As strike deadline looms, politicians and faculty offer support to graduate student union

As Penn’s graduate student union finalizes preparations for a potential strike on Feb. 17, support from local politicians, faculty members, and undergraduate students has intensified.

If a strike is called, graduate workers would begin picketing at 9 a.m. next Tuesday. During the strike, participating members would suspend all work responsibilities — including submitting grades, leading recitations, and holding office hours.

Planned picket locations include 34th and Walnut streets, 33rd and Walnut streets, 36th and Spruce streets, and Civic Center Boulevard, with two shifts scheduled each day.

The University last updated its webpage with information about the strike on Feb. 10. The site includes guidance for faculty and graduate students, along with continuity plans for teaching and research.

Penn also outlined appropriate behavior for deans, department chairs, and other faculty who supervise graduate students. Per the National Labor Relations Board, supervisors cannot “make threats of harm” to striking graduate students — nor can they “make promises of benefit” to those who indicate they “do not plan to strike.”

The preparations by both the union and University comes amid increasing solidarity from local lawmakers.

In letters sent over the past week to Penn President Larry Jameson and Provost John Jackson Jr., Pennsylvania lawmakers and members of the Philadelphia City Council urged administrators to reach an agreement with the union. The politicians described the potential ramifications of a strike, noting how a work stoppage would “seriously disrupt life” for “students, employees, and patients at Penn.”

At-large Councilmember Kendra Brooks, who expressed support for the union in a letter signed on Feb. 10, wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian that “Penn’s leadership has a choice to make about whether they want to avoid a strike.”

Councilmember Nina Ahmad, who signed the letter alongside Brooks, added that Penn should prioritize “a fair contract” and “good-faith bargaining.”

“As a former graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, I understand firsthand the essential work graduate student employees do every day to keep classrooms, labs, and research moving,” Ahmad wrote to the DP.

The letter was also signed by City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, as well as Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier, Anthony Phillips, Mark Squilla, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Jim Harrity, Isaiah Thomas, and Nicolas O’Rourke. As of Thursday, Pennsylvania State Sens. Nikil Saval, Anthony Williams, Christine Tartaglione, Sharif Street, Art Haywood, Vincent Hughes, Joe Picozzi signed onto the solidarity statement.

Earlier this week, Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors updated its faculty pledge, stating that if GET-UP strikes, its members “will not serve as strikebreakers” — if they are asked to break the strike, AAUP-Penn members will “simply decline to do so.”

In an interview with the DP, Jessa Lingel, president of AAUP-Penn, characterized the pledge as an attempt to “show the administration” that it won’t be able to “rely on faculty to take the place of students who are on strike.”

Lingel added that while some undergraduates may be concerned about potential disruptions to classes, “now is a great time to urge the administration to work towards a fair contract.”

Undergraduate students have also begun pledging support for the union. In an open letter to administrators, students wrote that GET-UP’s "working conditions are our learning conditions.”

“If our TAs or lab mentors continue to be overworked and underpaid, they will not be able to provide us the world-class education that Penn has promised,” the letter reads.

The letter was drafted over the weekend, according to College junior and exchange student Thomas Vincent, who added his signature on Feb. 10.

Vincent said that he intended to support graduate workers at a picket during a work stoppage, explaining that the Penn community has been “disengaged” in the “fight” for “better” working conditions. 

“I’ve seen successful fights for better working conditions for grad students and clinical workers at my university back home,” Vincent told the DP. “I know that students can actually weigh in and have huge negotiating power.”

Second-year Ph.D. student and GET-UP member Bianca Mers told the DP that she would not grade assignments, hold office hours, or respond to course-related questions during the potential strike. 

Mers, who said graduate workers who share a “commitment to building intellectual community,” added that the strike is a “tool of last resort.”

Lingel stated that “every single faculty member at one time was a graduate student,” noting that many professors are familiar with the conditions graduate workers face.

“What GET-UP is asking for is not outrageous,” Lingel said. “They’re just asking for a fair contract, and the University as a whole is stronger, our classrooms are stronger, our labs are stronger when workers feel protected and like they have a fair contract.”

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