The real kicker is that even if they win, they STILL aren't paying a living wage to the grad students. Like the university is acting like they are asking for 600,000 per year, when they are actually asking for literally slightly better but still poverty wages

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But....the vibes!

I never said I make “just enough” to not qualify. In fact, I said my income was “far too high.” My case worker told me I didn’t qualify by a large amount because my hourly pay is so high.

Why do you insist on misconstruing my words? Why can’t you fathom someone living perfectly fine on $31/hour? It’s not that ridiculous…

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You were the one who even associated TA pay with the poverty line or public benefits. Our compensation is no where near that. That’s all I’m saying. I never claimed we make a ton of money or that striking TAs don’t have legit claims to higher pay. But the hysterics surrounding our pay is actually crazy considering our very high hourly rate.

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Despite going to Ikeas my whole life, I have never eaten in their food court. I need to amend that. Perhaps if they would walk a dish over to the boat I could cross off two bucket list items at once.

I've read articles about the group who keeps it around trying to do various things like this, but if I remember right, they can never get enough funding.

The USS Olympia is more historically important and hasn't been drydocked in awhile. If any ship in Philly deserves an effort to take care of, it's Gridley's flagship.

I've been obsessed with this boat for years.

This is what I keep trying to tell people. I support the striking TAs who they feel they are unjustly compensated. The COL has increased significantly and other schools do provide better wages. I personally am not at all unsatisfied with my earnings or working conditions so I’m not striking. I just dislike the misrepresentation that we are below poverty level.

Monthly subscription? What, do they send you a new pair of yoga pants every month or something?

Exactly. I mean, I'm not complaining because I'm sure the workers appreciate the new scrubs and all, but let's not give fawning press to someone for donating branded merchandise as a tax write-off for the company he partially owns.

$20k for even 9 months of half-time work is the equivalent of a $53k full-time job- and if they were a full-time university employee, they’d pay FICA on their earnings and income tax on the value of the waived tuition. I don’t blame them for seeking more given the costs of living and better compensation at competing schools, but let’s not conflate them as a whole with people who are actually living below poverty level.

What is the solution then? It’s a money pit

Thanks!

Hello fellow sewist! I just replied to recommend pdfplotting before seeing your comment. I've also started using theplottedpattern.com recently because she lets you print specific size layers, which was always one of the cons to pdfplotting for me.

No, it’s that you’re not accurately describing their situation. Saying they’re below the poverty line suggests they might actually qualify for public benefits or that the poverty levels are much more generously calculated than they are.

I get a lot of large format pdf sewing patterns printed from a site called pdfplotting.com. They aren't local, but they are a small business and I've used them often. They have a number of options and sizes and you might be able to find something that works.

TL;DR is Temple fucks over nurses during a pandemic

I agree, TAs are expected to be everything all the time without even a thanks but it can be really rewarding if you enjoy teaching. Also as someone said most times our contracts state we cannot seek other employment. I will note as someone else said there is a lot of expected privilege that makes graduate school much easier for people who have rich parents or a partner who can take on extra finances. I had a fellow grad student tell the graduate advisor he couldn’t afford tuition if they took away his remission and he was told to ask his boss for a private loan. And when you do have a majority being supplemented by parents they don’t care if others are struggling so why would they strike or complain? I hope the temple TAs get at least the bare minimum they are requesting but once the university pulls their remission they won’t last without going massively into debt.

At the end of the day all the candidates are part of the same political party, and thus support almost the same politics/ideals. There isn’t much room between them all and debating which one is a true progressive is a waste of time. We should be focusing on competency since we’ve been dealing with the lack thereof for 8 years in a city that is struggling.

Agreed. I do miss Nutter. Times have changed and things are different but I feel like he was respected by most, even if people didn’t agree with him. Plus he legit took part in the Red Bull Soap Box Derby in Manayunk like a million years ago lol.