1/ Earlier this week at Boston University (
@BU_Tweets
), in a required class for 1st year Phd students, the class was lectured for an hour on why they as graduate workers did not deserve a living wage. This has never before been a standard part of the syllabus in this class.
The timing of this lecture, just weeks after we launched our union campaign, is suspicious at best. We call on the faculty and administration of BU to respect the democratic process of their graduate workers during the unionization process.
🎉A growing majority of BU grad workers have signed union authorization cards, and as of today, we have officially requested voluntary recognition from
@BU_Tweets
! 🎉
If this happens to you please report the incident to us. And if you are a faculty member please call out your colleagues who engage in anti-union scaremongering, and sign our letter that calls for the administration to remain neutral during this process
ATTN: BU is now asking undergraduates to grade their assignments THEMSELVES. Whether it’s AI or self-grading,
@bu_tweets
can’t seem to find a way to resolve their lack of graders. Oh wait… they could also just pay us a living wage !
Time for some
@BU_Tweets
grad worker parent math! If a grad worker's average take home pay is $2842 and the monthly cost of having a child in BU's childcare is $2650, how do you convince your landlord that $192 per month is fair rent, and where do you get all your free food from?
We won: BU has raised PhD stipend minimums by 3% for '23-'24!
Earlier this year, BU announced what we believed was an illegal stipend freeze following our landslide election victory. After years of consistent cost-of-living raises, this constituted a change in the status quo.
We’ve officially delivered over 1800 cards, a growing majority, to the NLRB office in downtown Boston.
@BU_Tweets
still has time to do the right thing and recognize our union!
In an email sent out to BU faculty,
@BU_Tweets
is now suggesting that professors use AI to scab for graduate workers! Our students deserve better! Give us a fair contract so we can get back in the classroom!
No graduate student worker should be struggling to make ends meet when Boston University has a $3 billion endowment. These workers deserve a living wage and strong benefits. Boston University must bargain a fair contract immediately.
as inflation rises and boston gets harder and harder to live in on our stipends, BU has decided that we're not worthy of a cost of living increase this year because ... we got one last year that was roughly half of the inflation rate
Initial reports overwhelmingly indicate that BU admins today took the reckless strike-breaking action of withholding pay from ALL workers who did not fill out BU's newly imposed payroll self-attestation forms, striking or not.
Cristina, a 6th-year PhD candidate in Social Work, speaks about being a parent as a grad worker.
“I am a professional. I am not a child, And I am tired of being treated like a petulant child asking for something that I don’t deserve.”
🗳️🗳️ We have an election date! 🗳️🗳️
Our 3000+ workers can vote for our union on December 5th, 6th, & 7th at the GSU and Med Campus.
Pledge to VOTE YES here:
Following our May Day rally, BU admin was over half an hour late to the bargaining table and proposed NO counter offers. As we near the end of week 6 of our strike, we ask the BU community:
Which side are you on?
Thank you to the Boston City Council, and sponsors
@KenzieBok
,
@Ruthzee
, and
@LizBreadon
, for unanimously passing a resolution in support of our union and calling on
@BU_Tweets
to voluntarily recognize us!
We appreciate your support -- Boston is a union town!
BU works because we ALL do. ALL workers at BU deserve fair workers rights and compensation. We stand with BU ResLife and are in solidarity with them forever ✊🏼
Last week Associate Provost Kleinman responded to our letter—without replying whether or not the university would recognize us, he asked for a definition of who is in our union. After discussions among our organizing committee, we responded:
According to the BU GRS dean, graduate “student members are very emotional and do not react rationally”. Good thing they are trying to use AI to replace these “emotional” workers!
We’re incredibly excited to welcome a new union to our campus and our
@SEIU509
family: BU ResLife!
You can follow along their launch rally at our instagram live @ gradworkersofBU !
Happy Labor Day to workers everywhere, especially those who are are quietly organizing their workplaces.
The labor movement is strong because of rank-and-file members from the past, present, and future who are dedicated to building a better world for all of us.
A coalition group of BU Law student organizations have signed a letter in support of our union and calling on BU Law grad workers to sign their union authorization cards!
Today we are walking around labs and offices to get to know our colleagues and talk about our union!
Start your weekend off right by signing your union card!
ATTN: On May 1st, BUGWU is having a walk out and rally from Marsh Plaza to 1 Silber Way. Are you fed up with BU admin? If so, join our walk out! We are calling all undergrads, faculty, staff, and grad workers to join us. Read the info graphics below for more info👇👇
We want:
- A living wage,
- Comprehensive healthcare coverage including dental & vision care,
- International student protections,
- Affordable housing,
- Workload protections,
- Family and transit benefits,
- & so much more...
#UnionYes
4/
BUGWU’s rank-and-file is clear: we are not submitting false attestation, BUT WE ARE NOT RESPONDING TO THE FORM EVEN IF WE ARE WORKING — we must collectively risk our pay being withheld.
Join us in solidarity!
Our struggles for just working conditions are connected through time and space, and we love this photo from the 1979 strike at BU. If you were active in the strike, we'd love to hear from you. Reply to this tweet or DM us! Solidarity forever!
#BUGWU
join striking Boston University grads for our pay-what-you-want People’s University this summer, ft talks by Fred Moten, Leigh Claire La Berge, Andrew Ross, and grad workers!
THIS IS OUR BU.
NEW: 2,300 grad workers at Princeton are forming a union as
@PrincetonGSU
and are joining
@ueunion
.
Grad workers at every Ivy League school have now moved to unionize.
📣🚨BUGWU LAUNCH RALLY! Save the date 🚨📣
Show your support for our BU graduate workers union on Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 3PM- 4:30PM
️
Save the info and spread the word!!
We would love to see you there ✊
RSVP:
We are across the river at
@MITGradUnion
’s rally as they kick off their fight for the contract they deserve
Solidarity with our siblings at MIT as they fight for fair work expectations and job and income security ✊
one of the many reasons
@BU_tweets
should raise our stipends: looks like the majority of BU PhD students are "severely rent-burdened" according to the federal govt. If you're a current BU grad student, fill out the survey so we can get better data
Thank you to the BU Student Government for their support!
Our support includes:
- 1800+ grad workers
- 250+ faculty
- Undergrad and grad student governments
- Community organizations and unions
- Our Congresswoman, City Councilors, and Senator
When will BU recognize us?
🎉 🎉 🎉 VICTORY for BU ResLife workers who won their union with a 92% yes vote! We are thrilled and so inspired by the power of RAs who fought so hard to get here. Welcome to the Local 509 family!
may rent payments approach and striking grad workers at BU are facing our fourth week without paychecks. BU continues to retaliate against and intimidate strikers, but we won’t back down!
please share our worker hardship fund and consider donating:
Happy pay day to BU grad workers receiving their first inadequate, often confusing, occasionally missing, checks of the semester! (& solidarity to those trying to make ends meet until they get paid at the end of the month)!
We, members of the Boston University Graduate Workers Union, stand in solidarity with global workers and activists against the recently approved police militarization and urban warfare training facility in Atlanta, GA, known as Cop City
#DefendTheAtlantaForest
#StopCopCity
Support BUGWU 📢❤️ Mom Jeans is a small shop run by BU undergrads. Profits from sales will be donated to striking grad workers. We're so honored to see such robust support from the BU community and beyond. Find this design and more at
Today is
@BU_Tweets
“Giving Day,” but BU is giving illegal labor practice.
Last week, we filed a charge alleging BU violated federal law by freezing PhD stipends.
But enforcing the law is slow and we need action now! Sign this petition for fair raises!
Members of BUGWU were honored for their excellence in teaching tonight. Grad workers love what they do, and we’re pretty good at it too! If
@BU_Tweets
would just offer us a fair contract, we could get back to it!
for 64 days our union siblings at
@BostonSBWU
have been inspiring us with their historic strike! we’re so glad to see their victory--labor action works! ✊✊✊
We are 3,000 graduate workers whose labor makes Boston University function, and we are organizing to build a union to improve working conditions for ALL OF US! 2/
‼️ management promises significant movement at the table today. this is a critical moment to evaluate if their offer meets our needs. read our bulletin below and join us at the picket line! (2:30pm, 1 Silber Way) ‼️
We’re delighted to see
@BU_Tweets
administration is interested in hearing more about our reasons for unionizing—a living wage, healthcare, international student rights, workplace protections, housing justice, etc!
Join us at 3pm at Marsh Plaza or follow along on Instagram live!
ATTN:
Recently, the Provost has reported dozens of BUGWU members to the Boston University Office of Judicial Affairs (OJA). The “crime”? Marking emails as spam.
We do research, teach undergrads, serve on committees, grad exams, supervise dorm living, and perform other essential functions for BU. Our work as graduate student-workers is immensely undervalued by BU, and it’s time for that to change. 3/
On March 26th and April 5th, SEIU Local 509 filed two Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against BU for attempting to break BUGWU's strike. Below is the BUGWU members and BU faculty's firsthand accounts of ongoing ULPs and reckless strikebreaking efforts:
It is apparent that BU admin prefers to strikebreak than to work on a fair contract and end the strike. Please consider donating to our support fund if you are able:
On March 26th and April 5th, SEIU Local 509 filed two Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against BU for attempting to break BUGWU's strike. Below is the BUGWU members and BU faculty's firsthand accounts of ongoing ULPs and reckless strikebreaking efforts:
Thank you Professor Rezek! We are asking BU administrators to remain neutral in this campaign, and we appreciate all of our faculty who are calling on them to do so.
Boston University graduate students are among the smartest people on the planet, and I trust their judgment about whether or not to unionize. Every day is a good day for university administrators to stay neutral on this question and to let the democratic process unfold.
Our union drive is in very good company:
@dukegradunion
,
@WPI_GWU
, now
@uchicagogsu
, and others!
This Fall thousands and thousands of grad workers across the country are signing their union authorization cards!
It's official: we've surpassed 1,000 cards signed on the first day of our union authorization campaign! Join 1,000 of your coworkers to win a living wage, expanded benefits, and equitable policies in our labs, classrooms, and community by signing on now:
FACT CHECK: Howard Schultz claims that Starbucks is limited by law in the raises it can give to unionized workers. The NLRB has said that Schultz’s claim is false and that withholding raises is illegal.