Members of the Stanford Graduate Workers Union (SGWU) overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike.
SGWU’s Strike Authorization Vote passed on Wednesday, with 89.3% in favor out of 2,317 total votes. This outcome grants the union’s bargaining committee the authority to call a strike at their discretion. Ninety-four percent of union members also voted to reject Stanford’s Oct. 28 proposed contract.
The bargaining committee can launch a strike on Tuesday if the University does not “make serious movement” regarding the union’s demands, such as an immediate wage increase, nondiscrimination, benefits and guaranteed funding, SGWU wrote in a Thursday press release. The union will continue to meet and negotiate with the University leading up to Tuesday.
“Stanford has ample opportunities to avert a strike by offering a contract that will meet the needs of SGWU members,” the union wrote.
According to University spokesperson Luisa Rapport, if a strike does occur, classes and other university operations will continue, and the University “will work to preserve continuity in our teaching and research to the greatest extent possible.”
In a bargaining session on Wednesday morning, the University agreed to increase the wage for most graduate workers in the first year of the contract by 4.5% to $53,908. In the announcement, the SGWU bargaining committee wrote that the “proposal is still not nearly enough.”
The University’s 4.5% raise offer occurred “thanks to the pressure exerted by our membership,” bargaining committee member Chris Gustin wrote to The Daily.
“With that said, their offer is still inadequate in the face of inflation and the cost of living in the Bay Area, and we are prepared to strike for a settlement graduate workers deserve if Stanford does not substantially improve their offer further,” Gustin added.
In an email to students Thursday evening, Provost Jenny Martinez and Vice Provost of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs Stacey Bent said the University’s contract offer to the union was “fair and competitive.” The union’s current wage demands are “far out of line with the increases provided to other employee groups,” they wrote. So far, the University has reached 18 tentative agreements with the union.
“Unfortunately, after a year of negotiations, we have not seen a reasonable economic offer from the union, which is currently demanding a pay increase of 14-16% in the first year of the contract and additional increases in subsequent years,” Martinez and Bent wrote.
Martinez and Bent said the University’s current offer includes a salary increase of 12% over three years, which would be “the highest among our Ivy Plus peers” and “keep pace with or exceed” rent increases for University housing.
The Daily has reached out to SGWU for comment on the 14-16% wage demands that University has claimed. The SGWU has previously argued the University’s offer is not competitive with peer institutions, as outlined in their economic compensation comparison.
“Stanford remains focused on constructive negotiations with the union, and we have made a very strong and competitive offer, including on pay for graduate assistantships,” Rapport wrote in an email to The Daily Thursday morning. “We respect the union’s right to hold its strike authorization vote, but we are hopeful that the focus will remain on making progress at the negotiating table so that our graduate workers can realize the benefits of a contract in a timely way.”
Graduate workers participating in a strike would not receive a salary, according to Martinez and Bent. They wrote that the University plans to administer attestations so that graduate workers choosing not to participate in the strike can attest to their work and continue to be paid.
Upon releasing the ballot Oct. 30, the SGWU bargaining committee unanimously urged its members to reject Stanford’s proposed contract and vote to authorize a strike.
Gustin wrote that “to avert a strike,” the union needs to see “substantial movement from Stanford” on issues such as wage increase for all graduate workers, timely grievability for discrimination and paid parental leave for non-birth parents. These issues were outlined in a document where the bargaining committee explained to union members why they should reject the University’s Oct. 28 offer.
“Stanford knows a strike would cause massive disruption to the university’s teaching and research missions, especially in the critical weeks before final exams,” SGWU wrote in their Oct. 28 press release. “However, should Stanford continue to refuse to pay their graduate workers a living wage, thousands of workers are prepared to strike in less than two weeks.”
The ballot, which closed on Wednesday after a week-long voting process, was launched after the University did not meet an Oct. 24 deadline the SGWU proposed to create a contract acceptable to workers. While the University maintains there are no deadlines in bargaining negotiations, the SGWU imposed one in hopes of securing higher wages and better non-discrimination protections, among other issues.
These steps are the latest developments in SGWU’s year-long negotiation process with the University since Nov. 13 last year. As it currently stands, the University’s recent proposed 4.5% wage raise is an increase from the Oct. 28 concession of a 2% raise for most workers. The University has also proposed paid-for Cardinal Care health care premiums and a $1000 payment to incoming international students with visas to assist with their associated expenses, among other benefits.
Rapport noted that the rent increase for 2024-25, “measured as a weighted average, was 4.25% rather than 4.5%.”
Still, the union said Thursday that the proposed raise is not enough. Gustin wrote that “especially, we need to see a much higher raise in the first year of the contract for all graduate workers than the 4.5% they proposed in our bargaining session yesterday.”