10/1 Latest Bargaining Update
Today NYU’s bargaining committee met with the GSOC bargaining committee and 43 members from 18 different departments! The atmosphere at our open bargaining session was electric! Thank you to everyone who came today and we hope more of you will come to the next session.
Every member introduced themselves.
Rachel Nolan said,
I’m here because a Poly student worker told me, in tears, that she’s making $10/hour.
Michael Gould-Wartofsky said,
I’m here because we can’t eat prestige.
Pam Nogales said,
I’m here because I believe in a strong wage for all working graduate students, especially women with children.
We put forward our counter-proposal on economic issues. If you missed the presentation of our proposal, you can read the details of our current bargaining positions here.
We also presented testimonials from 5 members.
Yessenia Selvia spoke about the need for healthcare for her triplets.She said,
“I’m here because of my merits as an intellectual. I don’t think I should drop out because I don’t have healthcare coverage.”
Brian Ray spoke about the need for dental insurance. He said,
“My tooth isn’t the only thing breaking around Washington Square and Poly these days. We are at a breaking point more broadly. NYU’s corporate platitudes have to be met with action.”
Erez Maggor spoke about the decision to come to NYU rather than accept far superior childcare subsidies elsewhere. He said
“The University of Michigan runs three affordable ‘early childhood education centers’ on campus, but also offers a generous child care subsidy of $2,250 a term for the first child, $3,300 for two children and $4,350 for three or more children. This is again, per term … NYU provides us with $200 subsidy per semester. That covers just less than three full days of daycare.”
Jessica Feldman spoke about the need for tuition remission for student workers teaching lucrative undergrad classes. She said,
“Undergraduate tuition is $1,204/unit. Students are paying $4800 per class. That’s $120,000 for one class that I teach. I’m “making” 1/23 of that. But my take home pay 1,000 for a year… Youneed to understand we can’t live on this.”
Gisselle Cunningham spoke about the struggles of Poly students and the need for a living wage.
She said,
“I have a fellow classmate who is living on the benches of NYU. I look up to him because he is an extraordinary person, because he’s proud to say he’s an NYU student, but he’s living on a bench and making straight A’s”
One member of the NYU bargaining committee said we were articulate and admirable. And we were. We were spectacular!
It is imperative that we escalate the pressure on the university this semester.
Get involved with organizing (email Patrick Gallagher <gsocuaw@gmail.com>), come to another bargaining session (email Shelly Ronen <shelly.ronen@gmail.com> to receive an update), and attend our biweekly member meetings (next one is Wednesday 10/8 at 3pm in Silver Center Graduate lounge 120).