A group of graduate students at Northwestern University who teach classes, conduct research and perform other paid work took a step toward unionization on Thursday.
The Northwestern University Graduate Workers said over 95% of its 3,400 members voted to form a union and seek affiliation with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Now NUGW needs to persuade at least 30% of Northwestern's 8,000 graduate workers to sign cards saying they want to unionize. If that threshhold is met, a unionization vote will be held. If a majority votes to form a union, the National Labor Relations Board will certify it as the graduate workers' collective bargaining representative in negotiations with the university.
More than 300 backers gathered outside Deering Library on Northwestern’s campus to support the effort, and over 1,300 union cards were signed, NUGW says. NUGW's demands include higher base stipends, paid sick days, coverage of visa renewal costs for international graduate workers and more comprehensive health insurance, among other items.
The move makes NUGW the second Chicago-area school to seek affiliation with UE, after graduate workers at the University of Chicago made a similar announcement at a card drive just last week that garnered over 1,000 signed union cards. The groups, buoyed by similar demands and complaints, supported each other by attending union drives on both campuses.
“We reached out to the University of Chicago graduate students and then did an organizing event with them and UE this summer and it just made sense,” said Sara Bowden, co-chair of NUGW. “We loved doing solidarity work with them so much that it just felt like a natural fit to join UE with the University of Chicago.”
Over the spring and summer, NUGW's Affiliation Committee researched the possibility of affiliating with national unions. After multiple rounds of interviews and info sessions, the NUGW Organizing Committee recommended UE because of its commitment to rank-and-file unionism, its experience with graduate workers, and its record of championing social justice and inequality, NUGW said in a statement.
UE has supported efforts on the campuses of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Indiana University. The union views Northwestern and University of Chicago as just the beginning of a larger movement at college campuses in the Midwest and elsewhere.
“There is definitely a union trend at universities in the Midwest,” said Zara Anwarzai, a staff member at UE who is helping lead NUGW efforts. “You have two great schools like the University of Chicago and Northwestern both starting drives at the same time and that builds solidarity and support knowing just across the city someone else is doing the same thing as you.”
In attendance for the NUGW drive were members of the Northwestern University Library Workers Union, who voted to unionize in December 2021 after reporting they faced workload increases from furloughs, pandemic-related challenges and pay issues.
The Northwestern administration has not yet reached out to contact or recognize NUGW’s union efforts, Bowden said.
In a statement, Northwestern said, "Northwestern University has always regarded its graduate students as students, first and foremost, and has been steadfast in its commitment to support, mentor and train them. The Graduate School continues to engage with graduate students, advocate for their needs, and find sustainable and concrete ways to address their concerns during a period that poses many challenges for our shared community. "
The University of Chicago said it has made "numerous improvements" on behalf of graduate workers, including increased stipends, payment of health insurance premiums and funding of student services fees for doctoral candidates. Emphasizing its commitment to "continuously enhance" conditions for graduate students, the university said it will "continue to engage with graduate students through many direct channels, which we strongly believe is better suited to our approach to graduate education than a collective bargaining agreement."
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