On November 28, 2022 the Binghamton University chapter of the Graduate Student Employee Union announced the commencement of its living wage campaign. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator, the living wage for one adult with no children in Broome County is $34,574 per year. In comparison, Binghamton University graduate and teaching assistants make between $10,788 and $26,824 with an average yearly salary of $19,428. This is only 56 percent of the minimum subsistence wage needed to survive. The graduate workers and their supporters demand that Binghamton University end the exploitation of its graduate workers (TAs, GAs and RAs) regardless of their program, funding status, or place of employment on campus, and pay each and every one of them a living wage.
