Grad students to discuss the unionization of TAs

Graduate students will meet tonight to discuss forming a labor union for teaching assistants, History graduate student Marc Stein said yesterday. Graduate students are considering whether unions could solve problems of low pay for teaching assistants and lack of office space. "There are several schools that have worked on unionizing lately," Stein said. "A lot of state universities have graduate students that are unionized." Stein said he is not sure whether unionizing students is the right path to take at the University, and said other options will be discussed as well. Working with graduate student government or individual departments, or taking job actions like "Class in the Grass" are other options that will be discussed. "It's been something they've talked about," said Michele Grimm, president of the Graduate Student Associations Council. "There hasn't been that strong a movement [yet]. There are some students that are definitely for it and some that are definitely against it." The administration would probably not acknowledge a union unless most students joined it, Grimm said. She added that since health insurance is lower for single students and "working conditions for TAs are getting better," she is not sure how many students a union would attract. Stein said he organized tonight's meeting because graduate student issues are often not brought up until the end of the year, when he said they are easily ignored. "I want to get the ball rolling early," Stein said. He compiled a list of graduate student gripes that he will use to begin discussion at the meeting, he said. Funding for graduate students is at the top of the list. He said he is concerned that pay for teaching assistants is too low. Some students receive stipends for nine months, but are in school for twelve. Not enough students are funded, he said. Stein said he has no criticism of graduate student leadership, provided by the Graduate and Professional Students Assembly and GSAC, but believes there is room for another organization. "I think GAPSA and GSAC have roles to play as part of the University decision-making process and they generally play those roles effectively," Stein said. "I hope we will work very closely with them, but there's a need for a new organization to do this work." The meeting will be held at 5:15 p.m. tonight in room A-4 of the David Rittenhouse Labs.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.