Local labor unions say they will support University of Rochester PhD students if they strike on Monday.
Teamsters representatives with Locals 118 and 317 say that their union members, who deliver packages and supplies to university buildings, will not cross the picket line while the graduate students are on strike.
In a letter to UR President Sarah Mangelsdorf this week, Local 118 President Tim Barbeto said the Graduate Labor Union should not have to strike to win the right to be recognized.
“Employers that demonstrate their opposition to the organization of their workers show the entire community their disdain for the working people that keep those institutions afloat,” Barbeto wrote.
Duane Wright, principal executive officer with the Teamsters Union Local 317, wrote in a separate letter to Mangelsdorf that union members who make “essential deliveries” to UR’s three campuses will not cross picket lines if the strike occurs.
“It is the policy of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to respect our fellow workers’ rights,” Wright said. “As the largest employer in our region, the University of Rochester has a special responsibility to be a leader in our community when it comes to matters of workers’ rights.”
Maeve Gillen, a PhD candidate and union organizer at the Eastman Campus, said the move to unionize graduate students is a matter of fair pay, fair treatment, and having a collective voice in matters that relate to their work.
“I work four jobs currently,” she said. “I'm struggling to do my research because I'm working somewhere in the realm of 60 hours a week. I’m only taking home ... somewhere in the realm of like $27,000 a year. ... So, things are pretty dire. A lot of us can't keep going on like this.”
Gillen said members want university administrators to commit to an election process necessary for them to unionize. Without that, the strike will go on as planned.
However, university leadership has stood firm that it will not bend to the threat of a strike.
“While the University respects employees’ right to participate in a strike consistent with federal labor laws, it nevertheless strongly believes that a strike by graduate students is neither in their best interest nor the most effective means of resolving the differences between the parties,” UR spokesperson Sara Miller wrote in a prepared statement.
The graduate students should seek recognition through the National Labor Relations Board process, she continued, rather than a private, outside arbitrator — “a process the university has never before agreed to.”
“The University will not succumb to the union’s pressure tactics and has put into place contingency plans that will minimize the disruption that a strike might have on our academic mission, including teaching and research activities,” read the university statement.
