[lbo-talk] Penn graduate students to strike

[Matthew Snyder]

For over a year, the administration at the University of Pennsylvania
has strongly resisted graduate student organization, using all sorts
of delay tactics to squash the unionization effort of GET-UP (Graduate
Employees Together - University of Pennsylvania).  A favorable
decision by the NLRB opened the door for a vote on unionization a year
ago, but the administration filed an appeal which has resulted in the
votes not being counted and has allowed the administration to avoid 
dealing with the union.

On Monday night, GET-UP members voted to strike on Thursday and Friday.
Since Penn is a research university, many of the classes are taught by 
graduate students, so despite what this article says:

	http://tinyurl.com/3xhsc

there is potentiol for a significant impact on the university.

Tactically, I don't understand why there has been no threat from
GET-UP that this is any more than a one-off two-day strike.  There has
been no indication that there will be longer term or escalating work
stoppages should the strike fail.  For the university's part, they are
making every effort to ensure that GET-UP is corralled into specific
areas of campus, minimizing the impact of any picket lines.

--
Matthew Snyder
Philadelphia, PA