Graduate Students Form Union, MIT Offers Unprecedented Mid-Year Raise
This 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.
MIT claims this increase is only possible due to an exceptional year for the endowment. The truth is that MIT’s endowment has seen a positive return on investment every year since 2010, and this is the first time we’ve ever received a mid-year raise.
Graduate workers have asked for support for over a year - why is MIT only acting now?
June 30, 2020: MIT FY2020 ends, sees an 8% return on investment in the worst financial year since the Great Recession
August 2020: RISE calls for hiring of departmental diversity officers. MIT refuses to meet demand, citing lack of funding.
April 2021: A full year after unionized Brown graduate students secured in writing guaranteed funding extensions, MIT unveils their solution: an email address that graduate students can use to apply for pandemic-related funding extensions. The COVID-19 Research Impact Survey later showed this solution was inadequate.
June 30, 2021: MIT fiscal year ends, sees a record 55.5% return on investment, an increase of $9 billion.
September 27, 2021: MIT GSU launches card campaign.
October 12, 2021: MIT GSU publishes op-ed Graduate Students Demand Decent Affordable Housing
October 14, 2021: MIT releases treasurer’s report for FY2021, including a surprise announcement of a 3% raise for all graduate stipends, effective December 1st. The total increase amounts to less than 0.1% of their profits in FY2021. They acknowledge “rising housing costs in the Boston area” as a reason for today’s raise.
This raise was not the result of a discussion with the GSC about graduate students' needs, as confirmed by GSC leadership. The administration could have acted in our interests before: when graduate workers asked for funding extensions due to COVID last April or when the GSC recommended a 4.5% raise last spring after finding that the stipend at MIT was $5,200 less than at Stanford and trailed other peer institutions. Instead, this raise was a unilateral strategic decision from the administration.
Surprise pay increases are a common university tactic to deter union formation, but are no substitute for a union contract. Yale University responded to a grad student unionization campaign by giving workers a 20% wage increase. Stipend increases, along with annual guaranteed raises, are a common component of union contracts. For example, NYU graduate workers secured an initial 5% pay increase, followed by guaranteed annual 2.5% increases in their 2020 contract negotiations. You can explore this and other graduate union wins on our website.
This is just the beginning - our work is not done.
With a union contract, we can codify this pay increase, secure guarantees of annual stipend increases, and fight for even more graduate student improvements. Across the country, graduate worker unions have won dramatic improvements in working conditions covering everything from affordable housing, to a fair dispute resolution procedure, to childcare. In this morning’s email, Chancellor Melissa Nobles said that these stipend increases would be funded at the Institute level, without any additional burden to departments or advisors. It is clear that the Institute has the money to substantially improve graduate worker life, but will only do so if we stand together to demand it.
The administration knows that MIT works because we do. When we win our union, graduate workers will finally have a seat in the decision making process and a democratic voice to make sure MIT’s priorities are our priorities. And, if the mere prospect of unionization at MIT was enough to win today’s raise, just imagine what we will win at the bargaining table.
If you’re ready to join us to build a better MIT, sign your union card today.