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Status of the Fight for a Fair Graduate Employee Contract at NYU


We are encouraged by GSOC/UAW 2110 members' growing interest in escalating the fight for a fair contract. This sentiment has increased since NYU ignored the public demand by over a thousand graduate employees for a fair contract by the end of the spring semester, and subsequently misled hundreds of graduate employees about potential health insurance premium rebates. We look forward to working alongside GSOC members to develop a comprehensive mobilization plan to achieve a contract.

Local 2110 has a long track record of grassroots activism and fighting hard for good contracts. Over the years, we have repeatedly broken new ground in negotiations at Columbia University, Barnard College, the Museum of Modern Art, the Village Voice and other workplaces. We have won pay equity for women and people of color, child care and family benefits, health and safety protection, affirmative action and job security in multiple negotiations, as well as the first and only graduate employee contract at a private university in the U.S.

We approached the current negotiations with NYU in the same spirit but since three members of the GSOC Bargaining Committee have publicly criticized the bargaining process with NYU, we feel compelled to clarify a few things. We agree with some points in their statement and disagree with others but we accept that all comments were made in the interest of building a stronger union.

We reiterate our commitment to working with the GSOC membership to build a strong union at NYU. We are open to any and all ideas to achieve this. The UAW and graduate employees have collaborated to make history several times since the 1990s and will do so again by escalating our fight to win a new contract at NYU.

In Solidarity,

Maida Rosenstein, President, Local 2110