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Olivia Wood

Olivia is a writer and editor at Left Voice and lecturer in English at the City University of New York (CUNY).

CUNY Faculty and Staff Have Gone One Year Without a Contract — It’s Time to Strike

CUNY workers have been without a new contract for a full year and the university has yet to make any economic offers. It's time to take action.

Olivia Wood

February 29, 2024

U.S. Higher Education Is Being Gutted, but We Can Fight Back

Across the United States, higher education is being gutted through program eliminations and budget cuts. We must prepare to fight these attacks with everything we have.

Olivia Wood

February 28, 2024

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

As Governor Hochul proposes another $528 million in cuts, workers at the City University of New York are fighting back.

Olivia Wood

February 12, 2024

CUNY Union Joins Call for Ceasefire in Gaza

The PSC CUNY union, which represents more than 30,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York has joined dozens of other major unions to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. This is a great first step, but U.S. labor has to back up its demands with action.

Olivia Wood

December 15, 2023

Rutgers University Suspends Students for Justice in Palestine

The move to ban SJP at New Jersey's largest university comes amid a wave of escalating attacks on the student movement for Palestine.

Olivia Wood

December 13, 2023

House of Representatives Paves the Path for More Attacks on Palestine Protesters

A new bipartisan bill sets the stage for new legislation targeting pro-Palestine activists by defining any opposition to the state of Israel as antisemitism.

Olivia Wood

December 9, 2023

Student Workers Stand Up for CUNY and Palestine

Attacks on CUNY and CUNY activists are an attack on all working people and students. Workers and students united can fight back.  

Olivia Wood

November 25, 2023

New York Dedicates $75 Million to Police, Expanding Surveillance of University Protesters

Governor Hochul’s announcement of expanded police funding for surveillance is aligned with similar new initiatives from the Biden administration and university leaders.

Olivia Wood

November 3, 2023

City College’s Fight against Political Repression in 1940s New York Holds Lessons for Today

As repression against pro-Palestine speech grows on college campuses, students and education workers can find inspiration in the City College community’s response to the arrests and firings of anti-fascist protesters in the 1940s.

Olivia Wood

October 31, 2023

New York Students Will Walk Out for National Day of Action for Palestine

New Yorkers at four different universities are walking out on Wednesday In response to Students for Justice in Palestine’s call for a nationwide day of action.

Olivia Wood

October 24, 2023

Amid Repression from the Administration and Police, the CUNY PSC Must Stand with Palestine 

As bombs rain down on Gaza and the CUNY administration continues to condemn and demonize Pro-Palestinian protests, the faculty and staff union at CUNY cannot remain silent. We must say loudly and clearly that we stand with Palestine.

Olivia Wood

October 20, 2023

The KOSA Bill Is Another Attack on LGBTQ+ People, People of Color, and Children’s Right To Learn

KOSA is ultimately a surveillance bill whose purpose is to limit the spread of progressive politics that pose a threat to the state.

Olivia Wood

September 14, 2023

North Carolina and Texas Bills Would Eliminate Long-Term Job Security in Higher Education

The bills would eliminate tenure, destroying the primary form of job security in higher education. The North Carolina bill also makes a series of other attacks against workers and students.

Olivia Wood

April 28, 2023

Equal Pay Today, the Whole World Tomorrow: Speech from the Rutgers Picket Line

Academic workers are strengthening their organizing muscles. The bonds formed during these contract campaigns can lay the groundwork for more largescale class struggle in the future.

Olivia Wood

April 14, 2023

CUNY Writing Teachers Fight Back against Cuts

At City College, administrators tried to cut the hours of pay for first year writing courses as part of university-wide budget cuts. Writing teachers responded with collective action.

Olivia Wood

April 5, 2023

CUNY Administration Cracks Down on Student and Worker-Run Food Pantry

Students and workers opened "The People's Pantry" seven weeks ago as part of a broader anti-austerity campaign at CUNY, leading to several direct confrontations with the administration.

Olivia Wood

March 19, 2023

CUNY Union Chapter Unanimously Passes Resolution in Support of Trans Rights

The Graduate Center chapter of PSC-CUNY, the faculty, staff, and graduate worker union of the City University of New York, passed a resolution pledging support to all workers fighting the anti-trans bills nationwide.

Olivia Wood

March 12, 2023

The Unprecedented Attack on Trans Rights

There is a massive attack on the rights of trans people, especially trans youth.

Olivia Wood

February 22, 2023

Fordham University’s Resident Assistants Unionize

Two days after the faculty union ratified its second contract, student workers announced there’s a new union in town.

Olivia Wood

February 9, 2023

The Higher Ed Labor Movement Runs Full Speed Ahead into 2023

Just thirteen days into the new year, a new set of strikes are already brewing in the higher education labor movement.

Olivia Wood

January 13, 2023

Are You a Public School Teacher in a State That Bans Collective Bargaining? This Article Is for You.

In states where public sector collective bargaining is banned, the path to a union and a contract is harder, but not impossible. A worker from one of these states explains why.

Olivia Wood

December 16, 2022

As Grade Deadlines Approach, Academic Workers Must Hold the Line and Expand Strikes

The end of the semester is a critical time for academic workers on strike. Part time faculty at The New School and student workers and postdocs at the University of California are fighting hard to hold the line against increasing attacks from their employers.

Olivia Wood

December 8, 2022

A Strike Threat Won NYU Adjuncts a Massive Raise — We Must Prepare to Strike at CUNY

Adjunct faculty at NYU recently won major gains in their contract after threatening to strike. CUNY workers should follow in their footsteps.

Olivia Wood

November 5, 2022

Graduate Unions Lead the Way in National Reproductive Rights Walkouts

Students from schools across the United States are leading a Day of Action today to fight for the rights to safe, legal, and accessible abortion, gender affirming care, comprehensive sex education, and free contraception. They show the power of a labor movement that fights for workplace demands hand in hand with the defense against oppression.

Olivia Wood

October 6, 2022

Despite What Biden Says, the Pandemic Isn’t Over

Joe Biden and the bourgeoisie may be ready for the pandemic to be over, but that doesn’t mean Covid-19 has gone away.

Olivia Wood

September 20, 2022

SEIU Colludes with Columbia to Push Through Contract for Staff

The proposed contract would provide raises of only three percent per year, an effective pay cut. Workers are waging a “Vote No” campaign.

Olivia Wood

September 1, 2022

Graduate Students Across the U.S. Are Organizing for Abortion Rights

Students around the country are planning walkouts and other actions to defend abortion rights on October 6.

Olivia Wood

August 22, 2022

Fordham University Hates Adjuncts

Fordham University remains committed to paying adjunct faculty far less than a living wage, depriving them of health benefits, and discriminating against faculty in the Graduate School of Social Services.

Olivia Wood

August 8, 2022

GOP Introduces Federal Bill Attacking Trans Children

House Republicans have introduced a federal anti-trans bill specifically attacking children and school employees. It’s a sign of things to come from the GOP’s increasingly reactionary agenda.

Olivia Wood

July 15, 2022

To Fight Far Right Attacks We Must Reclaim the Radical Legacy of Pride

This Pride Month, many are worried about the escalating attacks on queer people, and especially trans people, coming from the far right. Instead of staying home, we need to take Pride back to its roots as a protest against oppression, not a party.

Olivia Wood

June 13, 2022