[PEN-L:2353] Yale support appeal (fwd)

[D Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>]

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Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 15:59:37 -0500
To: IERN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: mb20@xxxxxxxxxxx (Michael H. Belzer) (Michael H. Belzer)
Reply-To: IERN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Yale support appeal

I am forwarding this letter from another list.  Please respond to Sean Purdy.

Dear IERN Subscribers: Below is an open letter supporting
striking TA's at Yale University. Please read it and if you wish to
endorse the letter, send me your name and institutional affiliation
for identification purposes to me by Wednesday January 17. For those
who are unaware of the situation, there is a short information
piece below the letters.

Please send to Sean Purdy, purdyr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In solidarity, Sean Purdy, Department of History, Queen's University


We, the undersigned persons with an interest in labor history
and labor studies condemn Yale University's threat of academic
reprisals against graduate student teachers participating in collective
action. The right of employees to act collectively has been a basic
principle of our national policy since the passage of the
Norris-LaGuardia Act in 1932. Participation in collective action without
fear of retribution is a fundamental aspect of human rights. We condemn
Yale University's threat to punish collective action by its graduate
students whatever form such punishment takes. We call on Yale University
to bargain in good faith with the Graduate Employees Student
Organization and its other unions.

Signed:
Insitutional Affiliation


Information on the Yale TA Strike

On December 7, graduate student teachers at Yale University voted
to withold grades until the administration agreed to bargain with
them in good faith. Even though the Graduate Employees Student
Organization (GESO) garnered a certification vote among liberal
arts students of 70%, the administration has refused to recognize
them as a collective bargaining unit. The administration will only
say that the teaching assistants are students and not employees and
refuse to negotiate.

The response by Yale administration since the start of the grade
strike has been one of intimidation, threats of academic reprisals
and expulsion. One tenured faculty member told his TA that he would
do everything in his power to get her expelled. Other faculty have
ended advisor\student relationships with GESO members and strikers.
A famous historian, who has written a number of books on liberalism
and the Western tradition, equated striking TA's with Yitzhak
Rabin's killers.

Three women, leaders of GESO, have been charged with "unacceptable
conduct" and are currently on trial before a board of deans. The
President of the university has also circulated a letter stating
that any TA teaching his or her own class (part-time acting
instructors PTAI) who failed to turn in grades by Tuesday January
9 would not be rehired as a PTAI. Moreover, the administration aims
to scrutinize the lists of TA's in sections of lecture courses to
determine which ones have failed to submit grades, and blacklist
them for the future.

Both the American Historical Association and the Modern Languages
Association have censured Yale's actions and are calling for the
administration to bargain in good faith. Faculty and students from
across the country have spoken out in favour of the Yale graduate
student teachers.