The Time has Come:A Letter in Support of the Unionization of Syracuse University Graduate Students
by R. Averell Manes, Ph.D., March 14, 2023
Graduate workers and supporters at SGEU’s March for Recognition.
In the mid to late 1980s, when I was a graduate student at Syracuse University, there were discussions among us graduate assistants about unionizing, but at that time it was a non-starter. It was clear that the climate at the University was not conducive to a viable effort to unionize and blow back against our efforts would have been likely, especially for those non-male, non-white, non-Americans among us. I am not singling out Syracuse University; that was the culture at that time, and to a somewhat lesser extent, nowadays, across the country.
Averell Manes (photo provided by author)
What is clear, is that we would have benefited from a graduate student union to address inequities and injustices that were/are commonplace in academe and the wider culture of the country. We would have benefited from higher rates of compensation (I had my assistantships, three other jobs, and I lived with my parents to make ends meet). We craved recognition for our important contributions, our hard work, and personal connections with undergraduate students, essential to the University’s culture and economy. We would have benefitted from higher levels of personal and professional support, perceived higher levels of academic freedom, and improved relationships with our faculty supervisors, afforded to us as members of a graduate student union. (Hewitt, 2000; Rogers et al., 2013) We deserved those benefits and protections back then, as do the graduate students of today.
“We deserved those benefits and protections back then, as do the graduate students of today.”
Now, 30 years later here they are finally having a viable discussion about a union, and a good chance of success. One of the positive things to come out of the pandemic for younger workers is a greater realization that unionization is more beneficial than ever. At long last, the question of unionization for graduate students will come to a vote at Syracuse University in April.
For more than thirty-five years I have been an academic and practitioner in the fields of political science and conflict resolution. I support these local and national unionization efforts in principle, and in practice, and I stand with the graduate students in solidarity. Recently efforts at universities such as Harvard, Columbia, and Yale (91% approved unionization in January 2023) have moved towards unionization in part, or in full, after decades of blocking these efforts. The time has come at Syracuse University, with a vote on the union scheduled for April 3rd and 4th. Vote “yes” to support what will be a worthwhile outcome for the entire community.
References:
“Graduate Student Employee Collective Bargaining…,” G. Hewitt, J. Collective Negotiation, Vol. 29(2), 2000, 153-116.
“Effects of Unionization on Graduate Student Employees,” S. Rogers et al., ILRReview, 66(2), April 2013, 487-510.
