workers rights – Penn Disorientation Guide

A Case of Institutional Failure: Penn’s Response to COVID-19

A white girl in a mask and a winter jacket stands at a table in one of the COVID testing tents on Penn's campus.

For many, the pandemic was a breaking point: watching those with power and wealth profit while everyday people lost their jobs and their lives spurred many into radical action. Had the people leading our institutions taken the right steps to save lives instead of protecting their reputations and profits, thousands of lives could have been saved. Penn is no exception, and activists and community members have had to fight fiercely to hold the University accountable.

A Case of Institutional Failure: Penn’s Response to COVID-19

Over the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the globe. So much loss could have been avoided if the people leading our institutions took the right steps to save lives instead of protecting their reputations and profits. Penn is no exception.

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.