A publication for faculty, staff, and students by the independent
Rank-and-File Temple (RAFT) Caucus
Must every crisis benefit the bosses? Will faculty, campus staff, and students have to pay for this one? No! Now is the time to organize in defense of our common interests as Temple workers and students against the university’s administrators.
Those in charge often use crises to impose austerity measures and undermine working conditions. Temple is no exception. For many, conditions are already unbearable because of low wages and a lack of health benefits, child-care, and job security. Yet President Englert is now demanding 5% spending cuts across the board. The cuts could mean layoffs, increased class sizes, and tuition hikes.
The president’s call for cuts comes after Temple’s administrators and managers forced some workers to keep coming to work far longer than necessary, needlessly endangering them. In fact, the Office of Business Services demanded that on-campus vendors keep paying rent even after the transition to online classes, thus adding pressure to keep workers reporting to campus. And administrators foisted extra, unpaid work on faculty and embroiled students in chaos with very little time to prepare for the transition online. Does the administration live in such “rarefied climes” that they could be ignorant of these struggles? Or do they have such contempt for us that they couldn’t care less? Either way, we have a problem!
We need to be ready. Now is the time to organize for the kind of university we want — and to fight back against the cuts and layoffs looming on the horizon.
We believe Temple has the resources to weather this crisis without harming our community of students, teachers, and workers. In full support of TAUP’s and TUGSA’s requests, we also put forth the following immediate demands:
- No lay-offs or furloughs!
- Paid sick leave for all Temple workers!
- Additional pay for additional work!
- Smaller classes, especially online!
All workers, all students are in this together; all of us are under attack from the bosses; all of us need a university that works for us. Now is the time for all of our coworkers and students to organize democratic committees, in every department and section of campus, to fight against the cuts, including preparing to slow, disrupt, or stop our work.
And now is the time to join the Rank-and-File Caucus to combine our power.
Rank-and-File Temple Caucus 