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Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

phillymag.com

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Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#71

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

munk-a wrote: post #43
TillE wrote: post #5

As various lawyers have commented on Twitter, this seems like an insanely blatant violation of labor laws. Just a straight up written confession of illegal retaliation. Unless they have some obscure exemption that nobody else knows about, I cannot imagine how the university's legal counsel signed off on this.

There are reports from strikers trying to refill medication that the medical benefit suspension has already unilaterally gone into effect. The university has gone ahead with their threats in that regard (which is especially shitty since it's pretty standard in the US to give employees a health insurance grace period on termination). I am really confused about what the university thinks they're going to get out of the…

Hopefully an entire new administration.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#72

Post by wwweston »

munk-a wrote: post #43
TillE wrote: post #5

As various lawyers have commented on Twitter, this seems like an insanely blatant violation of labor laws. Just a straight up written confession of illegal retaliation. Unless they have some obscure exemption that nobody else knows about, I cannot imagine how the university's legal counsel signed off on this.

There are reports from strikers trying to refill medication that the medical benefit suspension has already unilaterally gone into effect. The university has gone ahead with their threats in that regard (which is especially shitty since it's pretty standard in the US to give employees a health insurance grace period on termination). I am really confused about what the university thinks they're going to get out of the…

Perhaps from the University POV the point is less to not be wounded as to exact as high a possible cost for striking so that anyone involved and any future strikers don't think they have anything to gain from it, even if the University has things to lose from their choices.

Or to use a phrase that goes around these days: the cruelty is the point.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#73

Post by neilv »

shishy wrote: post #9

Bone headed move. They must have miscalculated if they think the students will cave to this pressure. Also, how can they take away tuition reimbursement for the whole semester if the strike hasnt been that long? Garbage administration. I hope the students win and that this isnt the new normal.

Many grad students are pretty much completely at the mercy of their advisor and university.

Grad students are also very disposable, and, normally, prospective new students will have no idea of the wronged-student body count of any advisor or university.

One exception, in this case, is you have a group of students in the US national news, so it might be harder for this university to get grad students in the near future.

(Though US affluent families will be sending kids to ride out recession in grad school, and there's only so many admissions slots, so some kids can't be picky about where they go, even if they happen to have been paying attention to the news. And there's also international demand for US grad school slots.)

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#74

Post by jahewson »

andrew_ wrote: post #55
munk-a wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are reports from strikers trying to refill medication that the medical benefit suspension has already unilaterally gone into effect. The university has gone ahead with their threats in that regard (which is especially shitty since it's pretty standard in the US to give employees a health insurance grace period on termination). I am really confused about what the university thinks they're going to get out of the…

I'm confused by that. When my health care ends by termination (of any flavor), I can continue to use that policy number and card for some time. I can then sign up for COBRA and continue my coverage using the same cards. Perhaps there's something else at play, but very strange to suddenly not be able to fill prescriptions.

> I can continue to use that policy number and card for some time

That would be the grace period.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#75

Post by munk-a »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #63
munk-a wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are reports from strikers trying to refill medication that the medical benefit suspension has already unilaterally gone into effect. The university has gone ahead with their threats in that regard (which is especially shitty since it's pretty standard in the US to give employees a health insurance grace period on termination). I am really confused about what the university thinks they're going to get out of the…

What do you mean? The university is trying to teach a lesson by inflicting pain on those who stood against it. I thought that was clear. Do you maybe mean "what makes them think that this is legal?" I doubt they do. But they likely decided that value of sending a "don't fuck with us" message was higher than the cost of the likely mild consequences.

Oh - as far as I'm aware it's quite legal for them to be doing all this. But, especially in the US where healthcare is not guaranteed universally, cutting such an essential service is just going to create an even bigger wave of bad PR. A lot of people in the US have very strong feelings about the healthcare system and Temple just decided to highlight how cruel it can be in their dealings with a strike and bring that debate into the middle of their labor negotiations - that isn't a good thing for Temple as it's more likely to attract big names and get political.

But legally, they're certainly in the clear - after Reagan forced air traffic controllers back to work it's been pretty clear that unions in America have essentially no guaranteed rights.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#76

Post by secabeen »

jahewson wrote: post #57
giantg2 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's not pay. Their stipend would be pay. The tuition would be a benefit, just as tuition assistance programs at companies are benefits. It's perfectly legal to suspend benefits and pay during a strike, but they must be reinstated when the strike is over. Right or wrong, it seems primia facie legal. Edit: why disagree? What have I said that's factually incorrect? Please, educate us all and add to the discussion i…

Right but they’re not suspending the benefit they’re cancelling it. If they pro-rated a portion of the tuition assistance as owed that would be defensible. But this is a rug-pull.

Where do you see that they are cancelling it? Nothing in the statement I see precludes Temple from paying the remission if the strike resolves in two weeks, well before the due date. Even if the strike goes on longer, and the tuition so due is not paid, the penalty is still relatively a minor; a fine, and inability to register for the following quarter (presumably Fall, over 7 months away).

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#77

Post by tssva »

tptacek wrote: post #64
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to some of those Twitter comments? I'm honestly curious of which labor laws they are violating. For example, I just did a search regarding healthcare for striking workers, and there is no federal law that prevents cancelling healthcare, to the point that some congresspeople have introduced bills in the last year to specifically outlaw that (but, to emphasize, those are just bills, they haven't been pass…

You can't retaliate against workers for taking a protected concerted action to change something about their workplace. The wrinkle is that Temple's employees are public-sector employees, who are exempt from the NLRA --- but they're not necessarily exempt from equivalent Philadelphia law. You can take health care away from employees (absent a contract) in general, but you can't do it in retaliation for striking.

Temple is subject to Pennsylvania law and section 1006 of PA Act 195 states "No public employe shall be entitled to pay or compensation from the public employer for the period engaged in any strike."

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#79

Post by LarryMullins »

mrstone wrote: post #49
LarryMullins wrote: post #2

A grad student strike. They're striking as employees, not students.

Still complete and utter dipshit move from the admin.

Certainly. I was just confused why students would pay for class then refuse to attend. Striking grad students makes a lot more sense.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#80

Post by jahewson »

secabeen wrote: post #68
gerdesj wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This (see below) seems to be the problem - students are being forced to pay for something that was originally gratis (punished) because they are protesting about something. That is not normally how a liberal democracy works. We don't punish requests for comments, we engage ... ================================================= Dear Temple Student: As a result of your participation in the TUGSA strike, your tuition rem…

But look at this closely, with engagement. Currently, they are on strike, so tuition remissions cannot be issued. If that remains the case until March 6th, they will need to pay. If the strike is resolved before March 6th, and then they still refuse to issue the remissions, that would be a significant violation.

No because the loss of benefits extends to a period outside of the strike. It’s like taking somebody’s entire year of wages because they went on strike for a couple of weeks.
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