Recently, Penn State announced that instead of respecting the overwhelming democratic decision of graduate workers who voted by a 90% margin to form a union, they are appealing the decision that was made to include Research Assistants in our union. Grad workers are calling on Penn State to drop all legal challenges to the collective bargaining rights of Research Assistants so that we can begin bargaining in good faith for a fair contract for all Research Assistants, Teaching Assistants, and Administrative Support Assistants. We plan to continue to make our voices heard to push Penn State to respect our vote.
We’ve already seen what’s possible when we all work together: this past fall alone, over 250 workers signed an open letter to our coworkers about voting yes in our election, we shared our stories about why we want a union, and we turned out in huge numbers to vote YES for our union and win our election this October. Since our huge election victory, we’ve elected our bargaining committee and collected hundreds of bargaining surveys from workers all across Penn State. We also amassed support from elected officials in Pennsylvania, our local communities, and tens of thousands of unionized academic workers across the country.
In the coming months, we will need to continue to work together in large numbers to show our commitment to winning a union that includes all RAs, TAs, and ASAs and call on Penn State to drop their legal challenges. This will include organizing with our coworkers in every college and department to continue to demonstrate mass support for our union as well as continuing to rally support from our communities, elected officials, and the larger movement of unionized workers nationwide. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, here are some immediate steps we can all take:
- Join us for a virtual phonebank tomorrow at 3PM to make calls to members of congress representing the University Park and Hershey campuses to ask that they urge Penn State to drop their appeal
- Submit a testimonial about why RAs want a union (see examples on our Instagram)
- Fill out the bargaining survey to help shape our priorities for collective bargaining
In Solidarity,
Christine Bowlus, Kinesiology
Maddy Jupina, Communication Arts & Sciences
Gonca Acaray, Learning and Performance Systems
Meera Ray, Computer Science & Engineering
Sangjun Ko, Mathematics
CJ Gust, Law
Jess Rafalko, English
Joe Risi, Sociology & Criminology
Lucas Brefka, Astronomy & Astrophysics
