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April 18, 2018

Graduate Students at Harvard, Northeastern, Columbia Demand Right to Form a Union
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Graduate students nationwide are ramping up demands for the right to
form a union. At Northeastern University in Boston, about 100 graduate
students and their supporters marched Tuesday to demand the university
allow them to hold a union election. This is Ph. D. student Alice
Verticelli.

Alice Verticelli: "We are strong because our struggle connects to a
broader movement of people on this and many campuses across the country
fighting for justice and rights, from dining hall workers to adjuncts to
student workers. We are strong because we are many. We are here, and we
won't be gone, until we get our dignity and respect. Thank you!"

Students at Harvard University are scheduled to begin voting on
unionization today. In New York, Columbia University's graduate student
union has announced plans to go on strike next week unless the
university agrees to negotiate a contract, which it has refused to do
for more than a year. The right of graduate students to unionize could
be under threat after the U.S. Senate confirmed Trump nominee John Ring
to the National Labor Relations Board last week, giving the board that
enforces labor law a three-to-two Republican majority.


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