Resolution in Solidarity with the Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties on Strike

Resolution in Solidarity with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties on Strike

[Passed at the Fall Members’ Meeting, 20th October, 2016]

WHEREAS, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF-AFT), which represents faculty and coaches at Pennsylvania’s fourteen state-owned universities, has been on strike since Wednesday, October 19 after working without a contract for more than 450 days; and

WHEREAS, the state system has not bargained seriously with the faculty, neglected for four months to meet with the faculty bargaining committee, and has turned down binding arbitration in favor of a non-binding “fact-finding” which would delay negotiations at the expense of faculty and students; and

WHEREAS, APSCUF is fighting for to defend the quality of Pennsylvania’s public higher education system and is deeply committed to the needs of their students; and

WHEREAS, the state’s contract proposals would undermine academic job security at the expense of both faculty and students; and

WHEREAS, the state is proposing salary cuts that would amount to a 20% pay cut for the lowest paid faculty even while administrators took substantial salary increases; and

WHEREAS, the state proposal would  cut healthcare benefits while also increasing out of pocket costs for healthcare; and

WHEREAS, this strike takes place in the context of the casualization of the academic workforce which undermines quality of life for academic workers and the quality of education provided to our students, and which turns the university campus into a factory rather than an institution of education; and

WHEREAS, quality public higher education must remain a cornerstone of our society if we are to ensure access and equity in education; be it

RESOLVED, that Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago (AFT/AAUP) stands in solidarity with striking faculty members across the Pennsylvania State College and University system as they fight for a fair contract.