We, the Penn State Faculty Alliance, in full support of the Coalition of Graduate Employees - UAW, call on all our academic and administrative colleagues to ensure an open and unencumbered unionization process for Penn State’s graduate workers.
As faculty members fighting for a union, we are disappointed by the University Administration’s attempts to divide the graduate worker bargaining unit. Their argument that graduate workers employed as research assistants are students first and foremost, and therefore not workers, is incorrect. Several high-performing universities recognize that graduate workers can simultaneously receive academic training and provide irreplaceable labor in service to their academic institution.
Whether they are employed to conduct research or teach courses, this University relies on the labor of its graduate workers. Their skilled labor is essential to Penn State’s mission as an educational institution, developing and inducting the next generation of scholars into the academic system.
Learning enrichment in the workplace and dignity on the job are not mutually exclusive. In-service learning does not negate the fact that workers deserve fair labor conditions, living wages, benefits, and the right to collectively bargain with their employer. Claiming otherwise mischaracterizes the labor of graduate workers as a byproduct of their education; graduate worker labor ensures that Penn State can achieve excellence in research and teaching, fulfilling our mission as a land-grant institution.
Our faculty union is committed to protecting the rights of all our graduate workers to engage in a democratic process to form their union and win a collective bargaining agreement. Given that most of us have served as graduate students in research or teaching roles at some point in our careers, we stand in solidarity with them. We call on Penn State’s Administration to join us in supporting graduate workers, respect their right to organize, and immediately cease their efforts to delay CGE’s union election.