Should NYU faculty and their dependent children receive full tuition remission?
As graduate assistants approach the two-week mark of their strike to prompt negotiations between administrators and their union, members registered for weekly $200 strike benefits in case the university threatens their stipends.
The graduate assistants' union, United Auto Workers Local 2110, initiated the strike on Nov. 9 as a last resort to pressure the university to reopen contract negotiations with their union. They became eligible for strike benefits after the strike lasted seven days, according to UAW strike procedure. If NYU begins docking strikers' pay, members of the Graduate Student Organizing Committee who are striking and performing strike duty will be eligible for money from the fund, GSOC spokeswoman Susan Valentine said.
The union has asked GSOC members who are working for the university this semester to picket in five-hour shifts three times a week and spend an additional five hours working in the union's office, she said. Members who are not physically able to perform picket line duty can fulfill other tasks, she said.
University spokesman John Beckman said there will be consequences for striking graduate assistants, but the university has not discussed what those may be.
"We haven't gotten to the point where we're having that conversation," Beckman said.
The registration, which took place Thursday and Friday in Local 2110's offices at 113 University Place, was organized by representatives from UAW's main offices in Detroit, and the strike fund will draw from the nearly $1 billion the UAW has at its disposable, Local 2110 President Maida Rosenstein said.
The large strike fund is one of the advantages of joining a bigger union like the UAW, Valentine said.
Rosenstein described registration turnout as "high," but would not release exact numbers. She added that those who have not yet registered still can.
In addition to the UAW's fund, Local 2110 is creating a strike fund that will partially help grad students with special hardship.
"Some people obviously live paycheck-to-paycheck," Valentine said. "If they aren't able to pay their rent because our salaries have been docked, they could potentially get support out of the hardship fund."
The local fund will also pay for the difference in health care co-payments since last year, Rosenstein said.
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