A mix of undergraduates, graduate students and community members gathered on College Green under overcast skies yesterday to show their support for the unionization of Penn graduate students.
The Philadelphia Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice sponsored an Interfaith Witness for Fair Graduate Employee Labor, during which five different speakers called on the University to recognize the right of graduate students to unionize.
Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania are currently proceeding through hearings conducted by the National Labor Relations Board to determine whether or not they will be able to hold union elections this spring. Representatives from GET-UP were among those who spoke at the event.
After an opening prayer conducted by Rev. Douglas Fauth, also associate director of the Christian Association at Penn, the various speakers delivered their short, but strong, messages to the small group in attendance.
Despite the lack of a sound system at the beginning of the event, the speakers were still able to convey their remarks to the supportive crowd, which occasionally erupted with applause and words of approval.
Each speaker voiced support for the ongoing unionization process in which Penn graduate students are currently involved.
Rabbi Rav Soloff of the Central Conference of American Rabbis described the letter that he wrote to Deputy Provost Peter Conn, in which he drew "attention to the expensive court cases and contentious maneuvering" that preceded the NLRB's decision to grant students at New York and Brown universities the right to hold elections in recent cases.
He added that he believes University administrators should recognize that the rights will, in the end, be granted to Penn students, as well.
Rev. Beverly Dale, executive director of the Christian Association, spoke about the need to "do away with top and bottom [roles] and instead build a community based on respect."
"Let's be fair to the graduate students," Dale said. "It's time for Penn to learn that lesson [of fairness]."
Other speakers included Rev. Steve Keiser of the University Lutheran Church, who gave his blessings to the graduate students' cause.
GET-UP representative Deirdre Brill, a third-year graduate student in the History department, thanked the Interfaith Committee for their support, which she said "affirmed that what we're doing is about justice."
Though the Interfaith Committee has been active for six years on a national level, the Philadelphia branch was established only six months ago. The committee also brought religious leaders together to show solidarity with workers in the case of Temple University's unionization efforts last year.
Although only a small group of students attended the event, the speeches drew the attention of many students passing by on Locust Walk.
College of General Studies junior Melissa Byrne, a participant in labor rights activism for three years, attended the Interfaith Witness on College Green.
She said she believes that workers should have a united voice, and that the "process of graduate employment will teach undergraduates about the issues of unionization so that if they are confronted with it, they will embrace it and go with the workers."
Rob Callahan, who worked with the Temple University Graduate Students Association during their campaign to unionize last fall, was also at the event to lend support.
"We chiefly provide an example [for Penn] that the fight can be won," Callahan said. "We faced lots of opposition, but ultimately in the courts, especially those of public opinion, we prevailed."
Witness organizer James Ratner said one of the major goals of the event was to educate students and faculty alike and draw attention to the cause on a local level.
"I hope people come away with a better understanding of what issues there are and that the administration sees that this does not just involve students, but is a greater issue of the Philadelphia community," Ratner said.
