Bargaining Update- April 6th
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| If you missed our previous quick explainers: living wage, health care, protection for international & immigrant workers, and Strike Vote #RealTalk. What happened in bargaining yesterday? After asking for 3-weeks to prepare, NYU came back with ONE counter-proposal. At the last bargaining session (March 18th), we made a number of counters, altering our proposals and setting out new frameworks for healthcare costs and compensation. NYU asked for time to review, and came back 3 weeks later with no responses to these, and made only one counter. Seriously, just one! NYU’s paid family leave proposal: NYU added two weeks to their paid family leave proposal bringing it from 4 weeks to 6. That’s still 4 weeks less than what we’re asking for and 2 weeks less than the paid family leave offered by New York state. If you’re a parent or might become a parent, we want to hear your thoughts so we can make a decision together about how we’ll respond. Reach out to us at our email: gsoccontractcampaign2020@gmail.com. We pressed NYU on our health and safety proposals, emphasizing our demand to keep cops off campus and out of NYU buildings. We heard two incredibly moving and powerful testimonials from grad workers recounting traumatic interactions with the New York Police Department on campus and the PTSD and anxiety that ongoing police presence at NYU inflicts. “After maybe a minute of discussion between us and the NYPD, the cops began to forcefully remove us, pushing us out of the park while grabbing us physically. They told us this was for our safety. Throughout this whole incident they did not speak to any of the people we pointed out as having had grabbed us, harassed us, or shouted slurs at us. … These facts make the NYPD a clear threat to NYU students’ health and safety, specifically students of color, even more so black students. It’s clear that police officers generally, and the NYPD specifically, are not invested in protecting the general public or students, but instead only white supremacy and capital.” “The irony, however, is that the very work conditions I experience at the university contribute to why I need to see a psychiatrist in the first place. The ties that NYU maintains with the NYPD, the presence of the NYPD on campus and at events, make the university a place that aggravates my sense of anxiety and escalates my feelings of powerlessness, rather than relieves them. Through its ties to the NYPD, a bizarre contradiction emerges where NYU compounds the worker health issues it then attempts to resolve.” You can read full testimonials here. Yet NYU refused to engage with our demands despite pointed and direct questioning by members of our bargaining committee. We have a right to bargain over our health and safety, and will continue to do so. Take action now: 2 DAYS LEFT TO VOTE YES🗳 NYU is continuing to stall. They don’t want to bargain again until April 22nd. The threat of a strike, of shutting down NYU, is the only way we’re going to win what we know we deserve. The strike vote deadline closes tomorrow, April 8 at 11:45 PM. Message your co-workers, send them an email or give them a call and ask if they’ve voted yes to strike yet. The writers of this bargaining update voted yes, and you absolutely should, too. Do you have experiences interacting with police on campus? Send testimonials to gsoccontractcampaign2020@gmail.com. |