Hundreds Show Solidarity (NYU grad employee strike)

[Bill McBlueState]

Hundreds Show Solidarity

January 27, 2006
A rally yesterday drew nearly 350 from the ranks of students to city politicians to union officials in support of the continuing graduate assistant strike, despite the Graduate Student Organizing Committee's diminished presence in front of the Bobst Library in recent weeks.

The large presence of non-NYU labor unions, students from other colleges and local residents at the rally underscored GSOC's goal to portray the strike as an issue affecting more than just the NYU community.

...

City Councilwoman Christine Quinn and Transit Workers Union President Roger Toussaint spoke at the rally, in addition to representatives of labor unions such as Communications Workers of America, Unite Here and the United Auto Workers union that represented NYU's graduate students under their former contract.

...

On Tuesday, NYU issued letters to several GAs indicating that their stipends would be cut for two semesters. GAs began striking Nov. 9 following the university's refusal to negotiate with their union, United Auto Workers Local 2110.

...

continued at Washington Square News

[fishwax]

1. it's time for sexton to recognize the union

:kick:

[AndreaCG]

2. I took a screenwriting course last semester at NYU

Am taking the next level at The New School cause of the strike.

[readmoreoften]

8. thank you for your support!

I'm a DUer and on strike at NYU! One of the "GSOC 6" (the six workers who were docked pay and, in my case benefits, for at least a year)

You should write Sexton explaining that you chose to go elsewhere because of his refusal to negotiate.

[e-mail]

[entanglement]

12. Are you a grad student or an NYU employee?

n/t

[readmoreoften]

14. Both

I'm an MFA student who works teaching freshmen composition at the university. I do the same job that other teachers do. They are unionized; I'm not. Any full-time unionized employee at NYU can get full tuition remission if they are accepted to an academic program. But if you're working as a teacher while working in an academic program, then they will give you a union contract. It's chaos.

[EFerrari]

3. There is at least one posting DUer involved in this strike.

It's good to see it getting support! :)

[Bill McBlueState]

4. didn't realize that

I was at the rally yesterday -- part of a bus full of activists from the UMass graduate employee organization. I'm worried that the strike is losing power. There's a lot of support from the community, but TAs can only go without a stipend for so long.

Sexton sucks.

[EFerrari]

6. readmoreoften posted last night:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2402924

I went up the food chain as a reader -> associate instructor at Berkeley. We struck one semester and it was very very grim.

[Bill McBlueState]

7. thanks for the link

I thought things were tough here at UMass, but we're in relative comfort compared to a lot of places. We owe a lot to the ones who struck fifteen years ago to assert our right to organize.

[readmoreoften]

9. thanks for linking to my post, sfexpat

it is grim, but we're sticking it out. i'm not joking when i say that striking is less grim than giving up all your principles to work for an administration that is destroying democracy in higher education.

[EFerrari]

11. Please keep checking in. The energy and inspiration

flows in both directions.

:toast:

[readmoreoften]

10. It's not so much that the strike is losing power.

It's that they hired scab labor and the administration is telling people that workers who's work has been struck are no longer on strike. Our picket lines are smaller because people have had to go out and get full time jobs to support themselves in Manhattan! A lot of us have gone in, but a core of us are still striking and unintimidated. It's the intimidation that has worked the best for the administration. I swear, it is a campus of broken spirits and demoralized neurotics at this point.

[struggle4progress]

5. kick

:kick:

[AnotherMother4Peace]

13. Kick - Prayers are with all of you - I tried to recommend to greatest page

but can't because thread age.