NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)– Yale graduate teachers are defiant and sacrificing meals to get their point across. The aim is to jump start contract negotiations with the university.
There all night, through the rain, and sleeping in a nearby church are some other graduate teachers who are on a kind of rotating hunger strike. They say they are taking turns not eating to protest what the University is doing.Related: Yale graduate teachers begin fast to push for union contract negotiations
They’re calling it the fast against slow. It’s been two months since graduate teachers voted to unionize, but they say Yale is dragging its feet and slowing down the process of unionization by refusing to sit down and begin contract negotiations.
They held a demonstration in front of the University president’s house Wednesday. Now, they are set up in a more central location on campus in front of the president’s office. Yale put out a statement saying it’s working with the union and the National Labor Relations Board and that the union’s request for collective bargaining is premature. Basically, the university says there are legal issues in the way, the teachers say those legal issues were created by Yale.Related: Demonstrators gather at Yale, protest lack of union contract negotiations
The students who are fasting say they will continue until they sit down and negotiate with the university.
