After election, SGEU reflects on journey to recognition, what comes next in bargaining

By Dominic Chiappone, Asst. News Editor for The Daily Orange | Published on April 5, 2023

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Hours before Syracuse University graduate workers officially recognized Syracuse Graduate Employees United as their union on Tuesday, Katie Mott said winning the union election is one of her most important and valued experiences as a Ph.D. student. Now, Mott and other SGEU organizers are shifting focus toward developing a set of demands and electing representatives who will speak on behalf of the union in negotiations with SU.

After two days of voting held in the JMA Wireless Dome, SU’s graduate student workers voted 728-36 to officially recognize SGEU. The union can now move forward with official collective bargaining negotiations with SU on issues like pay, hours and healthcare benefits.

Representatives from SGEU and SU will meet in the coming weeks to discuss a potential timeline for negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement, according to a Wednesday statement from SU Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter.

Cassidy Thomas, a member of SGEU’s organizing committee since Fall 2021, told the D.O. that although no timeline is concrete, SGEU hopes to have bargaining committee members elected by no later than early Fall 2023, with negotiations following soon after. He noted that all of SU’s 1,124 graduate students will be eligible to serve as and elect SGEU representatives.

Thomas also said all SGEU members will work to organize union contract goals and priorities for the bargaining unit, collecting feedback from members through modes like public town halls and surveys.

Thomas emphasized the election’s success in its voter turnout. The 728 graduate workers who voted in favor of the union represent 95% of the 764 total voters and nearly 65% of the 1,124 graduate students eligible for the bargaining unit.

Samuel Santiago, a third year Ph.D. student in the English program, said cooperation between SGEU and SU has been straightforward so far. Santiago, who also joined SGEU’s unionization effort because of low pay and poor healthcare benefits, said the vote in favor of a union remains a source of pride and unity that the organization has built over the past year.

“With this movement, we’ve all kind of gotten to know the campus community more intimately, so it’s really brought us all together,” Santiago said. “We’re fighting for labor rights, but we’re also just banding together and forming a stronger campus.”

Santiago and several graduate students told The Daily Orange that increasing stipend pay will be one of the major points of emphasis during the negotiation process for a union contract with the university.

On Jan. 13, SU announced a raise in minimum stipend pay from $16,980 for graduate students to $20,000 for masters students and $22,000 for Ph.D. students beginning in the fall semester, four days before SGEU’s campaign launched at Hendricks Chapel.

The pay increase, however, isn’t enough for graduate students like Taylor Harman, a teaching assistant of six years who joined SGEU’s organizing committee in Fall 2022.

Harman said she struggled to pay rent and was only able to stay in graduate school because of her partner’s financial support. Further raising the minimum stipend pay for graduate workers like herself, even after the initial increase in pay, will be a primary priority for SGEU, Harman said.

Even with SU’s 2022 operational budget sitting at $1.15 billion, graduate employees continue to deal with issues like inadequate pay and job insecurity despite the value students produce for the university, Thomas said in a statement to The D.O. on Wednesday.

Thomas emphasized that graduate workers should be paid enough to live a decent and respectable life in Syracuse.

“In many cases, people say they want a ‘living wage,’ but I actually think that’s the wrong way to think of it,” Thomas said. “We shouldn’t be paid enough to just merely ‘live’ or get by. We should be paid an amount that is representative of the value we bring to this massive institution.”

Mott said she joined SGEU because of concerns over her salary and serious medical debt. After she was diagnosed with a concussion nearly four years ago, Mott, who receives a yearly salary of around $22,000, said high costs led her to avoid doctor’s appointments and treatment options. Mott said she continues to face immense medical debt, and that she maxed out her credit cards to pay for her medical procedures, supplements and appointments.

“I know that for other people who have health concerns, winning a union will mean that people will actually be able to get the care they need,” Mott said.

Mott, who joined SGEU’s unionization effort in 2018, said the hard work has paid off, even if she may not directly or immediately experience the benefits of a union contract.

Harman labeled the upcoming contract negotiations as “bittersweet.” Although some current graduate workers will not see any of the potential benefits from the bargaining unit, Harman said the goal is to ensure better working conditions for the next wave of graduate employees.

“I think the attitude for a lot of us is that we want to leave this place better than we found it, and for all of the grads that come after us, getting a union established is super important for them,” Harman said. “I don’t want anybody to have to go through what I went through.”