DMI Blog

Lisa Duggan

Who’s Afraid of John Sweeney?

union history votes yes - slide_4.jpgI heard a story from another faculty member recently who said that, in a private meeting, New York University President John Sexton claimed he didn't want to recognize the Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC/UAW) because he's afraid of John Sweeney? Oh my... The rhetoric put out by the administration makes it sound as though the UAW came onto campus and brainwashed our teaching assistants, making them into Sweeneybots who threaten academia's autonomy. But our teaching assistants organized first, then chose the UAW to represent them (the UAW represents many kinds of workers, including the staff writers at the Village Voice). The administration does not contest the fact that the welfare of teaching assistants has improved since GSOC/UAW was recognized. Their stipend levels, health care benefits, and morale have all risen. While conceding this, the administration claims that The Auto Workers have interfered with academic decision making. While this claim has been repeatedly and persuasively refuted by both the union and Faculty Democracy, facts have no impact on the repetition of this claim. With a press operation run like a cross between Karl Rove's office and the Walmart War Room, the NYU administration keeps trying to foment class based prejudices and fears by planting the image of working class thugs taking over the curriculum. But our graduate student teaching assistants simply want the right to democratically elect a bargaining unit to negotiate the terms of their employment at NYU. As they go on strike, the administrations of other private universities with union struggles on their hands are no doubt pressuring NYU to hold the line against GSOC. But thousands of low paid teachers, who do an increasing percentage of the instruction in universities, wait to see whether they can win the basic right to negotiate for themselves, as the Walmart University business model marches forward.

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Posted at 10:36 AM, Nov 07, 2005 in Labor
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