No End Set for NYU Strike

Graduate students at New York University (NYU) set up picket lines yesterday and officially began striking to force the administration to negotiate a new contract.

The university remained staunch in its refusal to bargain with the Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC)—which is affiliated with United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110—even after the union voted last week to set Nov. 9 as the strike deadline.

The union—the only one of its kind at a private university in the country—has been demanding an audience with the administration since its original contract expired on Aug. 31.

Earlier that month, GSOC declined a contract proposal from NYU. The proposed contract would have given the university the power to unilaterally change its graduate students’ wages, health coverage, and other benefits, according to Maida Rosenstein, president of UAW Local 2110.

STRIKE STARTS

Picket lines were established in front of Bobst Library near Washington Square. About 500 graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty were on hand to show their support, according to Rosenstein.

For the duration of the strike, graduate teaching assistants will withhold all their teaching, grading, and research responsibilities, union officials said.

Unlike graduate student strikes that took place in April at Yale and Columbia, which were scheduled to last only five days, this work stoppage has no expiration date.

“We will be picketing all day and striking until the university agrees to bargain in good faith with us,” Rosenstein said.

She said there is widespread support from the university community for the union and the strike.

“I believe our members are very resolved and that the majority of the university community would like to see the strike resolved through good faith negotiations,” Rosenstein said.

However, the university has repeatedly cited a 2004 decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that graduate students do not have the right to unionize and private universities have no obligation to collectively bargain.

The NYU union was officially recognized prior to this decision in 2002.

EFFECTS ON EDUCATION

Before the strike, NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Catharine R. Stimpson wrote in an e-mail that graduate teaching assistants should heed their obligations to their undergraduates.

“Although unionization is a divisive issue, other things unite people across the university, such as our concern for our students, and it is important to remember these as well,” she wrote.

Yesterday, the university vowed to minimize the disruption of the strike.

“NYU’s classes are going forward, teaching and learning is going on, and our students are pursuing their educations,” University Spokesman John Beckman said in a statement.

But some classes are now being held off-campus to avoid crossing the union’s picket lines.

Over 500 faculty members requested help from the union in finding alternate spaces to hold their classes, according to Rosenstein. She added that a number of other professors have also moved their classes off-campus without contacting the union for assistance.

“My classes are all moving,” said NYU junior Richard F. Kamerman. One was held in the art studio of a classmate’s father, and another will take place in a neighborhood church, he said.

COMMUNITY REACTION

Despite the effects of the strike on class locations and teaching, Kamerman said that most students are supportive.

“Generally, the NYU community thinks that this is going in the right direction,” he said.

However, other students said that GSOC has not made enough of an effort to communicate its concerns and demands with undergraduates.

“My main concern is that I feel the graduate students have not done enough to address the undergraduate student body,” said Rahula Today, an NYU senior. Today also added that he supports GSOC’s efforts to bring the university to the negotiating table.

The lack of outreach has left some students confused about why the union is striking, he said.

The university, on the other hand, established a website devoted to the issue and also sent a letter to parents explaining the administration’s position, Today said.

“I think the school has definitely had the upper-hand in framing this debate,” he said.

—Staff writer David Zhou can be reached at dzhou@fas.harvard.edu.