On Monday, April 8, Fordham Graduate Student Workers, the Communication Workers of America (FGSW-CWA) labor union representing students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, voted to authorize a strike. The strike authorization vote passed by 98% and permits union leaders to call for a strike in the event that a fair labor contract is not reached.
Since the vote, the FGSW members have hosted five practice pickets at both Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses, most recently on April 14 during Spring Preview for admitted students. The Fordham University administration responded in a mass email shared with undergraduates informing them of the FGSW strike vote and addressing the possible interruption to classes.
Graduate student Fabio Setti described the strike as a last resort effort for a fair contract.
“That is just to show that the university and, they know it, they know that they need us, they need us to do our work. Again, we don’t like doing this. We don’t, it’s really not how we would like things to result. But it’s unfortunately the only way which is forced upon us by 19 months of bargaining on the admin side.”
Currently, the administration and FGSW have been in the bargaining process for a new labor contract for 19 months. In a conversation with student reporters, President Tetlow attributed the lengthy process to delays by FGSW to submit economic proposals. FGSW holds that the lengthy bargaining process was due to the university’s failure to provide crucial economic information.
“Fordham stalled out for eight months, they weren’t responding to our proposals with anything besides their own policy,” said Amal Zaman, a graduate student who spent a year on the negotiating committee.
“We were making it clear every session that we needed them to give us certain information which they are legally required to do for us in order to make those economic proposals… They were withholding that information — that’s why we currently have three unfair labor practice violations against them.”
The union has currently filed a total of four unfair labor practice violations with the National Labor Relations Board, most recently on Feb. 23 for their removal by Public Safety during campus demonstrations and flier distributions.
According to press releases by the CWA, FGSW’s top priorities include stipends, health insurance subsidies and high student fees. In proposals, FGSW has asked that base stipends be raised to $46,983, comprehensive medical insurance be provided and that all fees be waived.
Currently, graduate students make anywhere from $27,231 to $35,846 a year depending on their academic year and role. Healthcare and fees often pose significant expenses to graduate students and their stipends.
“It’s [healthcare fees] $1,500… a year with our current stipend being $27,000, so that’s a significant portion of our stipend and I don’t believe that my healthcare gives me too many options for subsidies,” said Setti.
Student fees are another such expense. According to an FGSW Instagram post, students paid $2,487 to $2,621 in fees on top of tuition depending on their status as a domestic or international student.
“We’ve proposed multiple times a fee to waive student fees (which total around $1,000 a year or something like that) which we believe is a really small thing. Again, I personally believe it’s really small… It’s a standard in other union contracts,” explained Setti.
“Essentially, we’re paying fees to work for Fordham… If someone is willing to bargain in good faith, that seems like something at least we’d be like, ‘Okay, well, this is not that big of a deal.’”
Other proposal demands include childcare and added teaching resources such as office space, computer access and software access.
President Tetlow described these demands as not economic, saying they were expensive and hard to meet on a tuition-dependent budget such as Fordham’s.
“The price of their entire package of the current demand, priced over four years, because the expense keeps coming every year, is more than $70 million. And that is why it has been hard for us. We love our graduate students, we are eager to support them, but ultimately their pay, just like all of your faculty’s pay, comes from tuition,” said Tetlow.
“Undergraduate tuition has gone up 10.4% and we haven’t seen raises in years,” said Zaman. Tetlow noted that the university has offered the graduate students a 15% raise, which would increase the base stipend up to $32,200.
FGSW has received widespread support outside the Fordham community, including from Vincent Alvarez, president of the New York Central Labor Council. Notably, Fordham alumni in the NYS legislature led by Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris signed a letter to the Fordham administration urging them to support the demands of the graduate students.
“As a Fordham alum, I know all too well the importance of student workers in keeping the day-to-day functions of the university going,” said Gianaris. “I’m proud to be a Fordham graduate and continue to uphold the values the institution helped instill in me. Now, I hope the administration can personify their own ideals and provide student workers a living wage and healthcare.”
News about the FGSW, including a petition for undergraduate students, can be accessed at their Instagram, @fordhamgsw, or on their website, fordhamgraduatestudentworkers.org. Additional information on negotiations can be found at Fordham University’s Human Resources webpage.
