I have not eaten in 5 days. Some of my friends and colleagues did not eat for 14 days. Why? Because the administration of Yale University refuses to negotiate with my labor union, Local 33 – UNITE HERE, despite it being certified and recognized by the Federal Government. This official recognition is a victory we have won through many legal hearings, and finally through a free and fair election.
To be clear, graduate student-workers do much of the teaching at Yale, as elsewhere, and in many cases are overworked, all while trying to complete their degree. There are many issues beyond this, however. As my colleague Julia Powers, notes:
Yale’s own 2015 study found that 53.9 percent of women in the university’s graduate and professional schools experienced “insulting remarks,” “inappropriate personal comments,” “unwelcome sexual conversation,” “offensive digital communication” or “persistent advances.” Only 5.7 percent of this group took any subsequent action.
Fifty-four percent of female graduate student-workers have reported being sexually harassed at our school. Many grad student-workers are parents and do not earn enough family income to both feed their kids and themselves — let alone complete graduate work on these terms. This is only exacerbated by the lack of affordable child care.
Within the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Yale, there are only 32 Black men out of 2,860 students. At Yale, and beyond, issues of race and gender are at the forefront of graduate student-worker organizing. Graduate student labor unions are about raising the voice of the unheard.
Some people have told me not to risk my physical health for others, to “not be a hero.” This is not about being a hero. If not for principles of social justice, this is about security for teachers in our profession. The “adjunctification” of our profession affects me too.
In 1975, approximately 55 percent of college faculty were in full-time tenured or tenure-track jobs. By 2011, the share of faculty holding such jobs dropped to 30 percent. Most within this category obtained a PhD with hopes that they would one day find a full-time position. Let that sit: 70 percent are now working part-time, with many in this category living paycheck-to-paycheck.
A recent report from the American Association of the University Professors (AAUP) notes that part-time faculty make $20,508 on average. For those with families, this is right at the poverty line. Our profession needs protections, financial and non-financial. Those entering the profession need such protections. And yes, even graduate student-workers in the Ivy League are worried about this — about even finding a job.
The way we fight this is by building strong labor unions. We have to start somewhere. Many have started elsewhere. I am starting here.
The Fast at Yale is more than just an action unto itself. It is an act that constitutes the ground of much more: vigils, rallies, pickets, civil disobediences, petitioning, speaking at churches by fasters themselves, visits from cultural figures and elected officials, and a yurt serving as a gathering point across from the university president’s building on Wall Street — its name: “33 Wall Street.”
The response by private university administrations across the United States: wait for Donald Trump to appoint people to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). An NLRB that can then reverse our certification and bust our democratically-chosen labor unions.
Reflecting on all of this, there is one thing that many have said but I would like to amplify: so many horrors are taking place or are in motion at the national level. People can feel paralyzed or like they should just check out. The answer to this is to get involved or at least share and highlight local and inter-local struggles. This is where your power can be demonstrated and exercised effectively.
Amplify, share, participate. Whenever a bureaucrat tells you it cannot be done because of some rule that does not even exist: resist and build something in its place. This is where we build organically rooted power. This is how we can build power so that we too can shock the world.
Alexander Kolokotronis is a PhD student in political science at Yale University. He is the founder of Student Organization for Democratic Alternatives, and formerly the Student Coordinator of NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives and Worker Cooperative Development Assistant at Make the Road New York.
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