John, did you see what Temple University just did to its graduate workers?

Temple University Graduate Students’ Association (TUGSA) is on strike for living wages, manageable workloads and respect on the job. These are the teaching assistants and researchers that keep the university running and kept Temple afloat through the pandemic.

TUGSA members have worked tirelessly to help students learn. But on Wednesday, Feb. 8, Temple University sent around an email revoking their tuition remission. It’s unprecedented and retaliatory, and a sign Temple would rather punish its employees than negotiate.

This is a repugnant act. Now it’s up to us to help. Please click here and donate to the TUGSA strike fund so members can continue fighting for a fair contract and dignity on the job.

Temple University was founded with the intention of lifting up the community it serves. But instead of finding ways to increase the wages of TUGSA members from a paltry $19,500 a year to a wage they can live on in Philadelphia (where a minimum living wage is around $37,000 a year), the university has refused to negotiate.

It should not take a strike, at an academic institution that professes its desires for academic freedom and shared prosperity, to get graduate workers a livable wage. It's time for Temple to stop the hypocrisy and come to the table to bargain.

Until it does, I’m asking all of us to chip in for TUGSA’s strike fund, so its members can fight one day longer and one day stronger for what they deserve.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

P.S. To learn more about TUGSA and what it’s fighting for, visit its website here.