Votes at both Yale and Columbia today could result in the first-ever simultaneous graduate student strike within the Ivy League.
Members of two groups hoping to become official graduate student unions at their respective schools are currently holding meetings to determine whether or not their constituencies support a strike.
If the propositions succeed, there will be strikes at the respective schools from April 18 to April 22 for all teaching assistants.
"The right to organize is a fundamental right, and both [Yale] and Columbia are trying to get recognition for our causes," Yale's Graduate Employees and Students Organization Chairwoman Mary Reynolds said.
Both groups are seeking increased pay for graduate students, dependent health care and child care, as well as visa reforms for international students.
"We called on [Yale] President Levin to just sit and talk to us about these issues, but he has repeatedly refused, and we feel like a strike vote is the necessary next step," Reynolds said.
Over the past few weeks, both groups have been collecting signatures for a petition to have a strike vote. Out of around 500 teaching assistants at Yale, 300 signed the petition for a strike vote.
"I think what each school is doing is great, and it really underscores a nationwide phenomenon of graduate students demanding more recognition from universities," Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania co-Chairwoman Sayumi Takahashi said.
A similar attempt was made by GET-UP last February, resulting in two-day strike. This failed to bring Penn administrators to the table.
A ruling by the National Labor Relations Board in August further put a damper on efforts at Penn, saying that graduate students do not have the right to unionize.
"If both schools end up striking, it will definitely affect the Ivy League as a whole," Takahashi added. "It would be an incredible opportunity for Penn to come to the table and recognize GET-UP as a union, and it would make them an innovator in the field."
These events come on the heels of membership meetings at both Yale and Columbia at which a vote declared majority support for a graduate student union, yet neither meeting launched talks with the respective administrations.
While the main issues at stake -- family health care and insufficient pay -- are not new, the two possible strikes could draw national attention to these long-standing issues.
Administrators at both Yale and Columbia were unavailable for comment.
