Frequently Asked Questions

General

Below are some commonly asked questions related to unionizing and our campaign. If you don’t see your question below, feel free to email us at info@syracusegradsunited.org.

  • That’s an important question. The truth is that it’s illegal for the university to retaliate against its graduate student employees workers for organizing a union. Workers' right to unionize is federally protected by the National Labor Relations Act. You cannot be fired, disciplined, or discriminated against in any way for participating in the union. In fact, it can be illegal for the University to even ask you about your support for or participation in the union. Moreover, you’d have the support of your colleagues across campus as well as our parent union, Service Employees International Union.

  • As an international student, you are afforded all of the protections U.S. citizens have when it comes to organizing a union [please check out our International Student Resources page]. International graduate student workers have played a central role in organizing and leading unions at more than 60 university campuses across the US. Your visa status will not be jeopardized by supporting a union. As a union member, you’ll also be part of an organization that will stand with you if you face any issues at the University.

  • That’s a great question! The reality is that the goal of our union is to make sure that everybody is better off, no matter where they’re starting. There has never been a graduate student employee union contract that has decreased graduate salaries, and we do not plan on changing that. We work at a very wealthy private university that regularly makes over $100 million in profit each year. There’s more than enough money to give all workers on campus a raise.

  • Great question! The Administration might claim that unionization would hurt your relationship with faculty, but numerous peer reviewed studies have shown this claim to be false. In fact, unionization often improves advisor-advisee relations, as grads are better able to focus on their studies.

  • Good question! A lot of folks haven’t heard of SEIU or know how affiliation works. Our union -- Syracuse Graduate Employees United (SGEU) – is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200 United. Affiliation with SEIU Local 200United provides various benefits. We gain the expertise of SEIU's union organizers, communications team, legal division, and more. Moreover, the 900 facilities staff, library workers, and food service workers at SU are represented by SEIU. They are very important members of our community and they stand in solidarity with us.

    All of the recent winning private university graduate worker unions—at Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Brown, Brandeis, Tufts, Northwestern, Yale, etc.—as well as ongoing campaigns at universities across the country have affiliated with an existing union. After a deliberative, democratic process, we voted to affiliate with SEIU and have been working together on this campaign since 2017. SEIU also represents graduate workers at Boston University, who just won their union election with 98% voting in favor of unionization.

  • That’s a great question, particularly as our pay is already so low. The truth is that we will pay dues to self-fund our worker organization so we can have the staff, offices, printing, and legal support we need to sustain our collective voice. Union dues in local 200United (which SGEU is a part of) are currently set 1.9%. Importantly, nobody pays a cent in union dues until after we first vote to form a union, then elect a bargaining committee from among our coworkers, then negotiate a contract, and then vote on that contract after we’ve seen the benefits. Dues will take effect in Fall 2024, after our raises take effect (assuming membership ratifies the negotiated agreement. Dues are not collected in the summer.

  • Syracuse Graduate Employees United (SGEU) is a democratic union governed for and by grad workers at SU from all departments and colleges. We are the ones who will vote to form the union, we are the ones who elect our leaders and set our priorities for bargaining a contract, and the ones who will vote to approve (or reject) our contract. As graduate student employees, it would not make sense for us to approve a contract that made our work harder. The truth is that graduate student employees see major raises, improvements to benefits, expanded supports and protections for international graduate students, and Black and brown graduate student employees.

  • The Administration might claim that grads already have “official channels” of communication through the GSO and other avenues, and that Service Employees International Union (SEIU), an “outside labor organization,” which would only get in the way of their good intentions.

    We agree that it’s super important that we have a direct channel of communication with the administration. The reality is that a majority of us, the graduate student employees at SU, have already expressed our desire to form our union as the most appropriate process for doing that. As a union, we can sit down with our administration on equal footing and negotiate a legally bonding collective bargaining agreement to improve our working and learning conditions. While we support the work of our GSO, we know that it is only through forming a union that we will win lasting improvements and voice at SU.

Bargaining

Below are some commonly asked questions related to collective bargaining and union contracts. If you don’t see your question below, feel free to contact one of our bargaining committee members.

  • Simply put, a union contract is a legally binding agreement, known as a “collective bargaining agreement,” formed between us, the graduate student employees, and the employer, that codifies commitments from the employer about wages, working conditions, and rights on the job. Now that we have won our election and become an officially recognized union, we have the right to negotiate a union contract with SU, and bring the issues we care most about to the bargaining table.

    The exact contents of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), are different based on the individual conditions of a given bargaining unit. In other contracts at universities such as Columbia and Harvard, some things that unions have negotiated on include wages, workloads, and hours. Some pieces of a contract are standard based on labor law, and what is considered permissible to bargaining, such as salary and/or stipend pay, health care plan design, pensions, workplace safety and protections, paid time off, layoff and recall to work, professional enrichment, and tuition reimbursement. In addition to these standard subjects, a union contract allows workers to negotiate on a wide range of issues such as cost of living adjustments, provisions over discrimination on race, sex, and gender, and other provisions such as reimbursements for visa related fees and travel for international students.

  • The Bargaining Committee (BC) is a group of 12 SGEU members, who were nominated and then elected by the SGEU membership to engage in collective bargaining with the administration. Bargaining committee members span the social sciences, humanities, and STEM disciplines, and will represent SGEU alongside an SEIU attorney at the table in negotiations with SU administration. The committee was nominated and elected by having two representatives for STEM, Social Sciences, Humanities, international students, and five at-large member positions.

    The Bargaining Committee has the responsibility to be coordinating with other member representatives to communicate updates from the negotiation and bargaining process as well as receiving input on contract priorities and proposal agreements via surveys, questionnaires, and direct conversations with the SEIU unit.

  • The timeline can vary depending on many circumstances. We can expect talks to go on for some time since there are many items that need to be discussed. We are optimistic that the university will bargain with us in good faith and ensure we can ratify a contract that meets the needs of all graduate employees in a reasonable amount of time. However, we are also prepared to apply pressure and demonstrate our collective union power through public actions.

    We can understand four different stages of the bargaining process:

    Stage One: Negotiation

    During our organizing campaign, we worked to build a network which unites its members with other bargaining units on SU's campus, supportive units not affiliated with SU, registered graduate student organizations, a wide support group of undergraduates, SU faculty support, community members and organizations, and local government officials who are essential for putting pressure on the university to come to the bargaining table in a reasonable time frame and engage in the bargaining process in good faith and in earnest. [Check out a full list of our supporters].

    We need to be consistent before and during the bargaining process to have a united front on our core issues we want prioritized in our new working contract. This means having regular communication channels with members and having member engagement in designated bargaining surveys.

    Stage Two: Bargaining

    Bargaining happens at the bargaining table. Our bargaining committee, along with representative from SEIU, will meet with representative from the SU administration to negotiate a legally enforcement contract through a structured process. Negotiation is more broad and can happen beyond the bargaining table.

    During this time, the bargaining committee will work to share regular updates regarding the bargaining process. Furthermore, the entire SGEU body can participate through membership education and discussions around contract priorities.

    Stage Three: Tentative Agreement

    After a set of proposals have been agreed upon between the employer and the bargaining committee, a legally enforceable contract (in contract language) will be presented to the unit membership as a tentative agreement to be accepted or denied by the voting members of the SGEU unit.

    Stage Four: Ratification and Implementation

    This stage of voting with the wider membership is known as ratification.

    If the tentative agreement is voted down, the bargaining committee returns to the table with management in order to reinforce core member issues which were not satisfactory in the tentative agreement. Once a tentative agreement is voted in by the wider union membership, the contract takes effect. Elected union officials and representatives have the responsibility to ensure the agreement of the contract is upheld by the employer throughout its agreed duration (until the next contract is negotiated).

  • SEIU’s primary role will be one of supporting us in winning a strong first contract. To this end, there will be staff support in the form of both staff organizers and representatives who will act as negotiators at the bargaining table until an agreement is reached between SU and SGEU.

  • A bargaining survey is a survey where SGEU members can share their priorities for a new contract. Bargaining surveys are regularly used by unions ahead of contract negotiations to gauge the priorities and needs of the membership, and allows the bargaining committee to better represent the membership in negotiations with administration. Individual responses will not be shared, but rather the survey helps gauge what the membership at large hopes to gain in a new contract. Outside of the survey, members can always share their thoughts and priorities with the bargaining committee directly! Additionally, feel free to email the union email or DM us on instagram at any time!

  • This is an important question. No doubt you’ve seen news of the big University of California strike by grad workers and others across the country lately. The strike is workers’ most powerful weapon, and not to be taken lightly. That’s why it requires a super majority vote to authorize a strike and could only come after we first vote to form a union, then vote to elect our bargaining committee, then work in good faith to negotiate a contract. We’d then exhaust all other methods of campaigning. We make our decisions democratically and with great care. Would you and your colleagues in your department decide to strike without careful deliberation?