Home > NYU students gain big-labor support in protest
Trade unions School-University USA
by Catherine Tymkiw
New York University graduate students got help from national organized labor at a protest today over their working conditions.
The graduate students, who are members of the United Auto Workers union, say they want a new contract to replace the one that expires today. They made the point with a protest that attracted more than 1,100 people, including students, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, actress Morgan Fairchild and politicians. The university says the union lost its chance for a new contract when it rejected an offer earlier this month.
About 78 people were arrested at today’s protest, including Mr. Sweeney.
Some students say they are being ignored by the university, in a way similar to workers at other corporations.
“This is a big issue for organized labor because it addresses the rights to freely organize unions and affects tens of thousands of graduate student employees,” said Miabi Chatterji, a third-year Ph.D student in American studies and a union member. “We are part of something bigger but day-to-day we’re just trying to get a new contract.”
NYU this month formally notified the Graduate Student Organizing Committee, the bargaining unit, that it would not renegotiate its four-year-old contract. That decision came a year after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that universities were not legally obligated to recognize graduate students’ unions, said Scott Sommer, a spokesman for Local 2110.
The university signed the current contract because “the union promised to leave academic issues alone,” said NYU spokesman John Beckman. The university offered a new package including stipend increases for teaching and research assistants of $1,000 annually over the next three years.
“From NYU’s point of view, graduate assistants are students and education decisions must be made by educators,” Mr. Beckman said. “The union’s decision to reject our offer was a lost opportunity. They could not get out of their classic industrial framework.”
The NYU dispute comes on the heels of a split in the national labor movement, when a group headed by the Service Employees International Union and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters split with the AFL-CIO.
Both Ms. Chatterji and Mr. Sommer said that a strike is possible but could be avoided if NYU officials negotiate. “We’re giving NYU every possible opportunity to negotiate with us,” and will go on strike “only if NYU leaves us no choice,” said Ms. Chatterji. NYU has been working on a contingency plan in the event of a strike to ensure that “every necessary step” is taken not to disrupt classes, said Mr. Beckman.