Union members of the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition-United Electrical Workers (IGWC-UE) voted to authorize a strike in support of their request for union recognition on Monday April, 11th according to a IGWC-UE press release. Voting began at 3pm on Sunday, April 10th and the authorization vote passed with 97.8%, or 1008 members, voting in favor.
In December of 2021, the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition submitted nearly 1,600 union cards to the IU Board of Trustees to request a union election.
In February of 2022, however, Interim Provost John Applegate denied the coalition’s demand for union recognition in a letter, stating that graduate students are students first and IU policy HR-12-20, which outlines IU’s procedures for recognizing employee organizations and considering their collective views, does not apply to them.
“Being an SAA is indeed an important part of their continued academic education,” Applegate said in the letter “But that does not transform SAAs, whose hours are limited to 20 hours per week, into the equivalent of full-time employees whose sole or primary responsibility is instruction.”
On February 15th, graduate workers staged a “work-in” in Franklin Hall in response to the Board of Trustees’ claim that they are not workers and demanded that IU recognize their union.
“We are here as employees who are put in the position where we have to convince our boss that we work here.” Nathan Schmidt, a Ph.D. candidate in the English department said in February.
In March, the coalition announced that over 500 graduate workers pledged to strike in response to the IU administration’s refusal to recognize their union. That same month, IU announced that stipends were being increased by at least 5%, to a minimum of $18,000 across IU Bloomington and even IUPUI.
“We’re gonna continue to talk about this and try to solve these issues because we think that our graduate students are part of what makes Indiana University great.” Carney said in March.
But for the graduate workers, it’s not enough; they want a union.
Members of the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition vote to authorize strike at the Monroe County Public Library on Sunday April 10th and march from the Public Library to Switchyard Brewing Company.
“We’re continuing with our plans, as is.” Cole Nelson, a Ph.D. student in the Media School said when discussing the impact of increased stipends on the coalition in March. “It doesn’t adjust that in any sort of way, the prospects of a strike are still on the table.”
The strike officially began on Wednesday, April 13th but picketing was postponed due to inclement weather. The coalition moved their activities to the Canterbury House and Zoom and planned to picket on Thursday, April 14th.
“We will continue to organize around a strike until otherwise provoked,” Nelson said in March “If the university decides to respond to us and provide us a path towards union recognition then, of course, we won’t be striking”
This week, the Bloomington Faculty Council passed a resolution calling on the Provost to engage in dialogue with the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition to avoid a strike and not retaliate against any student academic appointees who engage in the strike.
But, according to a statement from IU Provost, Rahul Shrivastav, graduate students who participate in the strike will not be reappointed to future student academic appointments due to unsatisfactory fulfillment of their duties in their previous appointments.
“I do not believe that we need a union to improve graduate education and I will not revisit this decision.” Shrivastav said in a statement.
The strike, however, will have no bearing on a student academic appointee’s enrollment status as students and IU will also ensure that SSA-provided housing and health insurance will continue during any suspension from work according to the Provost’s statement.
The Provost’s statement also said that in general, participation in a strike wouldn’t impact an international students’ visa status as it’s dictated by federal law and primarily dependent on enrollment in a full-time course of study.
But, if an international student’s academic appointment accounts for a portion of the academic credit they’re earning, they should ensure that any possible suspension, termination or non-reappointment wouldn’t cause them to fall below full-time enrollment according to the statement.
The coalition plans to picket across campus on Monday, April 18th and Tuesday, April 19th.
