Strike One

Lately, on campus there has been talk of our graduate union striking. And even more recently there was a vote. Apparently all graduate students at the University of Illinois who are teaching assistants will go on strike this upcoming Monday. The interesting thing about this strike is that individual departments on campus have different policies on reimbursement, payroll, coverage, etc. All sorts of discrepancies exist within our Union itself. I feel as though some graduate students are more than comfortable with what they make (like the engineers, to be more specific) and other graduate students can't even afford to pay for all of their living expenses (fine arts graduate students).
Being somewhere in the middle is like walking a tightrope with people on all different sides. To be honest, I'm OK with what I make, although it is on the slim side. I'm OK with it because it is in accordance with the contract I signed when I agreed to be a graduate student. For me, the University has fulfilled all of it's obligations up until this point and I feel no reason to strike in that regard.
HOWEVER, I do feel as though graduate students are trying to live off of a minuscule amount of funding. My stipend is about average for this campus. If I had any other obligations or parents who weren't willing to help me out, I would most definitely be in debt right now. As is, I barely make it from month to month and rely on my parents for assistance. It does cause me to wonder about the graduate students who are PhD candidates.
In some departments it can take up to 8 years to earn their PhD. Should those students be required to put life, maybe a spouse or even kids on hold because they can't afford them? Is that the sacrifice that the university wants to require of graduate students. Make a choice: family or degree. I don't think that's an acceptable option. There has to be a middle ground, and I'd like to see this university come together as a whole to solve this moral dilemma.
That is why, if it comes down to it, I'll be striking as well. I stand by those students who would like to earn enough money to support a full life with a family, maybe a house and a car. History has proven again and again that progress on policies is never made by a single person. People need to stand together to fight for what is right and what they believe in.