Brave members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Graduate Students Union recently won a vote to unionize and join the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America. Watch BreakThroughNews’ coverage of the historic labor victory, below.
As union member and MIT graduate research assistant Belinda tells BreakThroughNews, poorly-paid graduate students are the engine of the famous institution. “I basically produce the research that makes MIT the scientific innovator that it’s known to be,” she says.
“We’re paid very little for the amount of work that we put in.”
The university, on the other hand, is lavishly endowed, and has seen its coffers explode during the pandemic, from $18 billion to $17 billion. Still, instead of using a small amount of those new riches to improve the pay and benefits for their research workers, MIT chose to spend money with a propaganda and intimidation campaign directed at students meant to discourage their deciding to join UE.
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