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Over 100 graduate students gathered outside of Syracuse University’s Office of Human Resources Thursday morning for a bargaining rally before negotiations between Syracuse Graduate Employees United and the university.

The protestors came to the office at about 8:15 a.m. — approximately 45 minutes before the bargaining committee went inside. The rally was organized after over 200 graduate workers expressed their frustration with the university’s proposals for compensation and health care at an “urgent all-hands” meeting Monday.

“We’re getting down to the wire when it comes to the contracts, and the proposals that we’ve been given by administration so far just don’t quite cut it for us,” said bargaining committee member Hayden Courtney. “We told our base and all our workers that the union represents to come out here and to demand that we get a better contract.”

SGEU posted on its Instagram page Monday that although bargaining sessions have thus far yielded a “lot of big wins” for graduate students, the two parties had reached a crossroads. The post states that the administration offered $27,000 per year for Ph.D. students and $22,720 for master’s students — salaries the union says are below Syracuse’s living wage of about $40,000, according to MIT’s living wage calculator.

“We were told that we’re worth less than a living wage here … and that made folks upset,” Courtney said.

Since September, the bargaining committee has engaged in negotiations with the university and has maintained a “pretty amicable relationship,” Courtney said. But, after the committee discussed concerns related to money and healthcare, the bargaining process faltered, he said.

Social Science Ph.D. student Alex Scrivner said the university has “made it clear” that they want to complete negotiations with the union this week, but the union members are not finished bargaining.

“With what they’ve been giving us back in proposals, we don’t think they’re there yet,” Scrivner said. “That’s why we had to bring out all our membership to tell them that too. They’re not there yet. They’re not gonna finish bargaining with what they’re putting on the table right now.”

SGEU provided updates on the state of its negotiations with the university in January. Members stated SGEU and the administration came to “tentative agreements” on sick and parental leave, academic freedom, intellectual property rights as well as protections from discrimination and harassment, but many expressed frustrations about SU’s starting salary proposal.

Protestors marched in circles around 621 Skytop Rd holding signs with phrases such as “SU works because we do” and “Pay up SU.” SGEU Members took turns chanting “we are the union, the mighty mighty union, fighting for justice” into a megaphone.

“We’re out here demanding that we want more. We provide valuable labor for the university by teaching their classes, doing research that preserves their R1 status, so we just want to make sure that they know that we mean business and we deserve more,” said Amanda Beavin, a graduate research assistant in the Geography and the Environment department.

Beavin said the union believes SU has the money to properly pay its workers, adding that SU has a surplus of $116 million for the 2023 fiscal year, according to the university’s most recent financial report. She said the university does not want to put it toward graduate student wages because it does not prioritize them.

Scrivner said the union has struggled to maintain momentum this academic year after SU’s graduate student workers voted 728-36 in favor of the union’s recognition in April 2023.

Although the committee “puts in the hours on the table,” Scrivner said its union members protesting will “push the needle.” As the weather improves in Syracuse, she said that more people will be back and ready to fight for their fair contract.

“The vote doesn’t mean the work’s finished,” Scrivner said.

Published on March 7, 2024 at 8:14 pm

Contact Kendall: kaluther@syr.edu