UAlbany teaching staff protest low pay, high fees

Dozens of UAlbany’s teaching assistants, students, and local area labor leaders rallied on April 2 at the University’s accepted students day to unite in support of greater funding for public higher education in the state’s final budget adoption. Low wages and high fees are particularly impacting The Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU), a chapter of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1104. The union represents approximately 5,000 Teaching and Graduate Assistants throughout SUNY who experience the semesterly plight of paying back 15-20% of their salaries to the University in fees.

Marina Hernandez, The Chapter’s Chief Steward and a UAlbany graduate student stated that “Our dedicated workers are relied upon to teach classes, grade papers, conduct research, and are collapsing under the weight of these onerous school fees. The Governor and the legislature must come together and act now to fully fund public higher education in our state – including supporting our graduate workers!”

Hernandez further noted that “SUNY works because we do; our members are the backbone of course instruction and deserve fair compensation for the important work that we do. Every year our members take out loans, skip meals, and even sell blood plasma to pay these unjust fees.”

In the midst of heated budget negotiations in Albany, two legislative champions have arisen to alleviate this plight of SUNY’s essential workforce. Assemblymember Patricia Fahy, Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, is fighting for the funding necessary to eliminate fees across the system. On the issue Asssemblymember Fahy said “Let’s abolish fees, ensure our grad students can focus on their careers, and invest in their futures in this year’s state budget.”

Senator Toby Stavisky, Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee has long introduced legislation on the issue (S.3500) and supports the elimination of fees for SUNY graduate workers. Both the Assembly and Senate budget proposals include provisions to address the issue.