strike
TSSA union staff strike to go ahead this week after reps accuse Eslamdoust of bad faith
The first planned strike day by staff working for the TSSA union will go ahead on Tuesday after mediation talks turned to farce, with the staff’s GMB union reps accusing TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust of approaching the talks without good faith and of failing to engage with staff’s concerns.
Staff are striking over what they say is renewed abuse and bullying – Eslamdoust’s predecessor as general secretary was sacked after a huge scandal of bullying and sexual harassment by senior management, and workers say the situation, which Eslamdoust was supposed to fix, has deteriorated again. Now an update from the workers’ union reps updates them of the failure of the talks:
Eslamdoust, who was recommended to members by the union’s executive despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience, wrote a bizarre article for the Guardian in which she accused the GMB union of attempting to bully her so it could take over the TSSA and distract from its own renewed sexual harassment scandal, and tried to blame others for her failure to take meaningful action to implement the Kennedy Report’s recommendations.
She then followed up her attack on the GMB by emailing all TSSA member branches with an astonishing assault branding the union’s workers as greedy and lazy, and treating the GMB union as if it, and not the unhappiness of TSSA staff, was the driver of the impending strike action for which more than 93% of staff voted last week.
Such is the anger among members at the situation that earlier this month the TSSA’s branch for members working in Network Rail in South London passed a unanimous motion of no confidence in Eslamdoust and the union’s president Melissa Heywood.
GMB reps among TSSA staff have accused Eslamdoust and her team of not informing them that they had approached ACAS, and of bypassing them to try to negotiate the dispute with GMB general secretary Gary Smith instead of engaging with workers and their representatives.
The workers’ first strikes will take place this week on Tuesday 30 April and then on 4 June, including pickets of TSSA offices.
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Support for Canadian Graduate Students on Strike
A Canadian graduate student in philosophy writes in about how graduate students at several institutions are “on strike for a substantive money raise because our funding is incredibly low.”
You can read about the strike at Western University here and here.
The graduate student continues:
Several Canadian universities, including McGill University, York University, and the University of Western Ontario (Western University), are currently experiencing strikes as graduate students advocate for a living wage. The funding packages offered by these universities are insufficient for graduate students to meet their minimal living expenses.
York University offers a funding package of around 24,000 Canadian dollars (17,200 US dollars), while McGill University provides between 20,000 and 27,000 Canadian dollars (14,000 and 19,400 US dollars). Western University offers approximately 15,000 Canadian dollars (11,000 US dollars) per year, after accounting for tuition fees (Western University does not provide a tuition waiver for PhD students).
Graduate students at the University of Toronto, which is not on strike this year, receive over 27,000 Canadian dollars annually. Despite this, the high cost of living in cities like Toronto and Montreal makes it impossible for students to survive on these funding packages.
Due to the financial strain, many PhD students are compelled to take on part-time jobs, seek financial support from their families, or even take out loans to complete their degrees. These challenges no doubt affect their academic performance and overall well-being.
Students and others at the affected institutions are invited to provide further information and share their thoughts.
The post Support for Canadian Graduate Students on Strike first appeared on Daily Nous.
Exclusive: Eslamdoust’s bizarre email to TSSA branches attacking staff and their union
‘She doesn’t understand how unions work’ – general secretary of union reeling from abuse scandals sends bulk email to branches attacking staff striking over bullying, and the union representing them
Melissa Heywood, left, and Maryam Eslamdoust (image: TSSA website)
Crisis-hit TSSA rail union general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust and her team have followed up their attacks on the GMB union representing TSSA staff in their dispute with the union’s management over bullying and abuse – by emailing all TSSA member branches with an astonishing attack branding the union’s workers as greedy and lazy, and treating the GMB union as if it, and not the unhappiness of TSSA staff, is the driver of the impending strike action for which more than 93% of staff voted last week.
Ms Eslamdoust was recommended to members, despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience, by the TSSA executive after former general secretary Manuel Cortes was sacked over sexual harassment and bullying exposed in the Kennedy Report, and was supposedly going to clean up the union after the scandal. However, the union has been rocked by fresh allegations of abuse and deep resentment against the new general secretary for the treatment of staff, particularly women.
She recently wrote a bizarre article for the Guardian in which she accused the GMB union of attempting to bully her so it could take over the TSSA and distract from its own renewed sexual harassment scandal, and tried to blame others for her failure to take meaningful action to implement the Kennedy Report’s recommendations, outraging staff members who have pointed out that their dispute pre-dates the new GMB revelations, prompting TSSA staff to pass a unanimous vote of no confidence in Eslamdoust and the union’s president, Melissa Heywood.
Now the pair, along with assistant general secretary Brian Brock, have sent this bizarre message to all the union’s members, via their branches:
Message from TSSA General Secretary
To: Branches
Dear colleagues,
Some of you will have heard that GMB intends to take industrial action against TSSA.
GMB’s dispute with TSSA
TSSA regrets GMB’s decision and wants to resolve the dispute. Thus far GMB have made it impossible to resolve any genuine issues that TSSA staff may have by refusing to set out any specific details of the matters they say are in dispute.
GMB have also refused or ignored every proposal we have made for talks. TSSA have proposed direct talks to resolve the dispute with GMB’s General Secretary, GMB’s Regional Secretary, GMB’s Regional Officials, and GMB’s lay reps among our own staff – all of which proposals have been refused or ignored. TSSA has therefore asked ACAS to facilitate talks, but again GMB have not yet responded to ACAS’ approach for talks.
Nevertheless, TSSA is a good employer, and we will continue to seek resolution with GMB in good faith, just as we have done in all our relations.
There are limits to how far we will go to satisfy demands made to us, and red lines that simply cannot be crossed.
We are seeking to reform and improve TSSA in the wake of failings in our past culture that were identified in the Kennedy and Conley reports.
An example of this is that TSSA proposed to the GMB representatives among our own staff that we would have independent observers in staff recruitment processes, so that everyone could have confidence in the fairness of those processes. Instead of accepting this measure, GMB demanded that there must be 2 GMB appointees involved in every TSSA recruitment process. We will not allow the process of cultural change to be misused to hand control of our staff recruitment to another organisation, removing the control of TSSA’s own democratically elected Executive Committee (EC) and General Secretary. We are completely clear that we will not allow our union to be bullied by anyone.
Many TSSA staff had 3 separate pay rises over the course of 2023, while many of our own members suffered from years of pay freezes. Instead of recognising that TSSA staff are being well paid, GMB have instead demanded that we must reduce staff working hours by more than 10% and increase pay significantly above inflation. Despite our desire to settle disputes with our staff, we will not allow members’ money to be misused for pay awards far in excess of anything that our members could ever expect.
Emphases added by Skwawkbox
Furious TSSA members have told Skwawkbox that Eslamdoust’s proposal to meet GMB general secretary Gary Smith to resolve the dispute shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how unions work and that the attack on workers as greedy and demanding mirrors the tactic of the bad employers that TSSA and other unions are supposed to fight, not copy.
A ‘frequently asked questions’ document issued by the striking workers and their union reps addresses Eslamdoust’s claims:
The General Secretary has claimed that the GMB union are using an in-house agreement to block staff recruitment. Is this true?
GMB members are not seeking to block the appointment of new staff. All we want is for our existing transparent procedures to be upheld, which is not happening. We would welcome recruitment to fill the 9 existing Organising vacancies, which could do much to increase our ability to recruit and organise in the workforce.
When the General Secretary emailed GMB Reps on 16 November 2023 to state that the TSSA Executive Committee had approved recruitment of three new vacancies (Campaigns and Media Role, Stakeholder and Engagement Role, Legal and Governance Role) on an interim basis of six months, we asked for job descriptions so that we could consult over the grading and pay for the roles. This is the same as we would do for any new job role and is in line with our established collective bargaining procedures. Further, it ensures that there is no potential for discrimination.
Five months later the General Secretary has yet to provide us with job descriptions. Had she come to us with the job descriptions at any point in the last five months we would have been happy to consult so that the roles could move forward to advertising. What we couldn’t do is sign off on roles without any information on their grading, pay or duties, or how these new roles fit in within a Staffing and Operational plan (which we have also never seen).
Existing roles do not need negotiation over grading and pay, so over the last six months the General Secretary could have recruited to fill a number of roles, including 9 Organiser vacancies, and roles in the Membership services, and Comms teams. She has not done so.
She has, however, advertised for a part time Political Officer, and appointed an interim HR Manager role (twice in three months, without following any agreed recruitment procedures). She has also appointed a part-time, temporary Assistant General Secretary, (changed from a full time to part time post without explanation) advertising that post in the week before the Christmas shut down with just a two-day window for staff to apply while half the staff were already on leave. Just this week TSSA has advertised for a new Assistant General Secretary.
It is simply not true to say that the GMB is blocking recruitment. We are just insisting that the creation of entirely new roles follows our existing transparent processes.
How about the General Secretary’s claims that the dispute has been fabricated as part of a takeover plot by the GMB, or to distract from other problems within the GMB?
These false allegations seem designed purely to distract from the very real problems at the heart of this dispute.
Our dispute existed last autumn, well before the latest allegations about the GMB came to light. Our General Secretary is well aware of this. We are disappointed that she has chosen to misrepresent our dispute and make false allegations to the Guardian rather than meet us at ACAS.
The accusations of bullying are well-founded, detailed, and were being investigated by the whistleblower service, Howlett Brown, until the EC and GS terminated their service without a replacement lined up. The President has been aware of the bullying allegations against Ms Eslamdoust, for months, but chose not to follow TSSA’s procedures for managing bullying grievances.
The GMB withdrew from merger talks with TSSA in April 2023 and has no desire to change the status of our current relationship.
The idea that the GMB is making staff manufacture a dispute in order to force a merger is insulting to our members who are experienced trade unionists and more than able to make their own decisions.
Why haven’t you met with the EC to discuss your concerns directly?
We have not received any invitation from the EC. We are open to meeting with them and would welcome the opportunity to explain our issues to them. If the EC requested a meeting with the GMB that has not been conveyed to us by the GS or AGS, this is a worrying reminder of the previous Cortes regime when the EC and staff were kept apart from each other.
Three GMB Reps sit on the Change Management Oversight Group, with two EC members and the GS. As part of this group, we have repeatedly expressed concerns that culture change had stalled in the last 6 months and has now in fact regressed.
In addition, since the publication of the Kennedy and Conley reports in February 2023 (14 months ago), the EC have never met with the whole staff once.
We have, however, met with delegates from the EC, including the President and Treasurer, in meetings trying to resolve this issue on several occasions. In addition, the president has been copied in on all the correspondence about issues we have sent to the GS since last December.
The General Secretary says that nothing has been raised through the agreed internal processes? Why not?
The GMB reps have raised collective concerns through the established bargaining machinery at meetings in November, January, and twice in March, and also in correspondence, since November 2023, to no avail.
Individuals have also raised concerns through the internal and external whistleblowing services. Two staff are currently off work sick with work-related stress, which is itself an indicator of problems in the workplace.
Claims that there is no bullying or harassment
The General Secretary is aware of complaints about bullying, and a culture of fear, within the TSSA. They have been raised repeatedly in formal negotiation meetings between November and March.
In addition, one member of staff submitted a complaint under TSSA’s bullying policy against the General Secretary to the independent investigator Howlett Brown in December last year. This was after a vindictive and targeted bullying campaign against this member for a period of months.
At the beginning of this year the contract with Howlett Brown was terminated without any consultation with the GMB reps or any consideration of the consequences to staff with active complaints and queries.
This decision has caused our member additional distress and anxiety seriously affecting their health and wellbeing without any clarity or certainty regarding the status of their complaint, who will be investigating it and when. During this time the General Secretary has gone out of her way to damage the professional reputation of the member, repeatedly criticising and denigrating them.
To date no alternative independent provider has been appointed which is in direct contravention of the Kennedy report.
Bullying of a trade union rep
One of our Trade union representatives has been subject to hostile behaviour and bullying by the General Secretary, since last November. This has included sending an intimidatory email to the rep, circulating that email to every member of the staff body, and repeatedly lying about him and denigrating him to other staff, in what appears to be an attempt to destroy his reputation.
Emphases added
Approached for comment yesterday, the TSSA doubled down on its blaming of the GMB, compounding the impression of a lack of understanding or recognition that the issues are with the unhappiness of people working for the union and not with the management of the union they are instructing to coordinate the strike on their behalf. A spokesperson told Skwawkbox:
We would encourage GMB to start talking with TSSA to focus on resolving the workplace issues they say they have. It is genuinely extraordinary that GMB are so blatantly seeking to interfere in (and misrepresent) the internal administration of a sister union. TSSA EC took the decision that the last tranche of HS2 compensation would be reserved for strategic objectives to grow and strengthen our union. That is what is happening.
Invited to amend its statement in light of how Skwawkbox would be forced to report it, the union declined.
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Exclusive: Eslamdoust continues to lash out as TSSA staff pass unanimous no-confidence vote
Union general secretary keeps blaming GMB as union employees say she keeps exposing lack of understanding of union mechanics
A union in flames? TSSA staff appear to think so
Maryam Eslamdoust and the TSSA rail union she is running – into the ground in the eyes of many – continues to lash out at the GMB union for TSSA staff’s complete dissatisfaction with her management and her team – despite a unanimous motion of no-confidence passed at an ‘all-staff meeting’ last week.
Ms Eslamdoust was recommended to members, despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience, by the TSSA executive after former general secretary Manuel Cortes was sacked over sexual harassment and bullying exposed in the Kennedy Report, and was supposedly going to clean up the union after the scandal. However, the union has been rocked by fresh allegations of abuse and deep resentment against the new general secretary for the treatment of staff, particularly women.
The staff, who are members of the GMB union – union employees are usually represented by a different union in case they need to enter a dispute with their employer – and recently voted overwhelmingly for strike action in response to the abuse they say they are experiencing, held the ‘all-staff meeting’ a week ago. The following motion was passed unanimously:
TSSA Staff Motion of No Confidence in the GS, AGS, and President
Following the recent all-staff meeting on Thursday 11 April, where the AGS announced that the Trainee Organiser’s contracts would not be extended without any prior notice to the Trainee Organisers themselves, the TSSA staff unreservedly condemn this as a further example of an unacceptable and grotesque management style that has no place in a respectful and civilised
workplace.The further revelation by the AGS [assistant general secretary] that a significant sum of HS2 compensation monies has not yet been invested, losing us around £25,000 per month in interest at a conservative estimate, gives the TSSA staff considerable concern that the union is not being managed effectively to ensure its long-term survival as an independent trade union.
The TSSA staff reconfirms our commitment to the policy of remaining an independent union, and believes that with the right management, sufficient resources, meaningful progress on culture change, and an environment in which staff feel valued and respected, this remains a realistic prospect.
However, the many contradictions between stated objectives and the decisions being taken, whether in respect of resourcing priorities, progressing culture change, or managing the union’s finances, only leads us to conclude this is far from being the case.
The TSSA staff therefore instructs the GMB staff reps to convey the decision of this meeting that the staff have no confidence in the GS [general secretary], AGS, and President of the union.
The TSSA executive member for Scotland also resigned last week, saying he could no longer work with Eslamdoust or the executive supporting her.
Ms Eslamdoust attacked Skwawkbox during the general secretary election for scrutinising her and her supporters’ campaign claims that she had ‘high level trade union experience’. She also recently wrote a bizarre article for the Guardian in which she accused the GMB union of attempting to bully her so it could take over the TSSA and distract from its own renewed sexual harassment scandal, and tried to blame others for her failure to take meaningful action to implement the Kennedy Report’s recommendations, outraging staff members who have pointed out that their dispute pre-dates the new GMB revelations.
However, when asked for comment the union doubled down on its blaming of the GMB, compounding the impression of a lack of understanding or recognition that the issues are with the unhappiness of people working for the union and not with the management of the union they are instructing to coordinate the strike on their behalf. A spokesperson told Skwawkbox:
We would encourage GMB to start talking with TSSA to focus on resolving the workplace issues they say they have. It is genuinely extraordinary that GMB are so blatantly seeking to interfere in (and misrepresent) the internal administration of a sister union. TSSA EC took the decision that the last tranche of HS2 compensation would be reserved for strategic objectives to grow and strengthen our union. That is what is happening.
TSSA staff have said that their approaches to the union’s management have been ignored or rebuffed and that Eslamdoust and her team even opened talks with ACAS without bothering to inform them. The union’s latest comment will do little or nothing to change the publicly-expressed view of staff, reps and members, including a former TSSA assistant general secretary, that Ms Eslamdoust has ‘lost the plot’.
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Breaking: TSSA union staff set strike dates after 93% ‘yes’ ballot
Union turbulence continues as staff confirm dates for pickets over union management’s alleged bullying, avoidance and abandonment of agreed procedures
Staff members of the TSSA rail union who are represented by the GMB union have agreed strike dates, following their overwhelming vote for industrial action last week. On a huge turnout of 86%, 93.3% of staff voted yes to both strike action and ‘action short of a strike’ in their dispute over what they say is bullying and high-handed behaviour by the union’s general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust and her team. Strikes will take place 30 April and 4 June, including pickets of TSSA offices.
Eslamdoust was recommended to members, despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience, by a TSSA executive reeling after former general secretary Manuel Cortes was sacked over sexual harassment and bullying exposed in the Kennedy Report. The union has seen fresh allegations of abuse and deep resentment against the new general secretary.
Ms Eslamdoust attacked Skwawkbox during the general secretary election for scrutinising her and her supporters’ campaign claims that she had ‘high level trade union experience’, an article that led to accusations of ‘losing the plot’. She also recently wrote a bizarre article for the Guardian in which she accused the GMB union of attempting to bully her so it could take over the TSSA and distract from its own renewed sexual harassment scandal, and tried to blame others for her failure to take meaningful action to implement the Kennedy Report’s recommendations, outraging staff members who have pointed out that their dispute pre-dates the new GMB revelations.
In an ‘FAQ’ document sent to all GMB members working for TSSA, the group explains the reasons for the strike and answer the union management’s attempts to blame workers for the dispute:
Why haven’t you met with the EC to discuss your concerns directly?
We have not received any invitation from the EC. We are open to meeting with them and would welcome the opportunity to explain our issues to them. If the EC requested a meeting with the GMB that has not been conveyed to us by the GS or AGS, this is a worrying reminder of the previous Cortes regime when the EC and staff were kept apart from each other.
Three GMB Reps sit on the Change Management Oversight Group, with two EC members and the GS. As part of this group, we have repeatedly expressed concerns that culture change had stalled in the last 6 months and has now in fact regressed.
In addition, since the publication of the Kennedy and Conley reports in February 2023 (14 months ago), the EC have never met with the whole staff once.
We have, however, met with delegates from the EC, including the President and Treasurer, in meetings trying to resolve this issue on several occasions. In addition, the president has been copied in on all the correspondence about issues we have sent to the GS since last December.
The General Secretary says that nothing has been raised through the agreed internal processes? Why not?
The GMB reps have raised collective concerns through the established bargaining machinery at meetings in November, January, and twice in March, and also in correspondence, since November 2023, to no avail.
Individuals have also raised concerns through the internal and external whistleblowing services. Two staff are currently off work sick with work-related stress, which is itself an indicator of problems in the workplace.Claims that there is no bullying or harassment
The General Secretary is aware of complaints about bullying, and a culture of fear, within the TSSA. They have been raised repeatedly in formal negotiation meetings between November and March.
In addition, one member of staff submitted a complaint under TSSA’s bullying policy against the General Secretary to the independent investigator Howlett Brown in December last year. This was after a vindictive and targeted bullying campaign against this member for a period of months.
At the beginning of this year the contract with Howlett Brown was terminated without any consultation with the GMB reps or any consideration of the consequences to staff with active complaints and queries.
This decision has caused our member additional distress and anxiety seriously affecting their health and wellbeing without any clarity or certainty regarding the status of their complaint, who will be investigating it and when. During this time the General Secretary has gone out of her way to damage the professional reputation of the member, repeatedly criticising and denigrating them.
To date no alternative independent provider has been appointed which is in direct contravention of the Kennedy report.
Bullying of a trade union rep
One of our Trade union representatives has been subject to hostile behaviour and bullying by the General Secretary, since last November. This has included sending an intimidatory email to the rep, circulating that email to every member of the staff body, and repeatedly lying about him and denigrating him to other staff, in what appears to be an attempt to destroy his reputation.
In an additional note, the group adds:
Finally we have recently discovered via ACAS that TSSA have made contact but we only found this out yesterday when they contacted GMB. There has been no communication from TSSA to any of the reps or our FTO to discuss with us or inform us that they were considering or even doing this.
More big TSSA news will follow this afternoon, after the expiry of a press deadline.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
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Breaking: TSSA union staff vote overwhelmingly for strike action against bullying
Rail union general secretary’s troubles escalate as staff react to alleged smears and abuse
GMB members working for the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action, including full strike action, in a dispute with their trade union employer.
The staff were balloted last week and, from a turnout of 86 per cent, 93% voted in favour of strike action. They will meet tonight to agree strike action and dates in a dispute over workplace bullying and harassment and failures to follow agreed policies and procedures designed to create a better workplace culture.
The TSSA, already reeling after its former general secretary Manuel Cortes was sacked over sexual harassment and bullying exposed in the Kennedy Report, has seen fresh allegations of abuse and deep resentment against new general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust, who was recommended to members by the union’s executive despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience.
Ms Eslamdoust attacked Skwawkbox during the general secretary election for scrutinising her and her supporters’ campaign claims that she had ‘high level trade union experience’, an article that led to accusations of ‘losing the plot’. She also recently wrote a bizarre article for the Guardian in which she accused the GMB union of attempting to bully her so it could take over the TSSA and tried to blame others for her failure to take meaningful action to implement the Kennedy Report’s recommendations.
GMB London Region Organiser Andrew Harden said:
The ballot result is an obvious indication that our members at TSSA are united in their dispute. They want changes to how they are treated at work and are worried about how the union they work for is managed.
Repeated requests for TSSA’s leadership to agree to ACAS talks have been refused and recent media comments by the TSSA’s General Secretary have made it harder for staff to believe that the General Secretary or TSSA’s leadership want to resolve this dispute.
We now expect this employer to accept the result of the ballot, understand what it means and engage in good faith to achieve a satisfactory outcome for our members.
Eslamdoust has also been accused of ‘summarily de-recognising’ TSSA’s self-organised women’s group. The union’s executive member for Scotland resigned last week saying that Eslamdoust and union president Melissa Heywood had “pulled apart all the good work that the interim President and interim Assistant General Secretary” and were suspending staff for challenging their decisions, voicing opinions or raising issues about fresh allegations of bullying and harassment.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
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Helping Philosophy Grad Students on Strike (updated)
As we noted last week, graduate student workers at Boston University (BU) have gone on strike to demand increased stipends and improved benefits.
The University states:
Our graduate student workers have the right to strike, but the University also has a legal right to withhold compensation from striking employees for the days they are on strike. The University intends to withhold pay from any graduate student workers who are on strike for the duration of the strike period.
Only graduate students who attest to working will be paid. Those who fail to attest to working, or attest that they did not work, are not being paid starting this week. Today (Friday April 5th) was their pay day and I am informed that they were not paid
A source at BU writes:
Many of our philosophy graduate students are (barely) living paycheck to paycheck, and they could use the profession’s support. If you’d like to support them, you can make monetary gifts directly to our department’s PhD students via CashApp (extremely easy to download and use if you don’t already have it) at their handle: $buphilgrad.
The graduate students will internally distribute the funds to those most in need. Thanks in advance to those of you who choose to help support them.
You can learn more about the strike and the Boston University Graduate Workers Union here.
UPDATE (4/7/24): There is some discussion in the comments about graduate student TAs making $42,000/year. This is not the case for graduate students in philosophy and the humanities, who, as some commenters note below, are on 8-month stipends, make in the “mid $20,000s”, and are “prohibited from outside work while receiving it.”
For some comparisons, according to the Forbes Advisor Cost of Living Calculator, a $27,000 salary in Boston gets you a standard of living similar to making the following salaries in the following cities:
- $42,000 in Manhattan, New York
- $27,000 in Washington, DC and Los Angeles, California
- $19,000 in Charlottesville, Virginia and Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- $18,000 in Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia
- $17,000 in Columbia, South Carolina and Lincoln, Nebraska
- $16,500 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and in South Bend, Indiana
The post Helping Philosophy Grad Students on Strike (updated) first appeared on Daily Nous.
Graham cuts Community section out of top Unite representation
Rule change pushed by general secretary means members of Unite’s groundbreaking section for unemployed people and voluntary section can no longer sit on ‘highest committees’
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has been heavily criticised for her bizarre letter to all the union’s staff last month, attempting to undermine a number of criticisms that have been levelled at her and her management of the union. The letter was described by union insiders as ‘unhinged’ and a ‘rant’ – and it backfired heavily.
As Skwawkbox has already covered, Graham told recipients that the union under her will always prioritise jobs in the weapons industry above the fight to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Her letter also claimed that an unfavourable interim financial report had been faked wholesale and that the forger had gone to the extent of copying the font and layout of actual reports to fool members. The union did not respond to an enquiry whether it stood by the claim despite the screenshots of the report appearing to show that it was found on the union’s official ‘Sharepoint’ network. The letter also claimed the union’s financial value was ‘pushing up towards half a billion pounds’ – but insiders say that the value was already around half a billion when she took over two and a half years ago.
Graham also used the letter to attack the membership figures published by the union’s previous management – compared to which she has been accused of losing members – as ‘phony’. Yet insiders also say that the person responsible for compiling and reporting those figures to the management in those days was… Sharon Graham, then Unite’s head of organising.
And the letter also flags a major attack by the union’s management on Unite’s unique ‘Community’ section, the first attempt to bring in unemployed people, disabled people, voluntary and other unwaged workers into the union movement.
Unite Community, around 20,000 strong, has played a vital role in the union’s industrial actions, as members have often had the flexibility to be able to support striking workers by participating in pickets that many others could not get to. Unite Community members have also tended to be among the most politicised and radical – a tendency that puts them at odds with a general secretary who insists that Unite should not be ‘political’ and who has been accused of ever-increasing cosiness with ‘red Tory’ Keir Starmer.
And members have long feared that Ms Graham does not want the section as part of the ‘workplace only’ union she said she was going to create. She reportedly denied this during her election campaign and shortly after – but a section of her letter to organisers, staff and officers contained news of a major attack on the status of Unite Community within the union and the opportunity for its members to have a meaningful voice in Unite’s decisions.
Graham wrote:
Following the Rules Conference, only people who are elected representatives of workers from within a workplace(s) will be eligible to sit on our highest committees. This will ensure that decisions being taken are decisions that workplace representatives want the Union to take. This will be communicated in the coming weeks.
At a stroke, Unite Community members have been ruled out of standing for senior positions in Unite, depriving them – and the millions they represent – of a real say in Unite’s decisions and policies.
Sharon Graham seemed to be trying to put out fires through her bizarre and self-justifying letter. But she seems instead to have stoked them higher and lit new ones.
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BU Dean Recommends Replacing Striking TAs with AIs (updated)
The actual dean of an actual college of arts and sciences at an actual university has actually recommended replacing striking instructors with artificial intelligence apps.
Last week, graduate student workers at Boston University (BU) went on strike to demand increased stipends and improved benefits.
Yesterday, Stan Sclaroff, Dean of Boston University’s College of Arts & Sciences, emailed recommendations to faculty on how to manage course discussion and lab sections while their teaching assistants are on strike. Among his suggestions: “Engage generative AI tools to give feedback or facilitate ‘discussion’ on readings or assignments” (via The Daily Beast and a source at Boston University).
Dean Sclaroff’s home discipline is computer science.
Readers are referred to to this earlier post.
UPDATE (3/29/24): Here’s the text of the email that Dean Sclaroff sent:
To: Arts & Sciences Faculty and Staff
From: Stan Sclaroff, Dean of Arts & Sciences
Subject: Course discussion sections and labs that are impacted by the BUGWU strike
Date: March 27, 2024
Dear Colleagues, I understand that many of you have questions about how to manage course discussion sections and labs that are impacted by the BUGWU strike. I understand as well that faculty and staff are working to creatively and thoughtfully ensure our students continue to achieve their learning.
Given the disciplinary and pedagogical breadth across the College, there are a wide-range of approaches that can be taken. We know that one size does not fit all. However, in the hope that they can be useful and serve as inspiration for brainstorming, we have provided below some general guidance and examples of approaches that could be utilized during this time.
In general, you may employ all teaching modalities, including holding live Zoom sessions, sharing asynchronous recordings, or combining discussion sections. We appreciate that this openness to remote teaching is a deviation from past University guidance; however, given the circumstances and the need to support our students’ continued learning, these options may be employed. Below, we have listed some creative ways in which, we have heard, some faculty are adapting their course formats and using technology to serve their students.
For discussion sections:
-
- Combine discussion sections (on Zoom, for instance) and record the meeting so that students who are unable to attend can watch them asynchronously; those participating asynchronously can be asked to submit written exercises or complete an additional written assignment to make it clear they watched the discussion
- Assign readings and ask students to write a reflection on these readings
- Consider alternative assignments such as viewing a video/film, visiting an exhibit, or attending a special lecture on campus or in the area on a subject relevant to the course and then writing a short response
- Use Blackboard’s discussion board feature to ask students to pose questions about assigned readings and then have them respond to each other’s questions
- Engage generative AI tools to give feedback or facilitate “discussion” on readings or assignments
For labs:
-
- Deliver some labs through alternative delivery modalities, such as holding online labs or asking student to complete a literature review on conceptual topics
- Reduce the number of in-person labs (total), for instance moving weekly labs to every other week (lab formats vary across CAS, so other adjustments may be more appropriate)
- If appropriate, conduct some labs as recorded demonstrations or blended in-person labs
BU’s Center for Teaching and Learning offers faculty consultation, which can be booked here; they are prioritizing appointments for faculty with questions on these topics.
The Geddes Language Center and CAS IT can also be useful resources for technology enabled approaches.
We encourage you to connect with your colleagues to share ideas and insights about various approaches. Ultimately, you are in the best position to know what will work for your course and students, and we encourage you to think creatively about how you can best conduct your teaching during these challenging times.
Finally, we are launching a process to support replacement coverage requests. If you identify other faculty, graduate students, or staff to cover teaching activities, including discussion sections and grading, these individuals will be paid for their time. A separate email has been shared with chairs, directors, and administrators that explains how to request payment for replacements. Please coordinate with your chair, director and/or administrator to facilitate this process.
As I said in my note Monday, thank you for your advocacy, hard work, and continued commitment to and care for all of our students. Please know that the Dean’s Office and in particular your associate deans of the faculty are available to help with any questions or concerns as they arise.
Sincerely, Stan
—
Stan Sclaroff
Dean of Arts & Sciences
Boston University
Pronouns: he/him/his
The post BU Dean Recommends Replacing Striking TAs with AIs (updated) first appeared on Daily Nous.
Electricity workers strike for 8 per cent a year
More than 1000 Endeavour Energy and Transgrid workers, members of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), walked out on strike last week for 24 hours.
The workers maintain the electricity network of poles and wires over most of NSW.
Workers at Endeavour are asking for a wage rise of 8 per cent a year for three years. Workers are now “a long way behind”, as one worker told Solidarity, after years of below-inflation pay rises. Wages have risen just 10.5 per cent since 2019 while living costs have rocketed by up to 18 per cent.
“Workers simply cannot afford to keep going backwards,” ETU NSW/ACT Secretary Allen Hicks said. “Pay rises have moved at half the rate of the inflation. Take home pay is shrinking.”
They are also fighting for better conditions when on standby—currently sitting at only $33 a day. On standby, “you’re not allowed to be more than half an hour away from your home. And if they call you, you’ve got to be at work within as quick as you can for an emergency breakdown,” one worker said.
Endeavour have offered workers an upfront $1000 payment followed by pay increases of just 5.25 per cent from 1 July, 3.25 per cent the next year and then 2.75 per cent the year after.
Yet 15 Endeavour executives and the board of directors picked up nearly $7.8 million last year, a 12.4 per cent increase.
But who takes the call to fix a powerline in a storm? Who responds to emergency breakdowns? Who maintains the grid so that everyone can get electricity? It’s certainly not the executives or the major shareholders, among them Macquarie Bank.
One Endeavour worker told Solidarity that as an electrician “you do emergency work where you put yourself, your life at risk, wading through waters, working in storm activity, working in fires, all that type of work”.
Renewables
The bosses have tried to use the urgent need for renewable energy to demand workers sacrifice their living standards, claiming they are “risking the decarbonisation of the grid”.
According to the Trangrid bosses, the strikes have put Transgrid’s $2.3 billion EnergyConnect transmission line build between South Australia and NSW at risk.
But what’s really putting EnergyConnect at risk is the delay in giving workers the pay they deserve.
At Endeavour, working conditions have been hit since privatisation in 2017—and household electricity bills have also risen. Transgrid was privatised in 2015.
The fastest way to transition to renewables would be to re-nationalise the grid, transition it to clean energy and pay workers what they’re owed. Instead, the federal government is spending $368 billion on the AUKUS nuclear submarines—far more than what it’s investing in renewables.
Unity
Workers from all sections of Transgrid and Endeavour went out on strike, from the transmission lines, high voltage underground cables, substations, switching stations, digital infrastructure and more.
In a protected action ballot 80 per cent of members responded, with 95 per cent voting for industrial action.
An Endeavour worker told Solidarity, “This is very much a grassroots campaign. We ran months and months of surveys before we started bargaining with members. We got feedback from the other members, and we’ve taken every step that we can to make sure that we’re keeping them in.
“When we took our protected action, we made sure that this was something that everyone could take rather than just a select few carrying the weight of everyone else.”
Building on that kind of unity and stepping up the industrial struggle is the way to win. Workers across the board are facing a cost-of-living crisis. If workers at Transgrid and Endeavour can win above-inflation pay rises, it will show workers everywhere how to fight for pay rises.
By Jayden Rivers
The post Electricity workers strike for 8 per cent a year first appeared on Solidarity Online.