For too long, universities have exploited teaching assistants. But things are rapidly changing, with labor unions finding strong support among them (“United Auto Workers of the Ivy League,” The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 17).
A seven-week strike by 3,000 graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants at Columbia University over wages is evidence that they have had enough. The UAW was also recognized as labor representative for 17,000 student researchers at the giant University of California system.
The truth is that universities could not operate without the work that these teaching assistants do for minimum wages. Yet administrators refuse to pay them a living wage.
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