Boston University graduate students go on strike, citing lack of progress in negotiations

Hundreds gathered on Boston University's campus for a blustery midday rally to kick off the Boston University Graduate Workers Union's strike. The union, which has roughly 3,000 members, voted to authorize the strike earlier this month.

At Monday’s rally on Marsh Plaza, organizers were supported by representatives from other labor unions and elected officials, including Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

During the nationwide uptick in graduate student labor activism, union members often voice a common grievance: that they perform essential teaching, research and administrative duties while being paid relatively meager stipends.

But members of the Boston University Graduate Workers Union said their strike highlights particular frustrations. They say contract negotiations have moved at a glacial pace, all while the costs of rent, food and child care near campus rise.

After years of organizing, BUGWU formed in December 2022 after a lopsided victory in its union election. But it's still bargaining its first contract — something union organizers blame on the university’s efforts to draw out the process. (Editor's note: Boston University owns WBUR’s broadcast license.)

The strike coincides with BUGWU’s filing of an unfair labor practice petition with the National Labor Relations Board, arguing the university is withholding vital information about the unit that they are obligated to provide.

Union officials claimed that BU has the means to be more generous, pointing to the university’s most recent financial statement from last June, which disclosed a $152 million operating surplus.

In a statement sent Monday afternoon, BU spokesperson Rachel Lapal Cavallario wrote that BU leaders “value our graduate students and their many contributions to teaching and research and will continue to address their needs through the collective bargaining process.”

“At the same time, we are concerned about the strike’s impact on teaching, research, and the lives of thousands of other students, and we are working to minimize that disruption,” Cavallario added.

Blair Stowe, a union member and doctoral student in theology at BU, claimed that university negotiators have taken, on average, 100 days to respond to union proposals — three times longer than she says the union has typically taken to respond to the university’s proposals. After eight months of little progress, Stowe said, union members agreed: “We needed to stand up and say, ‘We need a fair contract and we need it now.’ ”

Stowe, who lives in Dorchester, earns a stipend of just over $26,000 a year. A sign taped to her back during the rally noted she would need to earn more than twice that to afford the cost of BU’s child care for her two children under age 5.

“I’m lucky. … I call my husband my ‘generous benefactor’ — we have a one-and-a-half-income household," Stowe said. "But it’s still hard."

Other members who are parents spoke to deeper worries. Pol Pardini Gispert, a doctoral candidate in philosophy, said, “I'm tired of living with a constant uncertainty of whether I'm going to be able to provide for my family.”

Gispert has an 8-month-old daughter. Speaking to the crowd Monday, he said, “Will I be able to afford rent next month? Will I be able to afford diapers or the food that my daughter needs this week? If my daughter gets sick, will I be able to afford the bills?”

At BU and elsewhere, graduate students are expected to work 20 hours each week, though several union members said Monday they’re often asked to work more than that.

Currently, stipends for BU’s graduate student workers range from roughly $26,000 to $40,000. University officials have said they offered a 13% increase over the next three years, but that union negotiators want more.

In addition to increased stipends, the union’s demands include expanded child care benefits, disability accommodations, and vision and dental insurance.

Among the union members to join Monday’s rally in solidarity was BU junior Jasmine Richardson, who helped organize BU’s residential-life workers into a union last year.

Richardson shared criticisms about the university’s negotiating process. Five months into bargaining their own inaugural contract, Richardson said unit members consistently leave feeling “disappointed, frustrated and disrespected.”

“BU has consistently broken their promises: not providing the [contract proposals] they say they will, not providing complete articles, offering counter-proposals that are, honestly, just disrespectful and patronizing,” Richardson said.

Monday’s crowd was cheered by the appearance of Pressley, who attended BU. She quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who received his doctorate from BU in 1951, on demands shared by labor and civil rights activists.

Those included, King wrote, “decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, security in our old age, health and welfare measures — conditions in which our families can grow.”

“I wanted to center the words of Dr. King because very often we quote King, and we espouse [his] values at institutions like this, but we don't practice them,” Pressley said before telling the crowd she will stand with them until a fair contract has been signed.

It’s unclear when that will be. While several graduate student strikes have ended in days, a 2019 stoppage at Harvard ran for almost a full month, while a much larger strike in the University of California system two years ago dragged to 40 days.

BU officials have announced that they intend to withhold pay from any student workers who participate in the strike; the union has started a hardship fund for its members.

In a letter sent Monday, Kenneth Lutchen, BU’s interim provost, notified undergraduates of the strike and said administrators are working to “ensure your education proceeds as smoothly as possible.”

Meanwhile, the union has asked the same students to join them on the picket line in solidarity.