We want more free stuff...

[airdvr 210]

UC Santa Cruz fires 54 graduate student workers striking for higher pay

Housing is expensive in Santa Cruz, and student workers have a difficult time living on the typical stipend of $2,400 a month before taxes, said Veronica Hamilton, vice president of UC Santa Cruz’s graduate student association and chair of the campus’ unit of UAW Local 2865, the union for more than 19,000 student workers at the UC system.  

So you can't afford to live in Santa Cruz.  Guess you'll have to move.

[jakee 1,594]

So you go to work al day, and in return your employer gives you free money?

Huh, never heard it put like that before.

[brenthutch 444]

3 hours ago, jakee said:

So you go to work al day, and in return your employer gives you free money?

Huh, never heard it put like that before.

So you sign a contract to provide a service in return for a specific amount of compensation, then you go on strike for >50% more money when your husband gets fired, your baby daddy walks out on you or the rent is about just as much as when you signed the contract?

Huh, never heard it put like that before. 

[gowlerk 2,273]

Striking is market based capitalism. It’s simply human capital finding its best use. Sauce for the gander and all that.

God loves unions, Woody said so.

[airdvr 210]

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

Striking is market based capitalism. It’s simply human capital finding its best use. Sauce for the gander and all that.

God loves unions, Woody said so.

So is the right to fire someone who refuses to do their work.  I wonder how much their UAW dues are every month?

[airdvr 210]

8 hours ago, jakee said:

So you go to work al day, and in return your employer gives you free money?

Huh, never heard it put like that before.

“I’m struggling for basic needs such as toilet paper, buying my son milk,” said Arjona, who pays about $1,700 a month in rent out of the $2,200 she receives after taxes. “If there’s an emergency, I have truly nothing to fall back on.”

She had known losing her job was a possibility but wanted to keep pushing on with the strike. “I should not have to live this way,” Arjona said.

As if she has no other choice...I fear the reality is she loves the UC lifestyle and doesn't want to venture out into the real world to make her way.  I'm sure there's lots of jobs available for anthropologists.

[JoeWeber 2,936]

18 minutes ago, airdvr said:

“I’m struggling for basic needs such as toilet paper, buying my son milk,” said Arjona, who pays about $1,700 a month in rent out of the $2,200 she receives after taxes. “If there’s an emergency, I have truly nothing to fall back on.”

She had known losing her job was a possibility but wanted to keep pushing on with the strike. “I should not have to live this way,” Arjona said.

As if she has no other choice...I fear the reality is she loves the UC lifestyle and doesn't want to venture out into the real world to make her way.  I'm sure there's lots of jobs available for anthropologists.

A deal is a deal. A $2400 stipend plus a probability of a few hundred more and free tuition to boot. It's her third year. Might be time to check with Fresno State.

[Coreece 190]

5 hours ago, airdvr said:

As if she has no other choice...I fear the reality is she loves the UC lifestyle and doesn't want to venture out into the real world to make her way.

Usually poor whites venture to trailer parks, but in Santa Cruz trailers can cost 600k - no shit, that's fucking mad.  Cheapest one I saw with a quick search was like 3k per month, so that would be a no go for her.

[gowlerk 2,273]

9 hours ago, airdvr said:

So is the right to fire someone who refuses to do their work.  I wonder how much their UAW dues are every month?

Absolutely, cuts both ways.

[JoeWeber 2,936]

41 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Absolutely, cuts both ways.

This ones a no brainer, even liberals can get the drift. 

[billvon 3,109]

9 hours ago, airdvr said:

As if she has no other choice...I fear the reality is she loves the UC lifestyle and doesn't want to venture out into the real world to make her way.  I'm sure there's lots of jobs available for anthropologists.

She does have a choice - and she is exercising it.  But of course that's happening in the real world, not the Internet, so it may be hard for you to see it.

[billvon 3,109]

4 hours ago, Coreece said:

Usually poor whites venture to trailer parks, but in Santa Cruz trailers can cost 600k - no shit, that's fucking mad.  

Yep, and they get it.  Capitalism in action.

[Coreece 190]

29 minutes ago, billvon said:

4 hours ago, Coreece said:

Usually poor whites venture to trailer parks, but in Santa Cruz trailers can cost 600k - no shit, that's fucking mad.  

Yep, and they get it.  Capitalism in action.

I know, that's why it's so fucking mad. . . but to each their own I guess.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Coreece

[billvon 3,109]

37 minutes ago, Coreece said:

I know, that's why it's so fucking mad. . . but to each their own I guess.

Yep.  A 500 sq ft shack on the beach went for $2 million here a while back.

[jakee 1,594]

23 hours ago, brenthutch said:

So you sign a contract to provide a service in return for a specific amount of compensation, then you go on strike for >50% more money when your husband gets fired, your baby daddy walks out on you or the rent is about just as much as when you signed the contract?

Huh, never heard it put like that before. 

Aside from the other unnecessary blatant offensiveness in there, why haven’t you heard it like that before? Almost every UC SC TA voted against the contract as being unfair to them vs other campuses so it makes sense they still feel that way.

 

Cost if living adjustments are a thing. I recently moved to a big city and get paid about 50% more than I did before - and a big chunk of it does get taken up in just paying for somewhere to live. I’m not getting any free stuff vs what I had before, I’m being paid what my work is worth in this particular place.

[jakee 1,594]

19 hours ago, airdvr said:

As if she has no other choice...I fear the reality is she loves the UC lifestyle and doesn't want to venture out into the real world to make her way.  I'm sure there's lots of jobs available for anthropologists.

Right. She’s struggling to pay for a place to live and feed her son while doing a highly skilled job and you think it’s because she likes that lifestyle? I’d imagine she feels like the world is pretty damn real at the moment.

 

But I guess you feel that higher education should be reserved for those from wealthy enough families that they don’t need to live in the real world. That’s sad.

[brenthutch 444]

9 minutes ago, jakee said:

 I’m not getting any free stuff vs what I had before, I’m being paid what my work is worth in this particular place.

  The market value is the price point where the seller of a good or service equals what a buyer is willing to pay for that good or service.

Obviously they miscalculated.  They were in school to learn?  Well it looks like they got educated in economics, the hard way. 

Edited March 2, 2020 by brenthutch

[airdvr 210]

35 minutes ago, jakee said:

Right. She’s struggling to pay for a place to live and feed her son while doing a highly skilled job and you think it’s because she likes that lifestyle? I’d imagine she feels like the world is pretty damn real at the moment.

She, and many others can't afford to live there.  Instead of dealing with the realities of the situation and going someplace else they want to change the rules mid-game.  Not everyone can afford to live in CA.

[DJL 235]

11 minutes ago, airdvr said:

She, and many others can't afford to live there.  Instead of dealing with the realities of the situation and going someplace else they want to change the rules mid-game.  Not everyone can afford to live in CA.

That's basically step one in understanding a multifaceted issue regarding pay and cost of living.  First there exist a quantity of people who hold those jobs, some are new some are old.  That job exists over a time period and the local economic cycle changes as new people accept the job for the same rate, people who need jobs take jobs.  Eventually, those people decide to do something about it.  It's a risk they take but they collectively take he issue to the employer.

In this situation their gamble didn't pay off but you can bet that the school heard the shot across their bow and understand it's something they need to deal with.

[wmw999 2,584]

20 minutes ago, DJL said:

That's basically step one in understanding a multifaceted issue regarding pay and cost of living.  First there exist a quantity of people who hold those jobs, some are new some are old.  That job exists over a time period and the local economic cycle changes as new people accept the job for the same rate, people who need jobs take jobs.  Eventually, those people decide to do something about it.  It's a risk they take but they collectively take he issue to the employer.

In this situation their gamble didn't pay off but you can bet that the school heard the shot across their bow and understand it's something they need to deal with.

I'm sorry, nuanced long-view opinions don't really belong here. It's a place for smart-alecky quips designed to highlight your overall intellectual or moral superiority

As I just did 

Wendy P.

[wmw999 2,584]

On 2/29/2020 at 11:20 PM, airdvr said:

UC Santa Cruz fires 54 graduate student workers striking for higher pay

Housing is expensive in Santa Cruz, and student workers have a difficult time living on the typical stipend of $2,400 a month before taxes, said Veronica Hamilton, vice president of UC Santa Cruz’s graduate student association and chair of the campus’ unit of UAW Local 2865, the union for more than 19,000 student workers at the UC system.  

So you can't afford to live in Santa Cruz.  Guess you'll have to move.

I'm actually going to disagree with your original premise that they want "free stuff." They're disagreeing with the price of their labor, in a more concrete way than their original lack of enthusiasm for the contract would allow. Their labor has a value, and the employer is not the only one to determine that value.

As DJL said, this is a negotiation. 

Wendy P.

[turtlespeed 226]

45 minutes ago, DJL said:

That's basically step one in understanding a multifaceted issue regarding pay and cost of living.  First there exist a quantity of people who hold those jobs, some are new some are old.  That job exists over a time period and the local economic cycle changes as new people accept the job for the same rate, people who need jobs take jobs.  Eventually, those people decide to do something about it.  It's a risk they take but they collectively take he issue to the employer.

In this situation their gamble didn't pay off but you can bet that the school heard the shot across their bow and understand it's something they need to deal with.

I don't understand why they are fighting the unionization, though.

They could run it under the teachers union.

Why would a group of people so dedicated to unions, be so dead set against them?

[brenthutch 444]

48 minutes ago, DJL said:

In this situation their gamble didn't pay off but you can bet that the school heard the shot across their bow and understand it's something they need to deal with.

I think it was the student union who heard the shot across THEIR bow.  All the school did was set a precedent.

[DJL 235]

6 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

I think it was the student union who heard the shot across THEIR bow.  All the school did was set a precedent.

Certainly.

[airdvr 210]

11 hours ago, billvon said:

She does have a choice - and she is exercising it.  But of course that's happening in the real world, not the Internet, so it may be hard for you to see it.

Oh she exercised her choice alright.