NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Two weeks ago, Yale graduate student teachers began a hunger strike to pressure the school to negotiate with their union. Eight committed to fasting, planning only to stop if a doctor says their health is at risk of permanent damage. If a student has to stop fasting, another union member takes his or her spot. Four of the students have had nothing but water for 14 days.

The measures these graduate student teachers are taking are dramatic. But their cause — a fight for decent, secure wages and comprehensive benefits — has implications for the entire labor market.

Like many colleges and universities, Yale relies on graduate students and other low-paid contingent faculty members, like adjunct professors, to teach much of its coursework. Contingent faculty members make up about 70 percent of the teachers in higher education in the United States. They work entirely on contract. They are poorly paid and lack access to affordable health care, job security or a voice in their working conditions.

It is not shocking that these teachers have turned to unions. What is shocking is how a lot of universities have responded.