Grad Employees Rally for Improvement

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Demonstrators rallied at the protest fountain to demand better wages and other things for graduate student employees

By Dan Woulfin

Wielding a megaphone and a multitude of signs, approximately 40 graduate students from the Stony Brook division of the Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU/CWA1104) rallied by the fountain on March 28 to advocate for better wages, benefits and respect for graduate student employees.

The rally, scheduled during Jobs With Justice’s Student Labor Action Project’s Week of Action, was meant to bring awareness to graduate student needs. Victor Rosado, business agent of GSEU Stony Brook pointed out that the contract between New York State and GSEU is set to expire on July 1, 2007 and members are mobilizing preemptively to put pressure on the Governor and SUNY to raise stipends to levels comparative to Stony Brook's peer institutions.

The GSEU contract defines the salary, benefits, and services that teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) receive at Stony Brook and throughout the SUNY system. The current full TA and GA get paid approximately $12,500 for 10 months of work before taxes, health insurance, and union dues.

According to Rosado, the union is demanding higher wages for its members, better health benefits, the elimination of fees for teaching assistants, and the establishment of a guaranteed fifth year of funding as a TA or GA similar to what is guaranteed to graduate student workers at the University of Chicago.

During the rally, graduate students from the departments of Hispanic languages, ecology and evolution, history, and theatre arts spoke about their economic and professional situations.
“Graduate students are adults, many are starting families and many have children,” said Matt Hoch, a graduate student from ecology and evolution. “It is morally reprehensible that these students, essentially working full-time are paid so poorly.”

Distinguished Professor Jeffrey Levinton and Associate Professor R. Geeta from ecology and evolution spoke about the difficulty in attracting new graduate students to their department because of low stipends. Mike Murphy, chief steward of GSEU Stony Brook and a Ph.D. Candidate in History agreed with the professors sentiments. “It is increasingly difficult for stony brook to recruit students in competition with universities offering better stipends,” he said. “Many potential students are choosing other schools where they can earn better wages and enjoy a better quality of life.”

After the rally members of GSEU marched through the administration building and the Student Activities Center. Chants of “Help us help you, assistants need assistance too!” rang through those buildings and the academic mall. While in the administration building, GSEU scheduled a meeting Provost McGrath to further discuss TA and GA needs and concerns.

Toni Lynn Morelli, a graduate student and union activist who was at the rally, said the event was not only for graduate students. “We are fighting for a decent education for Stony Brook undergraduates,“ she said. “As class sizes keep increasing and teaching salaries keep decreasing, you cannot expect students to get the attention and expertise that they need. TA's don't have the time and energy. They are too busy with more students and less support, and their second jobs, not to mention the real reason that they're in school: their own education and research.”