University of Rochester Graduate Students Ready to Strike After Stalled Negotiations
Graduate students at the University of Rochester have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, citing stalled negotiations and a breakdown in trust with university administrators over a union election agreement.
Roughly 90% of participating graduate workers voted in favor of strike authorization, according to the Graduate Labor Union (GLU), which is affiliated with SEIU Local 200United. The vote gives the GLU’s Organizing Committee the authority to initiate a strike if university officials do not return to the bargaining table.
“The university betrayed our trust when they withdrew from the election agreement that we worked so hard to build,” said Athena Summers, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering. “This strike is the only way left to form our union, and grads need a union, now more than ever, to have a voice with the ongoing attacks on higher education.”
Graduate workers and the university administration had reached an agreement in December to hold a union election under the supervision of a private arbitrator. However, graduate organizers say the administration later backed out of that deal and insisted on going through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which they argue is currently unavailable to oversee the process.
Thomas Gibson, an anthropology professor, expressed frustration at the university’s position, stating graduate workers “have been met with the administration’s new-found insistence” on using the NLRB instead of honoring the previous agreement. “The administration’s refusal to engage in further good-faith negotiations has left the graduate workers with no other way forward to having an election than going on strike,” he said.
Support for the graduate students has extended beyond union organizers. Undergraduate students and faculty have expressed solidarity, with some undergraduates pledging to skip classes in support of the strike.
“Grad students are a big reason as to why this school runs in the first place,” said Guy Emrich, a junior at the university. “The university has disrespectfully pulled out of a previous election agreement, threatening to undermine the formation of a union.”
Members of the Greater Rochester Area Majority Delegation, including Sen. Samra Brouk, Sen. Jeremy Cooney, and Assemblymembers Harry Bronson, Sarah Clark, Jen Lunsford and Demond Meeks, also issued a statement backing the graduate workers, urging the administration to “engage in open, respectful dialogue to find a path forward together.”
The Organizing Committee plans to notify the university of the strike authorization vote and extend another invitation to resume negotiations.
“As international scholars, a strike is far from a normal scenario for us,” said Santanu Poddar, a graduate student in chemistry. “However, the administration has pushed us in this direction by repeatedly ignoring calls to return to the table.”
The GLU represents graduate workers across the university’s three campuses and is part of a national movement for improved wages, working conditions and democratic participation in higher education workplaces.
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