3 minute read

Reinstate TUGSA’s benefits

public safety concerns.

In North Philadelphia, this type of reporting could benefit some media organizations’ agendas of advocating for Temple to do more to protect its students from safety concerns while villainizing the local neighborhood.

Advertisement

The Editorial Board agrees the university should be held accountable to prioritize student safety, but increasing panic around campus with harmful media activity is an irresponsible way of raising awareness.

Sensational crime reporting cultivates anxiety and increased concern among the student body on campus. As crime rates and reports rise around campus, some students have transferred to different universities for safety reasons.

Reporters that have jokingly mocked campus safety and the administration have also contributed to sensational reporting. Some reporters and organizations expect Temple to handle the deeply rooted issue of gun violence on its own, but this is unreasonable.

“We know there is a lot of misinformation circulating via social media,” Wingard wrote in a university-wide email. “We are committed to communicating with the Temple community and will regularly share verified accurate information. We will also be regularly sharing this information with the news media.”

With the blame placed fully on the university, there is limited room for possible citywide solutions to be explored and deeper, more solutions-focused reporting on gun violence in Philadelphia.

The Editorial Board encourages all media outlets reporting on local crime to use an ethical approach and consider who may be affected by sensationalism.

BY MOLLY FISKE Assistant Opinion Editor

On Feb. 8, Temple University Graduate Students’ Association, noticed their health insurance was deactivated.

“People found it particularly cruel that the council would cut the benefits of people who have gone on strike because they’re already in a tough financial position,” said Bethany Kosmicki, a research assistant in the sociology department and member of the contract negotiations team.

The university warned benefits could be cut amidst a strike but didn’t issue a warning when actually deactivated, Kosmicki said.

On Feb. 9, striking TUGSA members received an email from the Bursar’s Office stating their full tuition would be due on March 9. Failure to pay will result in a $100 late fee and a hold placed on their account.

Temple has the ability to continue providing benefits for striking workers but deliberately chose to cut them. Any U.S. adult that doesn’t have qualifying health insurance must pay a fee under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, TUGSA members are already fighting for basic needs; they shouldn’t have their tuition remission and healthcare benefits revoked in the process.

For nearly a month, TUGSA has striked for a base-wage pay of $32,800, healthcare for dependents and families, extended parental and bereavement leave and improved working conditions, according to TUGSA.

Employers in Pennsylvania are legally allowed to pay striking workers, but also have the right to cut benefits, according to Pennsylvania’s Public Employee Relations Act.

In response to Temple’s cut of benefits and tuition remission, TUGSA’s unfair labor practice complaint to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board is now pending after being filed roughly two weeks ago, Kosmicki said.

“Without those benefits, they will be treated the same as every other enrolled student,” wrote Stephen Orbanek, a university spokes- person, in an email to The Temple News.

The penalty for not having qualifying health insurance is $95 per adult or one percent of taxable income, whichever is higher, according to the Affordable Care Act. Due to Temple removing benefits, striking members could be subject to the fine as they no longer have qualifying coverage.

Any U.S. citizen without qualifying healthcare will be penalized with the fee. The consequence for not having health insurance doesn’t fall on Temple but striking graduate workers.

From the beginning of the strike, Temple wasn’t obligated to cut health and tuition benefits, and TUGSA considered the decision unprecedented for graduate student programs, Kosmicki said.

Current pay of a Temple graduate worker, which is on average more than $19,000 per academic year, isn’t sufficient enough to cover health insurance expenses if a graduate worker is striking.

“The pay is just entirely inadequate for what is being asked of TAs and RAs but also just for living in Philadelphia, going to a school that makes a ton of money, and that sort of thing,” said Matt Ford, TUGSA’s lead negotiator.

The average person spends roughly $12,914 on health care expenditures per year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

It’s essential that Temple reinstates benefits because they’re unable to utilize their health insurance, and will be forced to pay out of pocket for essential health care needs.

Any student that wants to study in the U.S. requires a student visa and to receive a visa the student must be enrolled full-time and must have sufficient funds available for the course, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The price of health care without insurance is impossible to afford for many graduate students, and international students without tuition remission could be forced to leave the country. Failure to support the union’s right to strike and restore their benefits would be a violation of basic workers’ rights and a neglect of Temple.

Sofia Bezila contributed reporting.

STUDENT LIFE

This article is from: