Stand in Solidarity with Graduate Student Workers at UVM!
Graduate Dean Holger Hoock, Provost Patricia A. Prelock, President Suresh V. Garimella, and the Board of Trustees of UVM
We, the graduate student workers of the University of Vermont, are united by our dedication toward bettering the lives of all graduate students and our communities. We are unionizing to improve our working conditions through our collective power. Our union is Graduate Students United (GSU) and we are part of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2322.
Our uniting demands:
YES to a universal minimum stipend at a living wage
YES to protections for international student workers
YES to addressing the housing crisis
YES to high-quality healthcare, including dental and vision benefits
YES to accessible childcare for working parents
YES to protections against excessive workloads
YES to a robust grievance procedure
NO to the “comprehensive fee”
We ask that you sign our letter in solidarity with us. This letter is addressed to the University of Vermont administration and we will deliver it to them the day of our rally. We are asking UVM to remain neutral in our union election and accept all funded graduate student workers into our bargaining unit.
Sponsored by
To:
Graduate Dean Holger Hoock, Provost Patricia A. Prelock, President Suresh V. Garimella, and the Board of Trustees of UVM
From:
[Your Name]
The graduate student workers at the University of Vermont are forming a union, UVM Graduate Students United (GSU). We are represented by the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW Local 2322). This semester, a majority of graduate workers at UVM have shown written support for GSU through union authorization cards. We are asking, as part of the UVM community, that you accept the bargaining unit we propose, which includes every funded graduate worker at UVM, and that you remain neutral while we conduct a democratic election.
Multiple groups at UVM have already unionized, including the UVM faculty (2003), staff (2022), and UVMMC support staff and techs (2023). We follow in their footsteps to assert that graduate student workers also deserve a seat at the bargaining table. We hold many roles which are especially critical to UVM as it strives for R1 university status. These include, but are not limited to, teaching undergraduate courses and performing research. These are especially critical as UVM strives for R1 university status. Simply put, UVM works because we do.
We are unionizing to obtain a universal stipend at a livable wage, a robust grievance procedure, improved health benefits including dental and vision care, accessible childcare for working parents, and increased protections for international students. We are unionizing against excessive workloads exceeding contractual hours, to eliminate the comprehensive fee, and to address the housing crisis. These concerns highlight difficulties faced by graduate workers across UVM, and they will not be thoroughly addressed without collective bargaining.
The current economic climate in Burlington makes our unionization particularly critical. Graduate worker stipends do not meet the standards for a livable wage in Burlington according to the Vermont Basic Needs Budget. The minimum stipend for both doctoral and master’s students would need to increase significantly in order to meet the livable wage. Median rents in Chittenden County have risen 29% in the past five years to $1,394, making housing cost well over 50% of a student’s income. By UVM’s own reporting, at least 1 out of 5 graduate students are food-insecure. As recent stipend increases do not keep up with the rising cost of living, we believe that unionizing is the only way to address our concerns.
To accomplish these goals, we again ask that you accept all funded graduate workers into our bargaining unit, and that you remain neutral throughout our election. We look forward to meeting with you at the bargaining table.
Sincerely,
GSU-UAW 2322 Organizing Committee on behalf of our membership