After two weeks of picketing all around campus, the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition continues to fight for unionization.
On April 19th the IGWC and people in support headed over to the Chemistry building to hold signs and participate in chants and songs. Along with the signs, chants, and songs, the striking graduate workers held a vote on whether picketing should continue throughout the week before finals.
The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the protests with 967 students voting yes and only 27 voting no.
Now that the vote went through, the IGWC is posting updates for this week’s activities on Instagram.
The graduate workers are fighting for the right to form a union–something the university says they are not eligible to do.
The Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition had a multitude of chants and songs throughout their strike.
Indiana graduate student Chelsea Brinda talked about why she thinks Indiana needs to acknowledge the graduate workers’ demands.
She is a graduate student in the School of Education and believes that for the future of the state of Indiana’s education system, the graduate students need to be heard.
Brinda also mentions how IU acknowledging them and making a difference would help the recruitment of graduate workers at the school.
The School of Education is one of the schools at IU in which graduate students get paid the least.
The IGWC is frustrated with IU and President Pamela Whitten because they said they feel ignored and like they don’t matter to the university.
Brinda talks about her personal investment in the strike and why it’s so important to advocate for it.
However, not everyone is in full support of the graduate workers strike going on for this long.
Steve Sanders, a law professor at IU, says he believes it to be irresponsible for a multitude of reasons.
Throughout the process of the graduate workers striking, classes have been cancelled and teaching assistants have refused to grade undergraduate students’ work. This is one of the reasons Sanders believes it to be irresponsible.
He says that students are being robbed of the education they pay such a large sum for.
Undergraduate students have been asked to walk out of some of their classes if they’re on the side of the graduate workers.
This has happened at Ballantine Hall and other placed on campus for the undergraduate workers to show their stance.
To check in on how the strikes proceed in the future go to Indiana Grads on Instagram or their official website that are both linked above.
Sanders talks about his opinions on the strike and how they’ve affected students at IU.
