The University of Maryland’s chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops Friday held a rally on McKeldin Mall to advocate for a $22.65 per hour minimum wage for this university’s employees.
Friday’s rally was part of the organization’s “Time For 22” movement, an initiative that also aims to secure the right to unionize for all employees at public universities in Maryland. The event included attendees from other local and on campus labor organizations such as Fearless Student Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1072 and this university’s chapter of the Association of American University Professors.
This university’s USAS president Kelsey Coleman, a senior Black liberation studies and performing arts major, hoped Friday’s event would foster togetherness and unity among labor rights advocates.
“We must stand together,” Coleman said. “We must stand united and we must fight for labor democracy.”
Increasing stipends for graduate assistants should be a priority moving forward for this university, according to Carolyn Robbins, a doctoral communication student and member of FSE.
“The administration knows that this university mistreats [graduate students],” Robbins said. “They know that we are overworked, underpaid, abused by faculty mentors.”
The “Time For 22” movement aims to meet not just the demands of graduate assistants, but all university employees.
Sabrina Li, a senior psychology major, said that employees at Stamp Student Union...
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