{"id":298870,"date":"2025-10-13T03:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T03:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/298870\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T03:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T03:10:11","slug":"aaup-penn-denounces-university-memo-to-instructors-alleges-strikebreaking-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/298870\/","title":{"rendered":"AAUP-Penn denounces University memo to instructors, alleges ‘strikebreaking’ tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"10-08-get-up-rally-weining-ding\"\/
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tPenn\u2019s graduate student union staged an information picket on Oct. 8 to demand fair contracts and organize members in preparation for a potential strike.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Weining Ding<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Penn\u2019s chapter of the American Association of University Professors released guidance on Saturday for faculty in the event of a potential graduate employee strike.\n<\/p>\n

The Oct. 11 message was sent in response to a memo<\/a> from the Office of the Vice Provosts for Education \u2014 which was obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian \u2014 that outlined recommendations for department chairs to \u201cmaintain teaching continuity\u201d should teaching and research assistants participate in a work stoppage. AAUP-Penn characterized the plans as \u201cstrikebreaking\u201d and provided its own list of recommendations<\/a> for faculty, including information on how to support union members.\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n

AAUP-Penn coupled its suggestions with an annotated copy<\/a> of the Vice Provosts’ memo.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIn asking you to break a strike, the administration is asking you to compromise your integrity, your relationships with graduate workers and colleagues, the quality of your students’ education, and your ability to recruit graduate students for years to come,\u201d AAUP-Penn wrote. \u201cDon’t do it.\u201d\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In a statement to the DP, a University spokesperson wrote that “[as] members of the Penn community, we are all committed in our mission of generating and sharing knowledge with future generations.”\n<\/p>\n

“Teaching and research continuity planning,\u00a0along with consistent student support, ensures\u00a0we continue to achieve our shared academic mission for all of our students across our 12 schools,” the statement continued.\u00a0\n\t<\/p>\n

The faculty group took issue with Penn’s advice that \u201cteaching continuity\u201d supports all students, writing instead that \u201cthe administration can ensure that students learn without interruption by settling a fair contract.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason they don’t want graduate students who are not in the bargaining unit to serve as strikebreakers is that, by taking on teaching duties, they might become eligible to join the union,\u201d AAUP-Penn added. \u201cPenn spent decades fighting to prevent graduate workers from voting to unionize at all, and is still working to keep some from becoming members.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Instead, AAUP-Penn encouraged its members to \u201csupport [the] contract campaign\u201d and explain to students \u201cwhy a fair contract for graduate workers will make Penn a better place for them to learn.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The document also instructed faculty not to report the names of strikers or strikebreakers, citing the administrators\u2019 interest in \u201cretaliat[ing] against workers exercising their legal right to strike.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

AAUP-Penn similarly discouraged grading assignments or hosting classes if TAs \u201cnormally do that work\u201d but can no longer due to the strike.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more unified faculty and students are behind graduate workers, the more the administration will recognize that it needs to reach a fair agreement quickly,\u201d the AAUP-Penn suggestions read.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The Vice Provosts\u2019 memo was published following Graduate Employees Together \u2014 University of Pennsylvania’s Oct. 8 informational picket<\/a>, which union leaders described as the first step to a potential strike by graduate student workers. At the demonstration, GET-UP demanded a fair contract with provisions on international student support, protections against discrimination and harassment, and increased stipends.\n<\/p>\n

The closing speech of the demonstration \u2014 delivered by Guruprerana Shabadi, a second-year Computer and Information Science Ph.D. candidate\u2014 announced that GET-UP members have begun to sign strike pledges. If the University fails to agree to the terms of the proposed contract, GET-UP will hold a vote on whether to stage a graduate employee strike across the University.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

On Oct. 8, the Executive Committee of AAUP-Penn announced its solidarity<\/a> with GET-UP\u2019s \u201cefforts to win a democratic voice at work and an enforceable contract that guarantees their rights are all the more important.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for our newsletter<\/p>\n

Get our newsletter, DP Daybreak, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen administrations ask you to be a strikebreaker \u2026 they are asking you to take a side against the RAs and TAs,\u201d the Executive Committee wrote. \u201cThey want you to ignore the plain fact that the best way to ensure teaching continuity is to stand in solidarity with graduate workers today, sending the message that the administration must arrive at a fair contract now.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The statement alleged that instead of negotiating the contract in good faith, Penn\u2019s administration has distributed \u201canti-union messaging\u201d in preparation for the possible strike.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf GETUP members vote to strike in order to win a fair contract, they will have AAUP-Penn\u2019s support and solidarity,\u201d the Executive Committee added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation<\/a> to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.<\/p>\n

Donate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn\u2019s graduate student union staged an information picket on Oct. 8 to demand fair contracts and organize members…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":298871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5672,5229,8432,100200,50,1448,2830,1311,80,11027,1399,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-298870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-administration","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-beats","11":"tag-graduate-students-alumni","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pa","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-studentlife","18":"tag-top","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115364667530373332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}