Glazed_donut29 t1_j9lk1z6 wrote on February 22, 2023 at 9:15 PM

Reply to comment by thot_bryan in Striking Temple University graduate students overwhelming vote down proposed contract by diatriose

I can assure you people will take this as fact. The reality is even to claim we are paid minimum wage or $10-$15/hour is ridiculous.

Including my tuition remission my hourly compensation is $62.50. This is not even calculating my year of free healthcare despite not being employed by the university for 4 months of the year.

It’s literally cringe to act like we get paid below minimum wage.

Edit: this is coming from someone who has actually lived through poverty and working for minimum wage in Philly.

DonHedger t1_j9n6aak wrote on February 23, 2023 at 4:07 AM

Also lived through poverty. Grew up single parent household. Worked 70 hr/week making less than minimum wage in some cases from the age of 14 to 22, and then continued working crazy hours but for above minimum wage until I started grad school. Don't pull out poverty Olympics shit. Plenty of us have gone through it.

If you're not on board, get out of the way. Thrilled for you if you're one of the 0.01% of grad workers whose experience is a cake walk, but that's highly irregular. Most of us spend far more than that on our work. It's precisely why Temple won't even address adding grievance procedures for being overworked like we've been asking for. They know they can't afford it. The only way my compensation is $62.50 is if I use the figures Temple claims they pay me and then add another $5k.

Glazed_donut29 t1_j9n6j7m wrote on February 23, 2023 at 4:09 AM

I’m not pulling “poverty Olympics.” Just pointing out that I’ve actually had to survive on poverty wages and this ain’t it.

I’m not on board, but I’m not in your way. I hope your strike is successful and you receive the higher pay you are demanding. My experience has been different and I am acting according to my experience.

DonHedger t1_j9n9ksq wrote on February 23, 2023 at 4:36 AM

I do get that. In the context in which it was brought up, it sounded like a dismissal of the folks struggling on the picket. It's pretty common for folks to accuse them of just all being lazy out of touch rich kids that have never had to work a real job and so it sounded like we were flirting into that territory and I wanted to make it known that such an accusation would be a grave mischaracterization.

I can appreciate you acknowledging the variance in experiences as well. I know a lot of really heart breaking stories among the picketers, especially from our international fellow grads who had been misled about the livability of their stipends in this city. Glad you can make it work; I've had it easier than many as well, living with a partner and getting incredibly lucky on expenses.

Regardless, though the functional compensation, the amount we can actually use to pay rent and feed ourselves, is untenable and needs to be increased substantially (Also, you illegally cut my fucking healthcare and I'll do everything in my power to make your life miserable as possible).

Glazed_donut29 t1_j9nc66e wrote on February 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM

I definitely understand that different life circumstances and departmental requirements play a role in the decision to strike. My department is extremely laid back and I am the only TA I know in this department who actually works 20 hours/week. I had a different assignment last semester and I know I wasn’t putting in the full 20.

I don’t think the strikers are lazy at all. Sometimes I question how many are caught up in the hoobaloo and maybe aren’t considering how much this has the potential to destroy their academic career. Academia is really all about who you know and I hope striking does not lead to negative reputations/outcomes for students but the possibility is definitely there.

There is not a universe in which it would even be possible for me to strike. I support myself financially 100% and I am a cancer survivor that takes medication to live so I could literally die without healthcare. This implication that anyone who isn’t striking is “in the way” is incorrect and sort of what I’m standing up against. It is perfectly logical for some TAs to do the risk benefit analysis and choose not to strike and it doesn’t make them bad or immoral people.