Penn’s residential advisor and graduate residential advisor union is continuing to defend itself against the University — and is alleging retaliation from College Houses and Academic Services for unionization efforts.
United RAs at Penn, which first unionized in September 2023, filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 12, accusing the University of violating its newly ratified union contract by unfairly tracking GRA hours in Workday. While a URAP representative told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn Human Resources has helped resolve this particular issue, the group is looking ahead to the new school year and is wary of continued negative interactions with CHAS, the Penn agency that oversees RA and GRA operations.
Eighth-year South Asian studies Ph.D. candidate and URAP member Shaashi Ahlawat told the DP that GRAs received an email from the University on Aug. 5 informing them that RA jobs would now count towards the 20-hour-per-week maximum that student workers are allowed while classes are in session. In response, the union began communicating with Penn officials and representatives from the Office and Professional Employees International Union — Local 153, which represents the union.
“There was no clarification from CHAS, and there was a lot of stress because of that,” she said, adding that the issues led to a couple of GRAs quitting their positions.
Ahlawat, who also served on the URAP bargaining committee, said that OPEIU began attempting to communicate with Penn, but did not hear back for a week, spurring the union into creating a petition to the University to cease the alleged violations of the union contract.
The petition — which was released on Aug. 12 and had collected over 600 signatures at the time of publication — escalated the need for a meeting, Ahlawat said. She added that Penn HR was able to clarify the situation that drew complaints from GRAs — and place some responsibility on CHAS.
In the meeting, Penn HR representatives clarified that “CHAS is putting zero work hours for GRAs [in Workday],” and that “House Directors should have never emailed that [GRAs] can’t work other jobs or other hours,” Ahlawat said. Since then, she said that “things seem settled for now.”
Penn HR referred the DP to a University spokesperson. CHAS did not respond to requests for comment.
Since the situation was resolved, Ahlawat said there have been fewer issues, but some GRAs ran into issues being excused from CHAS trainings for academic obligations — a process that has previously been simple.
RA trainings, which take place at the beginning of each semester, are mandatory, but some GRAs are able to be excused for important academic obligations — including internships, course teaching, and professional development opportunities, Ahlawat said. However, this year — the first since the ratification of URAP’s contract — some GRAs ran into difficulties being excused.
“They were told that [their academic obligations don’t] excuse you from RA training, and that you have to be there; if you choose not to, discipline will be taken against you,” Ahlawat told the DP, adding that some RAs had “been excused … in the past, but this time, they were denied.”
Ahlawat said that although the situation was resolved and the RAs’ exceptions were processed, the initial communication “definitely felt like … CHAS was retaliating” after the activism of the past year and the ratification of the union contract.
Since the union was formed and the contract was ratified, RAs and GRAs are now considered workers at Penn — making this year different than previous ones. However, these workers are still permitted to request exceptions through CHAS if they have an academic or religious conflict with training.
This semester marks the first since URAP’s contract was ratified in June following their initial unionization a year ago. Ahlawat told the DP that next steps for the union include selection of and training for stewards, who will serve as liaisons between the union, the University, and the rest of the RAs and GRAs.
“Things seem a bit more hopeful,” she said. “We will have to be cautious, but we are all excited to have a union for the first time and take things further from here.”
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