AFT Leaders on Failure of Yale University to Negotiate with Its Graduate Employees

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel issued the following statement on Yale University’s refusal to bargain a first contract with its graduate workforce:

“AFT members and graduate employees around the country stand in solidarity with their fellow workers at Yale University and the thousands who joined them for a commencement day protest.

“In February, grad workers voted overwhelmingly for a union, Local 33 UNITE HERE, to represent them at the bargaining table with Yale’s administration. In the three long months since, administrators have not only betrayed the law and the university’s values, they have cynically taken the side of Donald Trump. Instead of respecting the grads’ will, they’ve filed legal appeals in the hope the president appoints new members to the National Labor Relations Board to strip graduate employees of their rights nationwide.

“Yale President Peter Salovey must choose which side he is on—the side of the democratic spirit he was appointed to uphold, or the autocracy embodied by Donald Trump. His legacy will be judged by his choice in this moment.”