By Keith Burbank. Bay City News.
Stanford University graduate students who teach or conduct research are now represented by a union, according to the Stanford Graduate Workers Union.
Ninety-four percent of Stanford graduate students voted in favor of forming the union, according to union organizers who cited results released Thursday by the National Labor Relations Board.
“The overwhelming margin of victory in this historic election shows that we have broad support for our platform of higher wages that keep up with the cost of living and greater protections for graduate workers,” said Chris Gustin, a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Applied Physics.
“We are excited to begin working to negotiate a first-time contract with Stanford that can achieve these goals,” Gustin added.
Stanford joins other prestigious universities like Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth and the University of Chicago, where graduating students have formed unions.
Stanford graduate workers aim to negotiate stipends that keep up with the cost of living, prevent abuse from supervisors and, among other things, address the high cost of child care and health care for dependents.
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