Bargaining Update and Upcoming Actions

Important upcoming GSOC events:

– Informational Picket and Letter Delivery to NYU Administration Friday, Nov 14th, 12pm, Bobst Library Atrium
– Member Meeting and Sign-making    Wed, Nov 19th, 3-5pm, Silver Graduate Lounge, 1st Floor
– Rally at Bobst Library Friday, November 21st 12pm . RSVP on Facebook here. 

Yesterday the bargaining committee met once again with representatives from the University Administration. We were joined by a crowd of over fifty of our members as well as by faculty and undergraduate allies who understand that the working conditions of graduate workers affect the whole academic community. Faculty spoke to their reliance on graduate student workers to teach classes that the university could otherwise not offer, and undergraduates spoke to the positive impact that graduate student TAs play in the quality of their education. Most graduate TAs’ wages amount to no more than 2% of the aggregate tuition costs that undergraduates pay for a single four credit class at NYU.

All members and allies present made statements of support followed by testimony on the importance of treating grad workers fairly by faculty Mark Crispin Miller and Zach Lockman and by undergraduate student Anne Falcon. The attending undergraduates praised the knowledge and dedication of grad workers, while Anne argued that if grad students “don’t have the resources to help themselves they can’t help us.”

You can also read coverage of the session in Washington Square News here.

To end the meeting, the bargaining committee met in a sidebar to discuss current positions and the logistics of entering mediation to try and reach an agreement. Due to the recalcitrance of NYU at the bargaining table, we have decided to accept the university’s procedural proposal that we enter non-binding mediation with a third party mediator. Though we will be in mediation, to ensure a fair contract for all grad workers, we need to continue to place collective pressure on the university to fulfill our demands. We need to show NYU that there is strong support for our economic demands and that there is growing agitation around the administration’s intransigence.  Collective action gets the goods!