A brief one this morning: the approximately 400 graduate students at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth have voted to unionize. The UMassD Graduate Student Coalition, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, won their union election 119-3.
Graduate assistants at the university have historically been paid less than 10% of a living wage in their region. The effects of this, according to the union:
[...look] like 5 students living in a 2-bedroom apartment. It's students sleeping in rat-infested or bedbug-infested rooms. It's students sleeping in the attics and basements of campus buildings. It looks like constantly brushing uncut hair out of our eyes, washing our clothes in the sink, and waiting for buses in the freezing cold. Some students are eating 1 meal a day -- and it's a package of uncooked noodles. It's students disappearing for months, and they cannot be contacted because they can't afford internet, or a phone. Or rent. Or food.
Now, though, the union is in a position to overturn these appalling conditions. Good luck, UMassD grad students!