labor – Page 2 – Penn Disorientation Guide

Inside the Fight for a Grad Student Union

Photo shows a black paper sign with white lettering that reads "GET UP" on a bulletin board with other posters. Photo courtesy The DG

Graduate students serve as teaching assistants, instructors, and research assistants that carry out operations essential to university life and experiences. However, despite the amount of work that graduate students do in order to ensure that undergraduate education and research goes smoothly, the University does not recognize them as workers.

How Penn and Other Universities Are Turning Teaching into Temp Work

Protestors stand in solidarity in front of the Ben Franklin statue on College Green with signs about justice for workers.

What are the labor conditions of the tens of thousands of people whose work makes Penn work? As a faculty organization AAUP–Penn advocates for the university workers employed in teaching and research, though our commitments don’t stop there.

Penn’s Problematic History of Union-busting

Many University-affiliated staff members have said that Penn has promoted union-busting strategies to their advantage. Photo shows white, male protestor with a sign that demands a fair contract for custodial staff and housekeeping workers. Photo courtesy of The Daily Pennsylvanian

Penn has been faced with allegations of union-busting tactics and remained silent in the face of labor organizing in Philadelphia. Corporations and institutions implement common union-busting strategies to keep workers divided, demoralized, and controlled.