CGSU

LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Solidarity with the IC Contingent Faculty

By Sena Aydin | February 21, 2017

The Ithaca College Contingent Faculty, including full-time and part-time faculty, have authorized labor actions up to and including a strike. The authorization vote came last week, after 18 months of bargaining failed to persuade the Ithaca College administration to commit to the fundamental labor principles of “pay parity” and “equal pay for equal work.” The faculty members facing contingent work conditions, amounting to almost half of the current number of faculty at Ithaca College, held a rally on Monday, Feb 20th at the main entrance of IC campus. The rally preceded two days of scheduled mediation with the College administration and demonstrated the group’s collective power as well as public support for their insistent struggle to secure fair working and living conditions. We, the members of Cornell Graduate Students United and Cornell Organization for Labor Action, stand in solidarity with the Ithaca College Contingent Faculty and unconditionally support all future labor actions undertaken by them. We insist that no worker deserves the precarious, insecure and flexible working and living conditions to which full-time and part-time contingent faculty at Ithaca College are subjected.

News

‘This Union is Us’: International Graduate Students Share Struggles at CGSU Event

By Hnin Ei Wai Lwin | February 9, 2017

As graduate students grow closer to filing for a vote, international graduate students work to maintain their voice in the fight for unionization, sharing the struggles they face while studying in the United States at a panel hosted by Cornell Graduate Students United.

CGSU

CGSU Fields Unionization Questions at First Public Meeting

By Shruti Juneja | November 29, 2016

Another issue concerned the relationship between CGSU and the American Federation of Teachers, specifically whether union dues could be allocated to political lobbying efforts that individual members might not support.

CGSU

ILR Profs: CGSU Fight Mirrors National Union Trend

By Anna Delwiche | November 20, 2016

Opposing unionization — a response that typically stems from a fear of losing control of workers — is often a reflexive response from management, particularly in America.

CGSU

Graduate Students: CGSU Coerces Members With ‘Emotional Blackmail’

By Anna Delwiche | November 13, 2016

According to CGSU’s code of conduct agreement with Cornell, the union must obtain authorization cards from 30 percent of the bargaining unit — which consists of students like teaching assistants, who are employed directly by the University — in accordance with guidelines provided by the National Labor Relations Board.

At What Cost

Graduate Students ‘Torn,’ Debating Necessity of Union

By Anna Delwiche | November 1, 2016

Discourse among students — increasingly prolific in the past weeks — has fueled debate, especially as CSGU continues to collect the signatures it needs to put the unionization to vote.

CGSU

Grad Students United Responds to Rawlings Email, Contesting ‘Misinformation’

By Yun Soo Kim | October 27, 2016

Brangan also said Rawlings misrepresented CGSU’s relationship with its national union affiliates — the American Federation of Teachers and N.Y. State United Teachers — by unfairly grouping their union objectives.

CGSU

Rawlings: Unionization Would ‘Weaken’ Graduate Education at Cornell

By Phoebe Keller and Stephanie Yan | October 27, 2016

Rawlings voiced concern that the Cornell Graduate Student Union would change the working relationship between faculty and graduate students by creating an artificial divide between workers and “management.”

At What Cost

‘At What Cost’ Group Challenges Unilateral Actions, Exclusivity of Grad Student Union Campaign

By Anna Delwiche | October 25, 2016

At What Cost has intentionally framed its organization to combat the issues of obscurity they identify within CGSU, according to Wiles.

CGSU

Crowd Advocates for Graduate Student Under Grievance Review, Calls Process ‘Broken’

By Shafay Munir | September 22, 2016

“Someone not on her committee had the power to take away her funding,” Brown said. “We’re gathered as CGSU members, to stand in solidarity with Marsha, who had a grievance with the graduate school due to an unfair evaluation as a graduate research assist. This grievance process is broken.”