The New School’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) showed up to the picket line in support of the SENS-UAW Local 7902 Union strike. “We made pins, we made signs, we made records,” Emily Li, a junior in the BAFA program and co-chair of the TNS YDSA, said.
Li spearheaded the YDSA’s presence at the strike, leading chants and drumming on the metal fences bordering the entrance to the University Center.
TNS YDSA is a branch of the Democratic Socialists of America who are, “the largest socialist organization in America,” according to their website. The group is focused on bettering the immediate needs of workers and students at over 125 universities.
Most recently, Columbia University’s YDSA chapter helped conduct a tuition strike regarding financial aid, convincing the university to waive late fees and promise an increase in financial aid by $1.4 billion over four years.
To organize student support for the SENS strike, TNS YDSA created a “strike ready” campaign which is centered around “practical needs and strike support, having people be able to show up and delegate themselves to coming to the picket line,” Li said.
The group also hosted two pre-strike events last month. One of the first events TNS YDSA hosted was a “Political Education Meeting” centered around educating students about the SENS strike. The following event provided materials and organization for students to make posters and signs for the picket ahead of the SENS strike.
Gant Roberson, co-chair of the YDSA’s TNS Chapter and a Master’s student at The New School for Social Research, said, “The biggest concern is the treatment of the student workers.”
“The most pressing concern for us considering the urgency of getting a good contract…and really fighting for the recognition of student workers as workers,” Roberson said, “because the university is extremely dedicated to the strategy of undermining the value of student work and painting us as just students and not workers, even though the work that all of us do makes the University run.”
As hundreds of picketers gathered outside the University Center at 63 5th Ave earlier this afternoon, Hunter College’s YDSA Chapter joined the crowd in solidarity. “Even though this issue doesn’t directly impact us, we always want to show solidarity for whatever issues other students at other schools are facing…the fight of one is the fight of all,” said Johanna Von Maack, a Hunter College YDSA member.
Roberson hopes that TNS YDSA will cultivate a “stronger political culture towards students feeling like they have a voice…even when there’s not some crisis happening, like a strike,” he said.