THE GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH ASIAN AND ASIAN AMERICAN PEOPLE AT PITT AND EVERYWHERE
To the University of Pittsburgh community:
Since cases of COVID-19 first emerged in the United States, increased xenophobia towards people of Asian descent has spread throughout American cities, including Pittsburgh. By referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Coronavirus,” “Wuhan Virus,” “Kung Flu,” or the “Chinese Virus” many have stoked anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment. This rhetoric scapegoats Chinese community members and leads to hatred and violence against members of Asian and Asian American communities. From an increase in hateful language and physical assault towards people of Asian descent to a decrease in business for Asian restaurants, the repercussions of this racial animosity are real, severe, and long-lasting.
We are grateful that members of the Pitt community continue to do great work in this crisis to educate each other about this pernicious racism and xenophobia. We applaud Pitt for holding remote bystander trainings to educate its students and employees on how to protect those who are vulnerable.
At the same time, we are disappointed by administrators’ continual efforts to demean our legal right to form a graduate student employee union at Pitt. Unions are a proven way to improve quality of life for international students. This is more important than ever in an era of visa-restrictions and travel bans. Graduate student employee unions are a proven way to fight the precarity suffered by international graduate students. We hope that Pitt will do the right thing and recognize our right as graduate students, both international and domestic, to form a union so that we can continue advocating for ourselves by way of a legally-binding contract. Unions have won anti-discrimination clauses and fee-reductions for international graduate students at other universities, and they continually advocate for these students to make their lives better.
We condemn the racism and discrimination directed towards members of Asian and Asian American communities and stand in solidarity with Asians and Asian Americans in Pittsburgh and at Pitt. We recognize and stand with international students from China who may be experiencing discrimination. We also stand with all international students, many of whom are far from loved ones and may be unable to return home. In these difficult times, we call on members of our broader community to continue patronizing Asian- and Asian American-owned businesses, to intervene if they observe acts of xenophobic bigotry, and to seek to learn more about the immigrant experience. Our struggles are all intertwined, which is why we need to stand together in community as graduate students. We will keep fighting for the rights of all graduate students at Pitt. Please write to us here or at info@pittgradunion.org if you would like to hear more about how a union can help.
To the University of Pittsburgh community:
Since cases of COVID-19 first emerged in the United States, increased xenophobia towards people of Asian descent has spread throughout American cities, including Pittsburgh. By referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Coronavirus,” “Wuhan Virus,” “Kung Flu,” or the “Chinese Virus” many have stoked anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment. This rhetoric scapegoats Chinese community members and leads to hatred and violence against members of Asian and Asian American communities. From an increase in hateful language and physical assault towards people of Asian descent to a decrease in business for Asian restaurants, the repercussions of this racial animosity are real, severe, and long-lasting.
We are grateful that members of the Pitt community continue to do great work in this crisis to educate each other about this pernicious racism and xenophobia. We applaud Pitt for holding remote bystander trainings to educate its students and employees on how to protect those who are vulnerable.
At the same time, we are disappointed by administrators’ continual efforts to demean our legal right to form a graduate student employee union at Pitt. Unions are a proven way to improve quality of life for international students. This is more important than ever in an era of visa-restrictions and travel bans. Graduate student employee unions are a proven way to fight the precarity suffered by international graduate students. We hope that Pitt will do the right thing and recognize our right as graduate students, both international and domestic, to form a union so that we can continue advocating for ourselves by way of a legally-binding contract. Unions have won anti-discrimination clauses and fee-reductions for international graduate students at other universities, and they continually advocate for these students to make their lives better.
We condemn the racism and discrimination directed towards members of Asian and Asian American communities and stand in solidarity with Asians and Asian Americans in Pittsburgh and at Pitt. We recognize and stand with international students from China who may be experiencing discrimination. We also stand with all international students, many of whom are far from loved ones and may be unable to return home. In these difficult times, we call on members of our broader community to continue patronizing Asian- and Asian American-owned businesses, to intervene if they observe acts of xenophobic bigotry, and to seek to learn more about the immigrant experience. Our struggles are all intertwined, which is why we need to stand together in community as graduate students. We will keep fighting for the rights of all graduate students at Pitt. Please write to us here or at info@pittgradunion.org if you would like to hear more about how a union can help.
A Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) official has ordered a new union election for graduate student employees at the University of Pittsburgh, ruling that the university committed unfair labor practices in its effort to affect the outcome of our vote in April to join the Academic Workers Association of the United Steelworkers.
Stay tuned for more information once the PLRB schedules our re-vote.
Stay tuned for more information once the PLRB schedules our re-vote.
