February 17 the Florida state university system's board of regents voted unanimously to eliminate race and gender as considerations for admission of college applicants at the 10 public universities in the state. In an effort to counter charges that ending affirmative action will result in fewer Blacks and women going to state schools, Bush's One Florida plan makes a promise that the top 20 percent of seniors in each high school who fulfill course load and other requirements--the so called "Talented 20"--can gain entrance to the state's universities.

The day before the board of regents meeting, Bush retreated from including all state government agencies in the plan to erase affirmative actions measures in contracting. Fifteen agencies will scrap the use of race and gender considerations instead of all of them.

Bush claims that these agencies will report directly to him and that under his guidance greater diversity in state contracts will be achieved.

Supporters of affirmative action are turning out in other cities in the South. More than 200 students rallied in Athens, Georgia, on February 16 at the Tate student center at the University of Georgia. The university's weak affirmative action program is under attack from a lawsuit by former applicants. They claim they were unconstitutionally denied admission, charging they would have been accepted if they were Black. Only 6 percent of this year's freshman class of 4,200 is African-American.  
 
 
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