Graduate Students at Clark University in Worcester, MA to Unionize
“This is a historically significant moment for graduate labor”
For those of you from out of state, it’s pronounced ‘wiss-tah’ and it’s a great city that has seen better times. Having said that, I still don’t think graduate students should be forming unions. It’s not a career.
The Worcester Business Journal reports:
Clark University graduate students to unionize
Graduate student workers at Clark University in Worcester formally requested union recognition in a letter to the college administration on Wednesday.
The group is prepared to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board if Clark does not voluntarily recognize the union and begin bargaining, according to the letter which was signed by a 17-student organizing committee.
A supermajority of graduate student workers in Clark’s Graduate Arts and Sciences and International Development, Community, and Environment programs have signed union authorization cards.
Clark University said it was still looking into the issue when asked for a comment Thursday morning.
The group would be represented by the Worcester-based Teamsters Union Local 170, which is the fifth-largest union by membership in Central Massachusetts, according to WBJ’s Book of Lists.
“This is a historically significant moment for graduate labor,” the letter said, referring to graduate students at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UMass Amherst and Tufts University, who have made efforts to unionize in the last two years.
Clark University Graduate Workers United began organizing in the spring of 2020 amid a healthcare premium hike, and ultimately gained subsidies for half of graduate workers’ healthcare costs that year, according to a Google Document published by the group.
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Commies of the world, unite… against the commies oppressing you!
“For those of you from out of state, it’s pronounced ‘wiss-tah’”
It’s actually pronounced “woos-ta,” with the “oo” as in “cook,” not “balloon.” (Worcester County resident for 15 years, here.)
(And also for you Family Guy fans — “quahog” is pronounced by Rhode Islanders as “caw-hawg,” not (as on the show) “co-hawg.” No idea why Seth blew this one in a major way, he gets most of his Rhode Island lore dead on, right down to his artwork for the “Barrington Country Club.”)