University of Michigan Busts Graduate Worker Strike

On September 7, the University of Michigan’s Graduate Student Employment Organization (GEO) authorized a strike against unsafe working conditions due to Covid-19. The university immediately mobilized to end the strike, including filing a restraining order against the union and paying tenured teachers to take over graduate students’ classes. A participant in the strike shares their perspective.

Professor Dies of Coronavirus During Zoom Lecture

Paola Di Simone, an Argentinian professor, reported on August 28 that she had tested positive for the coronavirus and had been showing symptoms for four weeks. This week, she collapsed in the middle of a live virtual lecture. Her employer, the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE), has not yet explained why Paola was working while ill. 

PSC-CUNY President Finally Says the S Word

Will CUNY workers finally go on strike? With public school teachers in New York City threatening a strike of their own, PSC leadership implied last week that a possible strike is on the table. With 3,000 part time workers laid off this summer and more cuts expected, and racial capitalism ravaging the CUNY community under the pandemic, a strike is long overdue.

North Carolina Universities Ignored Covid-19’s Writing On the Wall. Now They Are Shutting Down.

One by one, North Carolina’s universities are shutting down in-person instruction as clusters of coronavirus bloom across the dorms and in off-campus housing. Yet the universities with later start dates are adamantly refusing to change their plans, and college students across the state are continuing to move into the dorms and prepare for the first week of classes.

CUNY Union Lawsuit Fails; Workers Need a Strike

The faculty and staff union’s request for a court injunction to reinstate 2,800 workers laid off by CUNY earlier this summer has been denied. By relying on the lawsuit instead of preparing for a strike, the union leadership has failed to protect the jobs --- and health insurance --- of its members.

Hundreds of CUNY Adjuncts to be Fired and Lose Health Insurance: Interview with Laid-off Adjunct Professor of Africana Studies

Adjunct faculty at CUNY have been exploited for decades and now, in the midst of the pandemic, they are facing mass layoffs. We spoke to one such adjunct, Sami Disu, about the university’s response to the Covid-19 crisis and how they are fighting back.

CUNY Faculty Organize Against Layoffs and Tuition Hikes

CUNY faculty are facing mass layoffs and the rank and file are fighting back. Below we share a list of demands written by the group Rank and File Action, CUNY, which is building a campaign to withhold spring grades in protest.  

CUNY Union Bureaucracy Silences Members

Faculty at the City University of New York are facing massive layoffs in the fall, but the PSC CUNY union that represents them has so far done little to resist, choosing instead to silence many of its most active and engaged members.

Universities Plan to Sacrifice Student and Employee Health for Fall Tuition Checks

After a spring semester hastily moved online, higher education is now hedging their bets on what to do for the fall. With money the top priority for administrators, students and employees need to fight harder than ever to protect their safety and livelihoods as COVID-19 cases in the United States continue to climb.