Penn graduate student workers prepare for next week's unionization election

Penn's graduate students will hold an election on whether to unionize on April 16 and 17 in Bodek Lounge in Houston Hall.

Graduate Employees Together University of Pennsylvania-UAW is a group of graduate teaching and research employees at Penn who aim to "improve [their] working conditions" and "strengthen [their] collective voice." If the election is successful, GET-UP will become the largest union at Penn in recent history with about 4,500 workers.

A University spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

GET-UP seeks to bargain for a union contract that matches their needs with strong participation and support from the entire community of Penn graduate student workers. With the formation of a union, all graduate student workers will be able to participate in the bargaining process and have the opportunity to vote on the ratification of any proposed contract.

“This upcoming election is our chance to democratically convey what we already know to be true, which is that Penn graduate workers want a union,” College Ph.D. student and GET-UP field coordinator and organizer Luella Allen-Waller told The Daily Pennsylvanian.

In October 2023, graduate students seeking to form a union filed 3,000 authorization cards with the National Labor Relations Board, but Penn subsequently refused to voluntarily recognize the union.

“Now we have an election, which is really an opportunity for graduate workers to stand up and stand together and show Penn that we want to have a voice in our working conditions and we want to make this a better place to learn, teach and research at,” College Ph.D candidate and GET-UP organizer Sam Schirvar said. 

Schirvar told the DP that possible platforms for the organization include grievance arbitration, costs of child care, accessibility of parental leave, and protection policies against discrimination for graduate students.

Graduate student workers face increasing housing and living costs in Philadelphia, a lack of rights in the workplace, and uncertain futures given the nature of higher education and unstable regulation of visas and work authorization for international student workers, according to GET-UP. 

“There's often a call for higher stipends and an increase in compensation to match the rising cost of living,” Schirvar said. “When a majority of graduate workers vote yes, then the university will be legally obligated to enter into negotiations with us.”

In March, GET-UP released a union bargaining survey to discover graduate workers’ top concerns going into negotiations. At the time, graduate student workers shared frustrations with the DP, citing insufficient stipends and lack of healthcare and childcare support. 

“To finally be at the threshold of legal certification is really exciting,” Allen-Waller said. “Even for grad workers who haven't been heavily involved, I'm hearing a lot of excitement that they can finally get legal representation.”