Shy said these victories were won by the collective action of graduate workers, the spring semester strike and by the strike they plan for the fall.
“The changes that the provost has implemented on campus directly come out of that collective action, and show us that collective action is the pathway towards getting collective bargaining on campus in the next year,” Shy said.
“We are living in a regional and national health care crisis. We, the workers, and our patients, need much more than the bare minimum,” said health care assistant Crystal Grabowski at a Tuesday evening rally in downtown Pittsburgh.
Alyssa Haradzin began working at Planned Parenthood’s Liberty Avenue clinic about four months before a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion warned of a seismic shift coming to the American abortion landscape.
She had previously worked as a healthcare assistant in a general hospital, and took a pay cut to move into reproductive care because she values the work. But she soon felt frustrated by perceived staffing shortages and inadequate training, and joined the organization’s new union chapter to fight for change.
“We simply don’t have the time anymore,” said Crystal Grabowski, a member of UE 696’s bargaining team who has worked as a healthcare assistant at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania for the last four years. “We need more staff, and in the union’s eyes the way to get more staff and retain more staff is higher wages and a fair contract.”
“When it became clear that we were not getting our jobs back, I remember thinking I did not want to deal with this again. That’s when UE organizers said to us “you know, you could just take the shop.” They shared with us what workers at Republic Windows were able to do in Chicago back in 2008, and after a week we decided we could do this. The shop was successful, we had really talented staff, and we wanted to keep doing what we love.
“A lot of us just had a cartoonish refusal to be defeated. Like what, we’re just going to let ourselves be defeated? Gotta keep fighting somehow.”
“In spite of all of the horrible things that are happening in the world today, I think that on the labor front, both in the United States and Mexico, these are really exciting times.” — Robin Alexander, Retired UE Director of International Affairs
This new e-book by retired UE Director of International Affairs Robin Alexander tells the story of the partnership between the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and the Mexican Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT), a story that is a testimony to the power of rank-and-file solidarity.
Members of the United Graduate Workers of UNM and community supporters held a picket Thursday morning to bring attention to the university’s resistance to include non-discriminatory protections in the graduate workers’ union contract.
Held in front of the same building where the negotiations were set to take place, the group gathered carrying signs and repeated chants aimed at the unfair working conditions they experienced while at UNM.
“Right now, the situation would have been far worse without the union,” says Jocelyn, a representative of UE Local 696. “We've already stepped up and tried to alleviate the current staffing crisis, post [Roe’s overturn] by coordinating coverage, working extra shifts and overtime, and covering multiple positions throughout the workday where there's shortages.”
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood workers are under tremendous stress and expecting a “tidal wave of need.” Now they’re organizing to protect and improve abortion care by ending chronic understaffing and low wages at clinics.
Graduate student workers at New Mexico State University and their supporters rallied in front of the university's administration complex Thursday to demand administrators meet with union leaders to discuss immediate relief from tuition costs.
The university employs about 900 graduate students as teaching and research assistants, paying them a minimum stipend of $18,435. The employees, who also attend classes in working toward their graduate degrees, pay the university about $6,189 in tuition and fees, according to report compiled by NMSU Graduate Workers United.
"It's a problem we have to pay so much of our salaries to cover tuition costs," said Bryson Stemock, an NMSU graduate research assistant.