Giv­en the rich his­to­ry of stu­dent-work­er orga­niz­ing — in and around the New York met­ro­pol­i­tan area and around the coun­try, in addi­tion to the high­ly-pub­li­cized, vibrant orga­niz­ing of pri­vate-sec­tor uni­ver­si­ties chal­leng­ing the 2004 NLRB deci­sion that has been ongo­ing in the region for the last two years — we find it dis­turb­ing and frus­trat­ing that the New York Times failed to inter­view a sin­gle grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­er for its recent op-ed series ​“Room for Debate” on the grad­u­ate and con­tin­gent labor movement.

These efforts date back to the 1960s. Grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­ers at UC Berke­ley union­ized dur­ing the Free Speech Move­ment in 1964; in 1969, grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­ers joined the fac­ul­ty bar­gain­ing units at CUNY and Rut­gers, fol­lowed close­ly by Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin-Madison’s Teach­ing Assis­tants Asso­ci­a­tion , who gained recog­ni­tion inde­pen­dent­ly of fac­ul­ty in the same year.

Instead, the Times chose to inter­view uni­ver­si­ty admin­is­tra­tors and fac­ul­ty, some of whom dis­miss stu­dent-work­er union­iza­tion as ​“naïve” and dis­rup­tive of ​“del­i­cate bal­ances.” While we wel­come the Times’ late entrance into the debate over grad­u­ate stu­dent union­iza­tion, in order for such a debate to take place in earnest, stu­dent-work­er per­spec­tives must be included.

Over the last two decades, the strug­gle of adjunct fac­ul­ty liv­ing in pover­ty has dom­i­nat­ed the con­ver­sa­tion about the qual­i­ty of under­grad­u­ate edu­ca­tion and acad­e­mia as a viable career path. For fledg­ling aca­d­e­mics in grad­u­ate school, it has become impos­si­ble to avoid the sto­ries of adjunct pro­fes­sors liv­ing out of their cars, strug­gling to col­lect enough mon­ey to eat, even dying from lack of insti­tu­tion­al support.

A head­line from the pop­u­lar aca­d­e­m­ic com­mu­ni­ty blog Vitae encap­su­lates the bleak­ness of the adjunct life: ​“Sui­cide is My Retire­ment Plan.” This is the utter­ly dis­em­pow­ered and dark career path and uni­ver­si­ty envi­ron­ment that many of us stand to inherit.

Unions offer us an alter­na­tive set of pos­si­ble futures, all of which are brighter than the present. Through col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing and col­lec­tive action, we fight against the increas­ing cor­po­ra­ti­za­tion of the uni­ver­si­ty. The mate­r­i­al ben­e­fits and improved work­ing con­di­tions we achieve through our col­lec­tive efforts are also impor­tant for high-qual­i­ty aca­d­e­m­ic instruc­tion and research, since we can’t pro­duce good work if we have to take on many addi­tion­al jobs to make ends meet.

In many respects, the grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­er move­ment func­tions as a train­ing ground for tomorrow’s adjunct and fac­ul­ty orga­niz­ers. Tak­ing part in col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing as grad­u­ate stu­dents teach­es us how neolib­er­al-era col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties actu­al­ly work, and the key role con­tin­gent labor plays in sup­port­ing these insti­tu­tions. Through engag­ing in grad­u­ate unions, we learn cru­cial skills for build­ing effec­tive orga­niz­ing cam­paigns, nego­ti­at­ing strong con­tracts and stand­ing togeth­er across disciplines.

The impor­tance of unions goes beyond work­er edu­ca­tion. A strong, col­lec­tive­ly-bar­gained grad­u­ate employ­ee union con­tract pro­tects the most vul­ner­a­ble grad stu­dent-work­ers from abuse and makes an aca­d­e­m­ic career pos­si­ble for a wider range of peo­ple. Acad­e­mia can be a deeply dis­crim­i­na­to­ry and pre­car­i­ous place for women (espe­cial­ly with fam­i­lies), LGBTQI peo­ple, peo­ple of col­or and peo­ple liv­ing with chron­ic ill­ness and dis­abil­i­ties. (See the anthol­o­gy Pre­sumed Incom­pe­tent for some stag­ger­ing exam­ples.) ​“Just cause” pro­vi­sions are a hall­mark of union con­tracts, and pro­tect work­ers from arbi­trary or capri­cious hir­ing and fir­ing deci­sions; con­tracts also fre­quent­ly offer pro­tec­tion from sex­u­al harass­ment, retal­i­a­tion and oth­er forms of mis­treat­ment in the workplace.

Unions can also nego­ti­ate eco­nom­ic ben­e­fits like liv­ing wages and more afford­able health­care. Many grad­u­ate employ­ees with­out unions live on pover­ty wages. With­out a good health insur­ance plan, they may be forced to choose between tak­ing care of their health and eat­ing or pay­ing rent. Some grad­u­ate stu­dents may be able to rely on fam­i­lies or spous­es to sup­port them dur­ing their grad­u­ate edu­ca­tion, but this is a priv­i­lege that not every­one has or can access. Grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­ers are often forced to take on stu­dent loan and/​or cred­it card debt to sur­vive. Unions allow grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­ers to fight for wages and ben­e­fits that allow them to sur­vive inde­pen­dent­ly of their fam­i­lies with­out tak­ing on debt. This is cru­cial for keep­ing grad­u­ate edu­ca­tion acces­si­ble to peo­ple from all socioe­co­nom­ic backgrounds.

The only ​“del­i­cate bal­ances” that stand to be ​“upset” by grad­u­ate employ­ees and oth­er con­tin­gent aca­d­e­m­ic work­ers attain­ing full col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing rights are the deeply uneven bal­ances of pow­er and cap­i­tal that have allowed high­er edu­ca­tion to plunge fur­ther and fur­ther into an employ­ment cri­sis over the last two decades. We believe that all work­ers deserve bet­ter than pover­ty wages, poor or nonex­is­tent health insur­ance, and no job security.

The labor of grad­u­ate employ­ees, post­doc­tor­al fel­lows, and con­tin­gent fac­ul­ty in labs, class­rooms, offices and dorms keeps research uni­ver­si­ties afloat. Unions allow us to lever­age the pow­er of our labor to ensure our sur­vival now, that we may build a bet­ter future.

The recog­ni­tion of grad­u­ate stu­dent work as work is grow­ing, but for any debates over grad­u­ate stu­dent union­iza­tion to take place in earnest, stu­dent-work­er per­spec­tives must be includ­ed. The New York Times made a seri­ous omis­sion by leav­ing out grad­u­ate stu­dent-work­er voic­es which demon­strate the ways union­iza­tion and col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing yield ben­e­fi­cial changes to our lives while enhanc­ing the qual­i­ty of uni­ver­si­ty instruc­tion and research.