PITT GRADUATE STUDENT UNION
THE UNION DIFFERENCE AT OTHER UNIVERSITIES
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    • ​​INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENT WORKERS AT PITT
    • COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR NEW AND INTERNATIIONAL GRADS
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Grad union members work together to negotiate and enforce a contract that guarantees us the wages, benefits, and protections that we need to do our best work for the University. 

Graduate student unions are not new! In 1969, the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Teaching Assistants Association was the first grad union to be recognized. Since then, dozens more have organized, or have begun the process. Recently, graduate student employees at prestigious universities like Brown, Harvard, and Georgetown have all voted to ratify strong first union contracts. Your graduate student colleagues at a majority of institutions in Pitt’s comparison class already have, or are forming, graduate student unions.

Higher ed is one of the most unionized sectors in the United States!
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​Pitt’s comparison class: R1, Public Sector, AAU Members (34 Schools)
  • ​The R1 designation and AAU membership places Pitt amongst top-tier, world-class research institutions within the United States.
  • Being publicly-funded makes Pitt’s budget and economic planning different from purely private institutions within the University’s research classification, like Harvard or Yale.
  • This comparison class used is the same one that Pitt’s administration uses when presenting information on Pitt’s standings within the academic community. We’re using it to allow real apples-to-apples comparison between our materials and the administration’s.
Grads at other institutions have negotiated major improvements to their working conditions, such as:
  • ​Funding security, including 1-year extensions for grads whose research has been affected due to COVID-19.
  • Annual, across-the-board stipend increases.  
  • Enhanced dental, vision, and mental health benefits.
  • Improved family benefits, such as dependent health coverage, child-care subsidies, and paid maternity leave. 
  • Paid vacation and sick leave. 
  • Protections against discriminatory practices, sexual harassment, and assault. 
  • A fair grievance process for handling workplace issues that also protects the worker from retaliation.
  • A legal right to have a say in decisions that affect our working conditions.​​
Please note, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to bargaining, and each agreement was negotiated by grads and university administration specifically for their needs. Our contract at Pitt will be built in the same way: by Pitt grads, for Pitt grads.
Don’t just take our word for it!  Look into the grad union accomplishments at other universities. Links are provided below so that you can research current union organizing drives, as well as existing grad union contracts.
Graduate student employees have already created unions at:
  • ​American University
  • Brandeis University
  • Brown University
  • California State University System
  • Central Michigan University
  • Columbia University
  • Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University
  • Florida State University
  • Georgetown University
  • Harvard University
  • Michigan State University
  • Montana State University
  • New York University
  • Oregon State University
  • Portland State University
  • Rutgers University
  • Southern Illinois University
  • State University of New York System
  • Stony Brook Research Foundation
  • Temple University
  • Tufts University
  • University of California System
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Connecticut
  • University of Florida​
  • University of Illinois - Chicago
  • University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
  • University of Iowa
  • University of Kansas
  • University of Massachusetts
  • University of Michigan
  • University of North Carolina
  • University of Oregon
  • University of Rhode Island
  • University of South Florida
  • University of Washington
  • University of Wisconsin
  • Wayne State University
  • Western Michigan University
  • Yale University​
Institutions where graduate student employees ​are currently organizing unions:
​
  • Boston College
  • Boston University
  • Cornell University
  • Duke University
  • Emory University
  • Fordham University
  • George Washington University
  • Indiana University
  • Loyola University
  • The New School
  • Northeastern University
  • Northwestern University
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Princeton University
  • Purdue University​
  • University of Missouri
  • University of New Mexico
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • University of Pittsburgh (that’s us!) 
  • University of Southern California
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Washington University−St. Louis
  • William & Mary College
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  • HOME
  • ABOUT OUR UNION
  • THE UNION DIFFERENCE AT OTHER UNIVERSITIES
  • UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH UNION BUSTING 101
  • RESOURCES FOR GRADS
    • ​​INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENT WORKERS AT PITT
    • COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR NEW AND INTERNATIIONAL GRADS
  • TALK TO AN ORGANIZER
  • ANNOUNCEMENTS
  • THE COMMUNITY SUPPORTS OUR UNION
  • HEARING TRANSCRIPTS
  • VIDEO/PHOTO GALLERY