GRAD EMPLOYEES FROM ACROSS CAMPUS DEMAND FAIR CONTRACT IN BARGAINING

GRADUATE EMPLOYEES FROM 20+ DEPARTMENTS DEMAND FAIR CONTRACT AT UNION BARGAINING SESSION

On Friday, May 2nd, a delegation of graduate employees from over 20 departments from across NYU came to our bargaining session to deliver the over 1,000 signatures on our Open Letter for a Fair Contract Now to the Administration bargaining committee.

Before formally presenting the 1,000 signatures, GSOC/UAW members Anna Eva Hallin (Communicative Sciences & Disorders) and Hadi Gharabaghi (Cinema Studies) and bargaining committee members Aryeh Katz (Polytechnic Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Natasha Raheja (Anthropology) urged the Administration’s bargaining committee to agree to a fair contract this semester, eloquently explaining how the lack of a fair contract has negatively impacted their lives, those of their colleagues, those of their families, and ultimately, the University itself.

Anna spoke as a PhD student and teacher in the Steinhardt School, where students pay thousands of dollars more in fees and health care premiums per semester than most other graduate students at NYU. Hadi explained how as a parent and graduate employee, he juggles teaching, writing a dissertation and family responsibility on very slim financial resources. Aryeh described how he, as a Graduate Assistant at Poly, runs an entire lab, a job that requires dramatically more professional expertise than his $11 hourly wage reflects. Natasha pointed out that NYU’s policies on health care and family benefits disproportionately hurt women, international students and graduate employees with families, and ultimately serve to exclude many altogether from the university community.

The Union bargaining committee presented our proposal on economics–i.e. increases in pay and benefits–to NYU’s representatives over a month ago and the university has yet to present a comprehensive counter-proposal. As the semester winds up, it’s time for NYU to listen to the 1,000+ union members who are calling for a fair contract now, and agree to fair wages, affordable health care, and expanded family benefits.

Grad Employee Unionization — It’s a Movement!
2200 Teaaching and Research Assistants at the University of Connecticut Win Union Recognition
Congratulations to the 2,200 teaching and research assistants of GEU-UAW at the University of Connecticut who recently won union recognition through a card check neutrality agreement in an impressively quick two month campaign, They are the first graduate employees in the State of Connecticut to unionize! They just elected their six-person bargaining committee and will begin bargaining their own contract shortly. To read more about the campaign, click here.

Graduate employees at Yale have also presented a petition to their administration calling upon the university to agree upon a fair process for grads to decide about unionization. Click here for an article about their campaign.