Results for the Bargaining Committee/Departmental Organizer elections are in!
Read MoreIn an email to graduate student-workers, current GSC President AJ Miller and Vice President Shayan Zahid expressed their support for voting YES to forming a union affiliated with United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. They join former GSC president Madeleine Sutherland and thousands of graduate workers in voting YES for MITGSU-UE. The email is included below:
Disclaimer: This email was sent by AJ and Shayan in their capacity as graduate student-workers, and does not represent any official positions of the GSC.
Subject: Student Leaders Voting Yes
Dear graduate student-workers,
Today is a significant day that will shape the future of what defines our work as graduate students at the Institute. Our votes will determine whether we choose to form a union of graduate student-workers at MIT, specifically the MITGSU-UE. We have seen and felt the strong emotions this election has invoked in many of us and our peers as it is a big choice, but we are no strangers to making tough decisions.
A union is a process and a tool that gives us greater power to negotiate with MIT on the issues that affect us most. Our current model for advocacy has struggled to deliver the substantive changes we need because students have no real say in the decision-making. We believe there is a lot of value in collaboration, but true collaboration happens when we work together as equal stakeholders. Graduate students have not been sufficiently prioritized at MIT to address the challenges our peers face every day and how inadequate our current system is for those facing the most acute difficulties.
We will continue to advocate for our peers, work on the issues that unionization may not address, and fight for an MIT where students can focus on the research and education they are here for. Unfortunately, the GSC has limited resources, relies on the time of student volunteers, and requires those with power within MIT to take up the causes we believe in. Often, we have to not only convince those in the central leadership, but also the leadership across all of MIT's schools and departments. This is not sustainable nor fair to the students who do this work, many of whom sacrifice their personal and professional time for the benefit of all students.
If we ever face an administration uninterested in our well-being, if we want students involved in protecting our peers from harassment and discrimination in our work, and if we want a true decision-making stake in our futures - the path for us to take - is to unionize.
We hope that beyond the election we will all work together towards making a better MIT for everyone and continue to uphold the Institute's mission we all came here to pursue. It will take a lot of work to get to substantive change, but we remain hopeful for our graduate experience and that of the many students who follow us. We look forward to seeing every eligible student vote and ensuring our collective voice is heard. We encourage our fellow graduate workers to join us in voting yes for our union so we can have a voice at MIT and the right tools to build a better MIT for us all.
Voting will continue today Tuesday, April 5th from 9 am-1 pm, 2:30-3:30 pm, and 5:30-8:30 pm in Walker Memorial (Building 50).
Your fellow graduate students,
Adam "AJ" Miller
Syed "Shayan" Zahid
The thousands of graduate student workers who have joined MITGSU-UE are adding our voices to GSC’s call to raise stipends and improve financial security for all.
We know graduate research conditions would be directly improved by these recommendations: a 7.4% base stipend increase, financial support for first year moving costs, and an enhancement of the universal Students with Children Grant including a new, need based, supplement up to $20,000.
We call upon the MIT administration to implement GSC’s recommendations immediately.
• We agree with GSC’s that “livable competitive graduate stipends are in the best interest of everyone at MIT”
• We call upon MIT admin to fully adopt all GSC Stipends Committee recommendations
• Our upcoming union election poses no legal barriers to implementing the GSC recommendations.
ON MONDAY, APRIL 4th and TUESDAY, APRIL 5th WE WILL VOTE YES FOR affordable housing, dental insurance, protections and benefits for international students, and fair and clear job expectations.
We’re unionizing so we can focus on conducting world-class research. Only when every single scholar at MIT — every electrical engineer, historian, chemist, architect, evolutionary biologist — is empowered to show up fully for their work will we reach our true potential.
The MIT administration hoped to delay our vote by triggering a lengthy legal process aimed at denying Fellows the right to vote for our union. In response, our union agreed to a two-step election process granting the majority of graduate workers their right to vote for our union as soon as possible.
ELECTION LOGISTICS
RAs and TAs (including hourly appointments or fellowship appointments accompanied by a partial RA/TA appointment) will vote on April 4th and 5th. Following that, the Labor Board will rule on MIT’s argument that Fellows should be denied their right to vote for our union and set a date for the Fellows election.
Date: 4/4 and 4/5
Daytime location: Walker Memorial in Morss Hall
When: 9am-1pm ET, and 2:30-3:30pm ET
Evening location: 56-154
When: 5:30-8:30pm ET
By unionizing we ensure we have the best working and learning conditions we need to do the world class research we came here to do.
Take a stand with thousands of your coworkers and vote YES because our voices matter.
Sign the “I’m voting Yes!” petition!
Big news: Today we filed thousands of union cards with the National Labor Relations Board to initiate our union election.
We’re excited to kick off the Spring 2022 semester by voting to secure affordable housing, dental insurance, international student protections, fair and clear work expectations, and real decision making power over our working conditions.
MIT graduate student workers account for 65% of the research workforce at the Institute. As the workers closest to our research, we are the experts on what resources we need in the workplace to successfully produce MIT’s world-class innovations and discoveries.
Read MoreToday, graduate employees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) submitted a letter to President Rafael Reif announcing that an overwhelming majority of MIT’s 5,000 graduate employees have signed union authorization cards. Graduate employees work as teaching and research assistants, generating revenue for MIT through intellectual property, grants, teaching undergraduates, and collaborations with private enterprise. They are now requesting that President Reif voluntarily recognize their union and a commitment to establish and protect the working conditions necessary for world class science to flourish by addressing long-standing issues of workplace harassment, housing insecurity, and healthcare access. The MIT Graduate Student Union will be the single largest new private sector union in the country since 2018.
Read MorePresident L. Rafael Reif,
We, the undersigned representatives of MITGSU-UE, write to inform you that the majority of graduate student workers employed by MIT have signed union authorization cards indicating our desire to be represented by the UE Union for purposes of collective bargaining. We are prepared to demonstrate majority support by submitting these cards to a mutually-agreeable neutral third party for verification.
In signing these cards we are, as the MIT administration’s website states, “allowing the union to act as our exclusive representative for purposes of negotiating the terms and conditions of our roles.” This union of graduate student workers, empowered by the democratically expressed will of our members, requests that you voluntarily recognize us, meet us at the bargaining table, and begin the important work of improving the state of both science and scientists at MIT.
Read MoreJust five weeks after announcing our campaign, a majority of graduate student-workers have joined their colleagues in saying “yes” to a union. More than 2,500 grad workers are standing together to demand better funding and compensation, protections from advisor abuse, affordable housing, medical and dental benefits, and much more.
Read MoreEECS International students speak out on why they signed their union cards! International students are members, leaders and organizers in the MIT Graduate Student Union.
Read MoreThis morning, MIT announced the first ever mid-year pay raise for graduate student-workers. This comes 106 days after MIT's fiscal year ended with the endowment growing by $9 billion, and 17 days after nearly 1000 graduate-workers rallied in Hockfield Court to announce the formation of the MIT Graduate Student Union (MIT GSU). We knew that a union would deliver better conditions for graduate workers, but even we are surprised to see it happen so soon!
Make no mistake, this pay increase is happening because thousands of graduate workers are standing together, signing union cards, and demanding better working conditions at MIT. Join us and sign your union card today.
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