Teaching assistants at New York University are entering their third week of striking for federal labor protections.
The National Labor Relations board ruled last year that graduate assistants were not entitled to union protection , and therefore the benefits the university should provide.
Many professors showing silent but tacit support for the strikers, by not crossing the picket line in front of academic buildings. Many classes are now being held in churches, hotels, or any buildings professors can secure.
The administration of NYU has held firm on resisting the demands of the teaching assisants, contending that they are students receiving financial aid, and therefore are not entitled to the benefits that come from full employment. At NYU, employment benefits for the grad assistants can reach more than $50,000.
We feel that the TA's at NYU do a lot of solid work for the school and should be dealt with respectfully. Also, the involvement of professors in the dispute will give the TA's more legitimacy, not making them out to be only idealistic purists. However, the inconvenience of students having to trek across New York just to get to a class will likely reach the boiling point soon.
