What you need to know
- The striking graduate student teaching and research assistant has reached a tentative agreement with Temple University, coming close to finally ending a strike that has lasted more than a month.
- TUGSA, representing about 750 members, launched its first strike in its 20-year history on January 31 after more than a year of negotiations and no agreement. Students teach core undergraduate courses and assist professors in research.
- Responding to the announcement on Twitter Thursday night, the union made meaningful and significant gains on “all the major issues it set out to address in the negotiations,” including wages, dependent care, leave policies and working conditions. Union members will vote on the deal on Friday.
The striking graduate student teaching and research assistant has reached a tentative agreement with Temple University, coming close to finally ending a strike that has lasted more than a month.
The Temple University Graduate Student Association (TUGSA) tweeted the announcement Thursday night at the Teaching and Research Assistants’ Union at Temple University in Philadelphia. Union members will vote on the deal on Friday.
TUGSA, representing about 750 members, launched its first strike in its 20-year history on January 31 after more than a year of negotiations and no agreement. Students teach core undergraduate courses and assist professors in research.
The university says about 20% of its graduate teaching and research assistants are out of work, but unions have said many are on strike at least twice. Many classes have been moved online to accommodate new instructor schedules and have received reports of intimidation of students and instructors, the university said.
Temple withdrew free tuition from strikers, and paid in full within a month or faced a financial hold of being charged late fees and not being able to enroll in additional classes. rice field. Union leaders said the university was also voiding the medical accounts of striking students.
In late February, unions overwhelmingly rejected the proposed new contract, which Temple said included a pay increase and a one-time payment in each of the four years of the contract. A statement posted on its website said graduate students would keep free health insurance for themselves, but didn’t mention coverage for dependents, which the union is seeking. .
The union had sought to raise the average wage from $19,500 to more than $32,000 a year, but the university is proposing a 3% raise, bringing the average wage to about $22,000 on a four-year contract. I also want health insurance for dependents and longer paid parental and bereavement leave.
Responding to the announcement on Twitter Thursday night, the union made meaningful and significant gains on “all the major issues it set out to address in the negotiations,” including wages, dependent care, leave policies and working conditions. He said.
