UPDATED: Graduate student workers extend strike in push for unionization
Over 1,000 graduate student workers are participating in the strike, which officially began on Apr. 13.
In the Apr. 19 strike re-authorization vote, 97.3% of workers voted to extend the strike to Apr. 27.
Today, Young Democratic Socialists of America Bloomington tweeted a video of its protest apparently outside Indiana University (IU) Bloomington Vice Provost Eliza Pavalko’s office. The protesters are demonstrating for unionization.
#UnionYES outside Pavalko’s office! #IUonStrike22 pic.twitter.com/4cKCSMd9u1
— YDSA Bloomington - ON STRIKE! (@YDSABloomington) April 25, 2022
Earlier this month, graduate student workers voted to extend their strike in an attempt to get the university to recognize the group as an official union.
Over 1,000 Indiana Grad Workers Coalition members are participating in the strike, which officially began on Apr. 13. In the Apr. 19 strike re-authorization vote, 97.3% of workers voted to extend the strike to Apr. 27.
The final vote tallied 967-27.
[RELATED: ANALYSIS: How the rise of unionization on campus impacts undergraduate students]
Throughout the strike, participating graduate workers have hosted picket lines, walk-outs, and even a strike “dance party.”
The graduate workers argue that unionizing would provide them with the “clearest path forward” to better pay, benefits, and eradication of student fees, Indiana Public Media reports.
”A union would give grad workers the voice needed to negotiate fees and wages as well as yearly raises, equal protection and treatment for international students, and more,” reads an Instagram post from the Indiana Grad Workers Coalition.
The strike began after the university denied a petition to request a union election, which had been signed by over half of the graduate workers on campus.
Campus Reform has reached out to the university and the Indiana Grad Workers Coalition for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
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