Joined by fellow graduate students from Yale and Columbia Universities and the University of Pennsylvania, hundreds of graduate students manned picket lines, with some undergraduates joining in on a lunchtime rally. Approximately 400 NYU professors have asked for help in locating off-campus locations for their classes. In an attempt to avoid crossing picket lines, some are meeting in nearby apartments, churches and restaurants.
In 2001, NYU became the first private institution in the nation to make an agreement with a teaching assistant (TA) union after reaching a deal with the United Automobile Workers. In 2004, however, after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that TA's were not covered by federal labor law, the university chose not to negotiate a similar deal, allowing the contract to expire this past summer.
Provoking enormous protest, organizers of the NYU walkout say that they are prepared to strike for weeks or even months. Graduate students participating in the strike, however, are continuing to attend their own classes.
American studies professor and a faculty supporter of the union Andrew Ross said that the strike will likely turn into a lengthy battle. "When an employer comes along and breaks a union, it's like breaking someone's arm," he told The Chronicle. "They're not going to rest easy until they have the full use of their arm."
According to The Chronicle, university spokesman John Beckman said in a written statement, "Any disruption to our students' education, even a minor one, is lamentable. NYU will remain focused on sustaining our students' academic progress and, working with graduate-student groups, on creating an exceptional educational environment for graduate students."
NYU President John Sexton met with 24 professors on Tuesday and listened to requests for a renegotiation with the union to avoid the strike. Ross, who led the group, said that the president remained uncompromising and informed the professors that the "union can either die a quick death or a slow death."
According to The Chronicle, the university suggested that the auto workers' union remain the bargaining vehicle for the TAs on economic matters such as salaries and healthcare. This was unacceptable for union members. "That was not a contract," said Susan Valentine, a Ph.D. student. "It would not have been enforceable in any of the ways that union contracts are usually enforceable," she said.
Currently, graduate students at NYU receive a $19,000 salary, and the university has pledged to increase the stipend by $1,000 in each of the next two years.