ST. LOUIS聽鈥 St. 亚洲无码 University graduate students seeking to unionize say they have reached an agreement with the university and may vote to unionize as early as next month.
The Graduate Workers of St. 亚洲无码 University Union has for nearly two years sought better wages for graduate students who work for the university as part of their education. A petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday signals the completion of a major hurdle in the unionization process.
Organizers said they collected authorization cards from more than 30% of聽SLU鈥檚 650 graduate students seeking a representation election. If successful, the grad students would join the United Auto Workers, which already represents academic workers at other universities.
People are also reading…
An NLRB-supervised election could happen as soon as the second week of November, said Eileen Schaub, a graduate teaching student.
The effort to unionize began in February 2023, when students noticed SLU had not increased graduate students鈥 stipends for over 10 years, Schaub said. Most students聽鈥 and especially international students, who cannot hold employment outside of the university聽 鈥 were struggling to support themselves.
鈥淏eing a graduate student worker really is our full-time job,鈥 Schaub said.
The students, who work as graduate, teaching and research assistants, or fellows, are required to work for the university as part of their degree.
Schaub studies biology. She鈥檚 researching how climate change affects the development of flower buds. Her pursuit of a doctorate is聽a five-year commitment, one that鈥檚 been hard to keep with her current stipend.
鈥淲hen I got to SLU, I was getting advice from my fellow graduate workers about going to food banks and getting money by selling blood plasma,鈥 Schaub said. 鈥淭his is something they were routinely doing.鈥
Schaub said SLU did not voluntarily recognize the union but signed off on a mutual election agreement.
In a statement, SLU officials described graduate students as 鈥渆ssential鈥 and their contributions vital to the university鈥檚 academic mission.听
鈥淲e respect their right to explore union representation and make informed decisions about their future,鈥 SLU鈥檚 statement reads. 鈥淭he university will honor the process that allows them to decide if they wish to be represented by the United Auto Workers.鈥
The unionization effort comes at a rough time for SLU, which has eliminated more than 20 staff positions and is freezing 130 vacancies in a cost-saving measure announced Friday.听
But it鈥檚 also a time when graduate students are unionizing at increasing rates due to a NLRB ruling in 2016.
The board ruled students who聽received compensation for work connected to their studies were considered employees under federal law, l聽of graduate and undergraduate unions.
The change nearly unraveled under an NLRB board appointed by former President Donald Trump, which tried to again exclude student workers from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act. That effort died in 2021 after the election of President Joe Biden, the reports.
鈥淲e encourage all eligible graduate students to take time to learn about what the union representation could mean for them and to participate in the election process by casting their vote in the NLRB-supervised election,鈥 SLU officials said.