'Unconscionable': University Grad Assistants Go on Strike, Are 'Appalled' They're No Longer Being PaidBy Alex Parker
February 13, 2023
Before doing something, it’s best to know what it entails. Such a policy may not have been perfectly followed in Philadelphia.
As reported by The Temple News, on January 31st, the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association [TUGSA] declared a strike. Evidently, they aren’t highly paid:
The average graduate student worker earns approximately $19,500 a year and TUGSA members have been advocating for their pay to be increased to $32,800. Temple has offered the union a three percent annual pay increase, a one-time payment of $500 to certain individuals, double parental leave and additional bereavement leave.
* * *
The above appears to have possibly been less than anticipated. As characterized by The College Fix, some refusing to work have been “shocked” to lose their health benefits and free tuition. Online, Ph.D. candidate Madison Ingram posted a screenshot of Temple’s missive to those not doing their jobs:
As a result of your participation in the TUGSA strike, your tuition remission has been removed for the spring semester. You now owe the full balance listed in TUpay, which is due by Thursday, March 9th.
If your balance is not paid-in-full by the due date, you will be assessed a $100 late payment fee and a financial hold will be placed on your student account. This hold will prevent future registration.
For your convenience, you can make payment online…
“Lol — ‘for my convenience,'” Madison wrote.
She also retweeted a presumed promotion of socialism:
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you’re not a capitalist. You’re a worker. You don’t own the factories. You don’t own the banks. You don’t own the company you work at. The sooner you learn that you’re one of us, not one of them, the sooner we can all get free.
The message seems in line with a modern misunderstanding. Despite an apparently common belief, socialism doesn’t transfer ownership to workers. Under socialism, government officials gain complete control of all products and means of production. Workers are still workers — but instead of operating within a system of competition, they work for the ultimate big business known as government. If they want to leave their jobs and work for someone else, they can’t — because no one else owns a business.
* * *
Source:
https://redstate.com/alexparker/2023/02/13/unconscionable-university-grad-assistants-go-on-strike-are-appalled-theyre-no-longer-being-paid-n703356
