Page 17 - Machine Workers News Today

If successful, University of Minnesota graduate student workers would join graduate students who have recently unionized at other universities including Temple University and the University of Chicago.

“Unionization may lower expected stipend growth in the long run and use members as pawns in political agendas. The benefits that a union can actually achieve are marginal, at best.”

The graduate students seek to improve wages and working conditions, including benefits, grievance procedures and support for international students.

The vote to affiliate with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America follows a similar move by graduate students at Northwestern University.

To demand the freedom to mourn—not on the employer’s schedule, but in our own time—is to reject the cruel rhythms of the capitalist status quo.

The toxic clouds that billowed up from a derailed freight train in Ohio this February are a chilling metaphor for the toxic greed that has infected so many of our big corporations. After having to evacuate, residents of East Palestine, Ohio are cautiously going back home, but they still don’t know the full extent of the damage to the area’s environment and public health. The Norfolk Southern train was carrying …

A train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 made headlines due to the environmental catastrophe and shocking images, but since then, trains have derailed near Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Gothenburg, Nebraska; and Bradenton, Florida. Unions such as Railroad Workers United have called for public ownership of the rails.

While railroad executives have lined their own pockets, their lobbyists have advocated against stricter safety rules.

Today's Water Cooler

Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU) announced on Friday that a majority of graduate students had signed union cards, an important step in the union obtaining certification from the National Labor Relations Board.