Taking Our Message to Sexton With Our Community Supporters

On Thursday, May 9, New York political leaders joined a group of enthusiastic GSOC/UAW supporters in confronting John Sexton’s NYU administration about the ongoing, human costs of its refusal to bargain with our union.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, and State Senator Brad Hoylman delivered a petition with signatures of over 250 political, community, faith, and labor leaders calling on NYU to respect our democratic choice on unionization and bargain with us upon certification of majority support for GSOC/UAW.

And with over 1,000 signatures, we delivered our petition demanding that NYU restore the benefits that they cut from graduate employee health care this year-cuts they would not have been able to make unilaterally if our benefits were secured in a collective bargaining agreement.

On the sidewalk outside of Bobst, Quinn, Glick, and Hoylman gave brief speeches expressing deep respect for graduate workers demonstrating majority public support for GSOC/UAW twice in the 2012-13 academic year alone–first with our own 1,250-signature open letter demanding NYU to respect our choice on unionization, and now with our petition for fair and inclusive health care–in the face of Sexton’s years of intransigence.

All three elected officials called on NYU to move forward and acknowledge the clear majority support for GSOC/UAW, a reality at NYU for the last 15 years, and bargain with us. They also assailed NYU for taking advantage of their refusal to bargain with us in making deep cuts to graduate employee health benefits that unfairly target women, graduate employees with families, and international students.

Thanks again to everyone who joined us yesterday! While we sent a strong message, we will have to continue to continue increasing pressure on NYU to do the right thing and stop hiding behind Bush-era labor law to deny our rights!

View videos from our event:

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