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> From: Kathryn Clancy  [log in to unmask] 
> Subject: The TAs on strike at NYU need your help now.
> Date: 7 Dec 2005
> 
> The TAs on strike at NYU need your help now.
> 
> On Monday, NYU president John Sexton sent the letter below to graduate
> employees working this semester.  The letter informed GSOCers that if
> they
> do not return to work by December 5, they could lose their stipends
> and
> future teaching appointments.  It further states that graduate
> employees
> who do return to work by December 5 must commit to working without
> interruption for the entirety of next semester, and if they are absent
> from work without the permission of the Dean,  they will jeopardize
> their
> stipends and their eligibility for employment in the subsequent
> semesters.
> 
> It is outrageous that President Sexton has chosen to threaten direct
> retaliatory action against graduate employees for exercising their
> right
> to strike.  These threats fly in the face of the well-established
> consensus in the academic community that graduate employees have the
> right
> to organize unions and to strike, and that that right is integral to
> academic freedom and the values of a university.  In addition, such
> threats to deny future employment as a result of union activity are
> unlawful for most employers;  the National Labor Relations Act (whose
> protection the Bush administration stripped from graduate employees at
> private universities in 2004) clearly prohibits such threats.  Sexton
> is
> thus not only violating norms of university conduct but also exceeding
> what is permissable under federal labor law.
> 
> There are at least two things you can do:
> 
> 1.
> 
> Email President John Sexton ([log in to unmask]) and tell him to
> negotiate 
> with
> GSOC.
> 
> Copy me ([log in to unmask]) on your email and I will see that it
> gets into the hands of the workers on the picket line.
> 
> 2.
> 
> Send money to the strike fund.
> 
> Checks can be made out to: "UAW Local 2110 Strike Fund."
> 
> Send it to:
> UAW Local 2110
> 113 University Place, 5th floor
> New York, NY 10003.
> 
> Please circulate widely.
> 
> In solidarity,
> Jay Driskell
> Graduate Employees and Students Organization - Unite Here!
> Yale University
> [log in to unmask] 
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________
> From: NYU President John Sexton [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 12:21 PM
> Subject: A Letter to NYU Graduate Assistants
> 
> Dear Graduate Assistants,
> 
> Your admission to NYU?s graduate programs represents recognition of
> your
> potential to be part of the next generation of intellectual leaders,
> as
> men and women who will fill the ranks of university faculty throughout
> the
> world, as individuals who will lead lives devoted to advanced inquiry. 
> In
> providing you with financial aid and the opportunities and
> responsibilities of assistantships, we hope to help prepare you for
> that
> life.
> 
> We recognize that for some of you there is an unfortunate disparity
> between the ideal and the reality.  In some instances, assistantships
> have
> not been structured to accomplish what we want: to enhance
> professional
> development. There is always a delicate balance between matching
> undergraduate curricular needs with the academic and scholarly
> interests
> of those who teach; in the case of GAs, we have not always achieved
> that
> balance. While this is not true in every department, it is true in
> some.
> 
> Our exchanges with one another have been shaped by this reality and
> the
> mistrust engendered by it.  We know we must work to bridge the gulf
> that
> has developed, and to align our realities with our ideals.
> 
> The recent announcement within Arts and Science limiting assistantship
> responsibilities in languages and literature departments to one stand
> alone course per semester is a first step.  We know we must take
> others,
> but these academic decisions are best determined by schools and
> departments.  The University will commit resources in support of these
> efforts.  Moving closer to this ideal, however, will be difficult
> without
> restoring an atmosphere of mutual respect and good faith within the
> University community.
> 
> We appreciate that for some GAs a collectively bargained contract,
> driven
> by a union, provides a greater sense of security; for them the
> University?s August decision to move ahead without the union was
> wrong.
> For them and others, the changes to the student health plan and the
> errors
> surrounding Blackboard created doubts about the University?s good
> will,
> when both of these issues could be understood quite differently in an
> environment of mutual good faith.
> 
> For my part, I will not repeat the challenging history that contributed
> to
> the University?s decision to work directly with our graduate students
> rather than through the intermediary of a union.  Suffice it to say
> that
> we accept that, as we move forward, the burden is on the University to
> create an environment of trust as we aim to achieve the ideal.
> 
> To this end, we propose the following pathway: for all current and
> incoming graduate assistants, the University will offer written
> contracts
> based upon their appointment letters. From our perspective, these
> commitments already are binding; nonetheless, we will proceed to
> document
> them in a manner that makes clear to all that these contracts obligate
> the
> University and are legally enforceable.  These contracts will detail
> the
> terms described last summer, including:
> ?       $1000/year minimum increases in stipends for the 2005-06
> academic year
> (already enacted), as well as 2006-07 and 2007-08, plus the
> publication
> each April of the next three year?s stipends;
> ?       continued payment by the University of 100 percent of health
> care
> premiums for the comprehensive student health insurance plan; and
> ?       full tuition remission.
> 
> But there is more work to be done, and much of it must be driven by
> graduate students themselves.  Since the beginning of the fall
> semester,
> two groups of graduate students have set to work on matters of
> importance
> to graduate students generally, and graduate assistants in particular.
> 
> The Graduate Student Working Group is crafting a rights-and-
> responsibilities compact that will provide a basis for defining the
> relationship between graduate students and the University.  The
> Working
> Group is also formulating a permanent grievance procedure for graduate
> students to replace the interim procedures presently in place.  Some
> members of the NYU community have expressed concern about the fairness
> of
> a grievance procedure that ends with the Provost, a University
> official.
> While we must await the Working Group?s proposals, we are open to any
> suggestions they may have regarding how members
> from the academy outside the University might play a role in this
> process.
> 
> The Graduate Affairs Committee of the Student Senators Council has
> also
> started to address economic and benefit issues affecting graduate
> students
> in general and GAs in particular.  Again, we must see what this group
> proposes; were it, however, to offer a new mechanism that would enable
> graduate assistantselected at the department level to act as
> representatives of all GAs in annual discussions of stipend levels,
> health
> care benefits, and other matters of importance, we would embrace that
> as
> part of our university governance procedures.
> 
> Lastly, I wish to talk about the strike.
> 
> Many GAs have continued teaching, others have taught at off-campus
> locations, and still others have not been teaching.  I believe that
> those
> striking have been acting out of conscience.  Though I fervently
> disagree
> with their decision not to teach, I do not think they made this choice
> lightly.  But however strongly felt a graduate assistant?s act of
> conscience may be, it should not be pursued any longer at the expense
> of
> undergraduates.
> 
> So far, those who have been on strike have been able to act out of
> conscience without experiencing consequences for their actions;
> instead,
> the burdens have fallen on departments, faculty, and, in particular,
> our
> undergraduates. Because graduate assistants are also our students,
> those
> on strike have continued to receive their stipends, they have continued
> to
> receive free tuition, and they have continued to receive free health
> insurance.
> 
> Their points have been made and heard.  The time has come for the
> University to insist that the academic needs of its undergraduates be
> met.
> All of us should share a deep commitment to meeting these needs. 
> Those
> undergraduates in classes affected by the strike are understandably
> anxious about the disruption to their studies.  Such disruption must
> not
> continue.  I thank those who have been teaching, and I ask those who
> have
> not to return to the classroom.
> 
> For those graduate assistants who resume teaching and other
> assistantship
> assignments by Monday, December 5th (or the first class meeting
> thereafter) at the assigned times and places, and who fulfill all
> assigned
> responsibilities for the remainder of the semester, including grading,
> there will be no consequences.  These GAs will be eligible for
> teaching
> and other assignments by the department for the spring semester.  This
> amnesty represents a balance between our respect for the principled
> positions of those choosing to strike and our obligation to
> undergraduates, who have a right to complete their semester?s work and
> experience no disruption in their courses next semester.
> 
> Because we take both responsibilities seriously, graduate assistants
> who
> do not resume their duties by December 5 or the first scheduled
> teaching
> assignment thereafter - while experiencing no consequences for this
> semester - will for the spring semester lose their stipend and their
> eligibility to teach.
> 
> For those graduate assistants who return by December 5th and accept a
> teaching assignment for the spring, this acceptance comes with the
> commitment to meet their responsibilities without interruption
> throughout
> the spring semester. Absences not approved by the dean will result in
> suspension from assistantship assignments and loss of stipend for the
> following two consecutive semesters. Graduating students will be
> assessed
> comparably.
> 
> None of the striking graduate students will have their ability to
> continue
> their own studies affected.  In all cases, their tuition and health
> benefits will remain in place, and where the suspension of stipend
> would
> create economic hardship, loans will be provided to students upon
> their
> request.
> 
> For those who will be satisfied with nothing less than a union, I know
> it
> will be a disappointment that the University will not recognize
> GSOC/UAW
> as the collective bargaining representatives of NYU?s graduate
> assistants.
> I nonetheless hope that we share a goal to make graduate education at
> NYU
> better, even if we differ about the vehicle for achieving this, and
> that
> we can come together around this goal.
> 
> This has been a difficult and rancorous semester.  While I do not
> condone
> what has been done by those who have been striking, their actions have
> caused us to take a hard and unflinching look at ourselves and our
> practices, and these self- examinations will lead to significant,
> enduring
> improvements.  I hope that in this spirit we can work together to
> complete
> the semester and rebuild the trust we need.
> 
> Sincerely,
> John Sexton
> 
> --------------------------------------
> [log in to unmask] 
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Department of Anthropology
> 
> "Girl, you've got some nerve
> Taking everything that you deserve."
>         -the Nields, "Georgia O"
> 
> www.geso.org 
> 
>

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