The Boston University graduate workers union voted Wednesday to go on strike Monday afternoon if they do not reach a contract agreement with the university.
The union, which represents roughly 3,000 graduate student workers at BU, voted last week to authorize the strike after a longstanding battle with the university over fair pay and stronger benefits, including health care coverage and child care assistance.
David Foley, president of Massachusetts education and service worker union SEIU Local 509, wrote in a news release that the university has failed to address BUGWU's needs during contract negotiations.
"For eight months, we have been urging BU to bargain in good faith and provide the basic information our members need to bargain," Foley said. "BU's conduct continues to signal that they do not value the contributions of the workers that keep this university running, and we are committed to supporting our members as they fight for the fair contract they deserve."
Graduate workers at BU, who serve as teaching assistants, fellows and researchers, currently earn stipends of between $27,000 and $40,000, which the union says is unfair given the university's expensive tuition (which can cost anywhere from almost $46,000 to $139,000, depending on the college and year, according to BU's website) and large endowment.
The university, however, claims it has been working to negotiate a new contract in line with the union's requests, citing 15 meetings between university and union representatives and a list of proposed compromises in a statement released Tuesday. The university has agreed to increase the 12-month PhD student stipend to $42,159 next year, raise minimum wage from $15 to $18 for students paid hourly and create a dental insurance plan for all graduate students, among other things.
In a letter to BU faculty, interim university provost Kenneth Lutchen wrote that while the university recognizes the value of graduate student workers and the rights of eligible workers to strike, it also needs to prioritize providing the education it promises to the rest of its students.
"We have a responsibility to continue the education of all of our students, and a disruption to students' lectures, seminars, discussion sections and labs is not acceptable," he said. "My office has offered to help our schools and colleges put in place plans to mitigate any disruption a strike could cause."
Because the university does not hold a collective bargaining agreement with the union prohibiting striking, a strike would be legal. However, the university said it plans to withhold compensation from all striking individuals if the strike should take place. It also issued a warning to faculty warning them against paying striking graduate workers, saying departments that file incomplete or false schedule reports for striking individuals will be charged the full amount of the stipend paid to the worker during that time.
The statement said the two sides met to negotiate Monday, two days before the vote to strike was held. Lutchen added in his letter that further negotiations were tentatively slated for later in the week.
If the university and the union fail to reach an agreement by Monday, the laborers are expected to begin their strike with a rally Monday at noon at BU's Marsh Plaza.
It would be the latest episode in a recent push to unionize graduate student workers and improve graduate labor conditions, according to the Boston Globe. In 2023, graduate student workers at Fordham University and the University of Michigan organized similar strikes protesting unfair labor practices. In Boston, Northeastern University joined several other local colleges in voting to form a legally-recognizable union after a years-long delay so as to be able to negotiate with the university.
