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UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

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Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#71

Post by nostrebored »

acdha wrote: post #12

I feel like these stories should mention the compensation for the people attacking graduate students for demanding a living wage. Someone making well into 6 figures really doesn’t have a good basis for summarily dismissing that need: https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2018/university-o...

Why should they expect a living wage for sub-demand fields of research? Why do my choices to achieve financial stability override my experience prior to that? When you're from a poor family the decisions that these striking students are making are befuddling.

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#72

Post by oh_sigh »

skrtskrt wrote: post #45
rdtsc wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only kids from wealthy families can afford to move to say DC or NY and spend a year there on an unpaid internship. So that becomes a selection criteria to exclude those from poor and middle classes from advancing in those domains.

The same is true for entry-level media jobs. Paying $40-$50k in NYC... you can be sure kids without generational wealth & parents financial assistance choose other paths.

It must be awful to have to settle for the 50th percentile income in an area as a brand new worker.

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#73

Post by oh_sigh »

csb6 wrote: post #60
antiterra wrote: post #24

I got filled with righteous internet rage when I read the headline, but then I read the article. The particular strike was implemented by withholding fall grades, which seems to unnecessarily burden students who are to be buried under crushing debt, no? Also, they are apparently unionized and this strike was against the extant agreements. The consequences of not getting a grade can affect a student’s entire career an…

If you read the rest of the article, you would see that the union is alleging that the UC administration was not willing to engage in negotiations to raise compensation for grad students, who were unable to afford their rent payments. It's no wonder a wildcat strike happened. Also, I am saddened by your comment about withholding grades being an unnecessary "burden". That's the point of a strike. What do you think a s…

Why was it just these 54 grad students that could t afford rent? How many grad students does the system have?

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#74

Post by beetwenty »

zdragnar wrote: post #65
csb6 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also think it is a good introduction to the real world, but for a different reason: it shows that workers are treated as disposable goods that employers can and will throw away whenever they become too much of a hassle or ask for compensation that reflects the value they bring to the organization. Universities are no different to businesses in this respect; the success of colleges depends on the grunt work of grad…

You're overlooking a few details: These workers belonged to a union The union did not endorse the strike The strike occured during a period of operation under an agreed-upon contract Re-opening the contract for negotiation would have lead to renegotiating for 90,000 other employees during a school year The workers were withholding student grades, harming others who have taken out a significant bet against their own f…

A representative for the union that represents more than 19,000 academic workers across the University of California system said she was surprised by the university's decision.

"We are shocked by UC's callousness, and by the violence that so many protesters experienced as they peacefully made the case for a cost of living increase," said Kavitha Iyengar, president of UAW Local 2865, in a statement. "Instead of firing TAs who are standing up for a decent standard of living for themselves, UC must sit down at the bargaining table and negotiate a cost of living increase."

Last week, the university filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union, claiming the union has failed to stop the wildcat strike by the graduate students as it is required to do by the collective bargaining agreement.

The union responded by filing its own unfair labor practice charge, alleging the university has refused to meet with the union to negotiate a cost of living adjustment.

Direct from the article. Care to back up your statement?

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#75

Post by oh_sigh »

aaomidi wrote: post #38
antiterra wrote: post #24

I got filled with righteous internet rage when I read the headline, but then I read the article. The particular strike was implemented by withholding fall grades, which seems to unnecessarily burden students who are to be buried under crushing debt, no? Also, they are apparently unionized and this strike was against the extant agreements. The consequences of not getting a grade can affect a student’s entire career an…

It's like protests is meant to cause a disruption. I really have a terrible place in my heart for people who criticize protests because it caused a disruption. That's the point of a protest. I'm very happy for you that you've never felt the need to take these drastic steps, but they're protesting real issues and real problems they're having. The grades are ultimately the universities problem

If me and my flat earth friends shut down the highway you need to take to work in order to protest the teaching of sphereism in schools, you wouldn't complain?

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#76

Post by macinjosh »

Just because you exist does not mean you deserve success.

This strain of leftism is essentially just jealousy and entitlement. I learned life isn't fair as a child it really isn't that hard of concept to grasp. That gave me the motivation to think about what I wanted out of life and to work towards that goal. I didn't get a loan from parents (they barely made ends meet growing up). I didn't go to college or a code camp. I worked delivering papers, then as a janitor ($5.65/hr), then a courier at a hospital before I got my first coding job. Instead of going out with friend in high school I stayed home and taught myself how to code. Now I have everything I want in life. I am happy. It just took actual grit and work.

There is, quite literally, endless opportunity in this country if you have the grit to find your own slice. But, because it is not dropped in some people's laps they cry foul.

Our modern society, which was created through capitalism and the defeat of socialism and communism, has lifted billions out of poverty, has made previously deadly diseases a thing of the past, and the list goes on. Instead of learning from our past successes these people throw a childish fit and refuse to work while demanding more pay. It is asinine. If money is important to you find a line of work that pays what you want. Grad school is not that.

Edit: I forgot to mention that these kids withheld students' grades from last semester as leverage. Those students have nothing to do with their compensation but are suffering due to their entitlement. The union for these kids didn't even authorize the strike.

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#77

Post by karlakush »

This was inevitable. There are very few people in this country who could keep their jobs after refusing to work for more than two months. If these guys couldn't afford to live in Santa Cruz, they shouldn't have chosen to go to grad school in Santa Cruz.

And I know UC-Santa Cruz has never been thought of as an elite school, but still it's quite embarrassing for the university as a whole that they admitted people this dumb into their post-graduate programs.

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#78

Post by blix »

asdff wrote: post #55
jariel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.5 generations ago in 1950, about %8 of people went to College. I don't think that 'free' in relative terms is quite accurate as it was clearly still out of reach of most people it'd seem.

People didn't go to college back then because it was out of reach, they didn't go because they didn't need to. In 1920 you could get into UCLA with a slip of paper signed by your principle certifying you did 4 years of high school; 100% of the people who produced this scrap of paper got into the school. In the 50s, this requirement was stepped up to a $5 application fee and you needed to average a B (1). It wasn't un…

In 1920, less than 20% of Americans completed 4 years of high school. How do you think the average economic status of that group compared to the whole country?

As old limits cease to be sufficiently exlusive, new ones are introduced.

Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay

#79

Post by thaumasiotes »

pkaye wrote: post #27
daly wrote: post #2

I lived on 54 cent pancakes covered in free butter and honey, 9 cents per can baked beans (turns out I don't like baked beans, I like good sauce which this was not), and candy bars out of a broken and never fixed candy machine. I don't recommend it. I weighed 110 pounds by the time I left. All of my money went to dorm housing (paid to the school). Later when I was a researcher I found out that the Provost takes 55% o…

In college, a professor recommended me for an academic award from industry. It was $1000. So I go to the yearly awards dinner and a month later got a check for $800. Apparently the university takes a 20% as administrative cost!

http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1005
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