The absurdly-rich universities can afford to pay livable wages. Undergrads have been traditionally treated like prison labor, e.g., grossly underpaid. In undergrad at a large university, I had to social engineer myself a research job because the menial on- and off-campus jobs paid nothing.
I'm part of the unit and the strike, although I'm not currently a TA. Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. We're on strike for 42k for 12 month appointments, 37k for 9 months, as well as dental/vision and third party arbitration for non discrimination and harassment cases.
