More than 80 Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania members and supporters -- a group of graduate students lobbying for their right to unionize -- gathered yesterday at 8 a.m. to rally in front of University President Judith Rodin's house.
The purpose of this "wake-up rally" was to protest the administration's reticence in dropping the appeal that it filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
In February, in a process overseen by the NLRB, a group of grad students were allowed to vote on whether they would want to hold union elections. The election's results will not be tabulated until the University's current appeal is overturned or Penn decides to drop it altogether.
"We're not going away until the votes are counted," GET-UP Co-Chairman Joseph Cytrynbaum said. "This is how democracy works, even though we wish we shouldn't have to waste time on this -- we'd rather be working on our dissertation or teaching."
While standing in front of the 3812 Walnut St. residence, rally participants chanted slogans and repeatedly stated their intention of having the votes counted by the end of this semester.
"If the University wants to continue to ignore our rights as working individuals, they're going to meet some confrontation," GET-UP Co-Chairwoman Amy Heneveld said.
Many of the participants agreed on the importance of a graduate student union.
"Ideologically, this is important -- I believe in people coming together," School of Arts and Sciences graduate student Simone Polillo said. "It can be a very effective organization that has real power."
GET-UP also promised that events like this one will be frequently repeated -- likely on a weekly basis -- until demands are met.
"We're going to be staging increasingly louder and more militant actions until President Rodin counts our votes," GET-UP spokeswoman Rachel Buurma said. "Rallies like this are a great opportunity to show how many supporters we have -- not only graduate students, but also community members, undergraduates and representatives from other unions."
Along with GET-UP members, the rally was attended by President of the Philadelphia Central Labor Council Pat Eiding, Penn alumni and undergraduate students.
Also in attendance were members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 274 -- who work on campus at the Steinberg Conference Center -- and the Association of Federal State and County Employees, which bargains for workers in Penn's library system.
"They are really happy with their contract," GET-UP community campaign coordinator Tina Collins said. "That's the kind of relationship we would like to have -- a cooperative negotiation... to benefit students and the community."
Despite GET-UP's attempts to expedite the process regarding the appeal, University officials maintain their position.
"We believe that graduate students are students and not employees," University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said. "Most have flexible, informal and highly individualized relationships with the faculty members -- who are also their teachers. We feel a union contract could jeopardize these informal learning relationships."
However, the protesters did not agree.
"We must make sure that TAs are getting the respect they deserve from faculty members, and a union can achieve that goal," second-year SAS Ph.D. student Wendy Ginsberg said.
Responding to GET-UP's claim that Penn is unwilling to pay higher stipends, Doyle said that "this has nothing to do with money, because for the majority of graduate students, the University pays their tuition, fees, health care premium and $15,000 stipend, adding to a total of $45,000 per year per student -- we make a tremendous multimillion dollar investment in graduate education each year."
Yet, many graduate students said that they will continue in their efforts to obtain a union.
"We're active and we're angry and vocal," Ginsberg said. "We won't stop until we get a union."
