Graduates and faculty rally on Virginia Tech campus, announce two new unions
United Campus Workers – Virginia Tech, or UCW-VT, and the Graduate Labor Union, or VT GLU at rally on Sept. 5. Photo by Jack Glagola.
Jack Glagola, Contributing Writer
Graduate students, faculty and Blacksburg residents crowded around the Graduate Life Center on Virginia Tech’s campus on Sept. 5 to launch two new unions: United Campus Workers – Virginia Tech, or UCW-VT, and the Graduate Labor Union, or VT GLU.
UCW-VT is an affiliate of the national United Campus Workers organization and the Communication Workers of America, while VT GLU is affiliated with the Virginia Education Association, according to a press release.
The event featured a march around campus with slogans and creative signs. Undergraduate students boarded and disembarked buses while various UCW faculty, VT GLU students and members of the Blacksburg community spoke on the steps of Burruss Hall, the university’s administration building.
Among the speakers from outside Blacksburg was Kristen Reed, an assistant professor in the Focused Inquiry department at VCU and the chair of VCU’s UCW chapter.
“My department at VCU, we’re getting our ass bullied,” Reed said, referring to the firing of 14 Focused Inquiry professors last month.
Reed called for solidarity with universities across the state.
“I’m here to say we’re not going to take that at VCU, we’re not going to take that at UVA, we’re not going to take that at William and Mary, and now we’re not going to take that here at Virginia Tech,” Reed said.
Reed said the fight is for living wages, better housing and better institutions.
“We are going to do what is right for the entirety of the commonwealth. That’s our commitment to you,” Reed said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Cori Ruktanonchai, a collegiate assistant professor at Virginia Tech before the rally, said“It’s a day of saying ‘we are here.’”
“We are here and we are what makes this university work,” Ruktanonchai said.
The keynote speakers on the lawn included James J. Fedderman, the president of the Virginia Education Association, or VEA, the largest teachers’ union in the state.
“Today is a great day in the commonwealth of Virginia. This is going to be the start of great and amazing things for other colleges and universities across this great commonwealth,” Fedderman said.
Fedderman called on the audience to spread the word about the rally.
“We’re not going to be sold out, we’re not going to be exploited, we’re going to get the respect because we are not going to be quiet,” Fedderman said.
Fedderman closed his speech with a comment on the temperature, which stood around 90 degrees.
“Anything that cooks is good, and a union is good for the soul,” Fedderman said.
Tarisa Ross, a second-year Ph.D. student in the geosciences department, said in a speech that graduate students deserve a living wage.
“We are providing a service to not only Virginia Tech, but to the greater scientific and academic community. This world needs us, this world loves us, and we need to be loved back,” Ross said.
On the steps of Burruss Hall, Brandy Faulkner, a professor at Virginia Tech and a founding member of UCW-VT, brought up racial inequities as a reason to unionize.
“I stand here today for those who have challenged racism, only to receive letters of non-reappointment. No reason given, but we all know exactly why,” Faulkner said, the crowd concurring with boos.
Faulkner said that unions stand for everyone, from professors to students to janitorial staff.
“I stand here today because I can. We are the best of us when we love, protect and respect those considered the least of us. That’s what our union is about,” Faulkner said.
