5 ms·

I don't think we had much choice. However, a few years back they did renegotiate the TA contracts through a strike mostly to just adjust them for inflation. S

• mechanical_fish 18y ago
  I don't want to request things that are unsustainable It's not your job to keep your own salary down. Don't negotiate against yourself. Do universities voluntarily avoid raising tuition because high tuitions are becoming "unsustainable"? Why, no. They do not. Did the independent contractors who built the university's new athletic complex voluntarily lower their bids to allow the university to use some of its big endowment to pay you a better wage instead? Why, no. They did not. The proper way to negotiate is to ask for more than you expect to settle for. Smart union organizers understand this. Let the university wail about how "unsustainable" their budget is: That's their problem, not yours. Indeed, it's particularly hilarious for you to care about the state of the university's budget or profit margin, because in a handful of years you will be gone, one way or another. It's not like the university is offering you a long-term career path. So turn 'em upside down and shake 'em. You don't have to go out on strike. You could always just continue to be screwed, like all the rest of us who went to grad schools where organizing was not an option.