October 2, 2024 update
On September 27 and October 1, the university and UE-SGWU met for our 33rd and 34th bargaining sessions and continued discussions on several key topics. To date, we have reached tentative agreements on 13 non-economic contract articles. While the parties continue to work hard to reach an agreement, the differences between the university’s and the union’s positions on important issues remain large.
The university continues to reiterate its commitment to supporting its valued graduate students with a market-competitive package of wages and benefits. The current package Stanford provides already is worth more than $108,000 per year, per doctoral student, and covers tuition remission, pay for assistantships, and Cardinal Care. Beyond this, our support for graduate students encompasses a wide range of resources and benefits, including university-subsidized housing, emergency and child-care funds available to graduate students, our academic infrastructure, faculty time, staff support, and other elements.
In the contract negotiations, the university has presented economic proposals that build on and enhance this already highly competitive package and keep Stanford’s offering among the top of its Ivy Plus peers. We have offered to memorialize in the contract a number of existing financial support programs. The university also has offered access to the Caltrain GoPass program on a two-year pilot basis for graduate workers who live off campus – which is aligned with how the university provides Caltrain benefits to other employees to help them commute to work.
We greatly value our graduate workers, which is why we have offered a top-of-the-market package and presented competitive economic proposals. Unfortunately, the union’s latest proposals for a more than 20% pay increase in the first year of the contract, along with further pay increases and a host of new benefits, are unreasonable demands.
On October 2, SGWU held a “strike pledge rally” on the Science and Engineering Quad. A strike pledge is an informal poll designed to show solidarity of the union membership to engage in a strike. It is important to know that a strike pledge is not the same as a strike authorization vote. The union would need to conduct a formal strike authorization vote of its members before a strike could be called.
The university is next scheduled to meet with the union on October 9, and we have offered four additional dates for bargaining throughout the month, should they be needed. Ongoing information about the negotiations will continue to be posted to this website, including updates, answers to frequently asked questions, and information on key issues.