HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – Graduate students who work at Dartmouth College hit the picket lines Wednesday demanding higher wages and better benefits.
GOLD-UE represents about 800 teachers and researchers. They say they currently do not make a livable wage and will continue their strike as long as it takes, even if their peers on campus are directly impacted.
“Being stressed about all these things that bother us, that we are fighting for that makes us poorer TAs, and once that stress is alleviated, we will be much better TAs,” said Ankita Sarkar, a graduate worker.
“We should be focused on the root cause of the strike — which is Dartmouth’s failure to, as a multi-billion dollar institution — to provide adequate quality of life,” said Ian Scott, a member of the student workers union, which joined the grad students in a show of solidarity.
College officials in a statement said they remain committed to negotiations and keeping the school running as efficiently as possible. “We will work to ensure our students are not adversely impacted by the strike and will continue to support the learning of students in our classrooms and the progress of our research projects,” they said.