Olivia Wood
Olivia is a writer and editor at Left Voice and lecturer in English at the City University of New York (CUNY).
CUNY Students Occupy Campus in Solidarity with Palestine, Building on the University’s Legacy of Radical Organizing
Students at the City College of New York have a vibrant history of protests and occupations. This week’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment explicitly references and honors that legacy.
Olivia Wood
April 27, 2024Faculty at University of Texas Austin Strike in Solidarity with Student Protesters
Pro-Palestine movements on college campuses are facing harsh repression, and faculty across the nation are taking action in solidarity. At UT Austin, faculty are the first to call a strike in solidarity with their repressed students. More faculty across the country must follow suit.
Olivia Wood
April 25, 2024Faculty, Staff, and Students Must Unite Against Repression of the Palestine Movement
As Gaza solidarity encampments spread across the United States, faculty and staff are mobilizing in solidarity with their students against repression. We must build on that example and build a strong campaign for our right to protest.
Olivia Wood
April 23, 2024Dispatches from Labor Notes 2024: Solidarity with Columbia Students Against Repression
The Labor Notes Conference this year takes place right after over 100 students were arrested at Columbia for protesting for Palestine. We must use this conference to build a strong campaign against the repression which will impact us all if it is allowed to stand.
Olivia Wood
April 20, 2024CUNY 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, 2024U.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, 2024CUNY 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, 2024CUNY 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, 2023Rutgers 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, 2023House 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, 2023Student 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, 2023New 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, 2023City 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, 2023New 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, 2023Amid 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, 2023The 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, 2023North 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, 2023Equal 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, 2023CUNY 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, 2023CUNY 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, 2023CUNY 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, 2023The Unprecedented Attack on Trans Rights
There is a massive attack on the rights of trans people, especially trans youth.
Olivia Wood
February 22, 2023Fordham 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, 2023The 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, 2023Are 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, 2022As 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, 2022A 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, 2022Graduate 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, 2022Despite 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, 2022SEIU 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