Why We Want a Union
Shahriar Shayesteh, Information Science and Technology
As an international graduate worker at Penn State, I believe unionization is essential. A union would provide collective support, ensuring fair treatment and addressing unique challenges international students face, such as visa-related issues and achieving a healthy work-life balance. By uniting, we can advocate for equitable working conditions and create a more inclusive environment for all graduate workers.
Gabriela Rivera, Management and Organization
Our department is very student-centered and goes to great lengths to take good care of the graduate students. However, I have learned that is not the case for other colleges or departments. Not only that, but the level of support we receive is the exception, not the norm. I have learned how different experiences can be for other students when it comes to essential support, workplace safety, security, stability, and health insurance. Graduate students are vital for the production of science: we are the heart of the science production body. A union will provide the necessary guarantees for students to alleviate anxieties about many things except what we dreamed of and came here to do: science! I hope all grad students consider supporting this effort, if not for yourself then for others–those who came before us who did not have the chance, and those who will come after.
Ariana Santos, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology
All graduate workers deserve to have a voice. Banding together to form a union will grant us the means to negotiate for higher wages, fairer contracts, and better healthcare. In the university’s current state, students suffering from harassment, medical emergencies, or other conflicts have no choice but to address the administration alone, and the policies in place are at the whim of each department. However, a union represents a concerted effort to protect each other: an effort that makes the decision-making process more even between the university and grad student workers. Grad student workers will be healthier, happier, and able to do better research when our rights are protected!
Emily Southard, Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education (AESE)
Having a union would help graduate students to have better experiences and do better work while they are at Penn State. A union would ensure that there would be more economic equality between graduate students, which helps to challenge the structural inequalities in academia that limit the knowledge that academics produce. Moreover, a union means that we would have improved rights as workers, as a union can protect us from exploitation and abuses of power.
Patrick Donaghue, Mathematics
“I want a union for a number of reasons. Practically, there are things I want: more money that represents a fair market price for my labor, wages indexed to cost-of-living metrics, and reasonable hours. I also want my fellow graduate students to have a safety net and basic benefits that allow them to be young adults living a good life while pursuing graduate studies. I want family leave so we can have children; I want subsidized daycare; I want partner benefits; I want paid sick leave. I want to know going to graduate school is compatible with being an adult in all phases of life. I have seen this accomplished by academic unions before so I know it is possible. I just want it for us as well. Unions are what we make of them—ours can set the terms for what a graduate education looks like at Penn State.”
Berk Atil, Computer Science and Engineering
I would like to have a union at Penn State because it would help to support and advocate for the rights of graduate students. The salaries are not fair here, with much pay inequality between departments. Students’ vacation time depends on their advisors, and some students are not able to take any time off. Having fairer salaries and better benefits will make students more productive. Graduate students throughout the US have formed unions successfully and improved their conditions–Penn State students deserve this, too.
Meera Ray, Computer Science and Engineering
I’m not the only one in the CSE department who wants to see us use computing research for public good instead of contributing to surveillance tech, helping arm the war machine, or helping make tech CEOs even richer. If we want to make fundamental, long-term change, it will take more than petitions and protests. We need to collectively exert the power we have as graduate workers to demand changes, and for that we need a union. Right now, we are at the whims of university administration. We can ask for higher stipends to make up for inflation or for restored funding to the now-canceled Center for Racial Justice, but they are under no obligation to listen to us; so they don’t! With a union, we leverage the necessity of our labor to the university’s functioning. We can make demands the university must hear out. We can build consciousness and camaraderie with our fellow graduate workers in an environment that otherwise siloes us in our own labs. We can realize our own power to create a more just world, starting right here in our departments and our labs at Penn State.
Lucia Herrero, Psychology
I am a first-gen student: the first in my extended family to receive a B.A., and the first to pursue graduate education. Growing up in a working class family, I saw a stark difference between my parent who had union support and my parent who did not. The protections–and risks–they experienced in their workplace directly impacted my development. We need a grad worker union at Penn State to make sure that we are justly represented and our rights are preserved. We deserve to live and learn with dignity.
Joseph Risi, Criminology
“Graduate student well-being is too dependent upon the contingencies of one’s advisor and department. It is too often the norm that we work more hours than our contracts require. We deserve the protection and security that comes with a union, as well as the ability to bargain for more fair compensation that reflects how much we actually work.”
Olivia Bell, Developmental Psychology
I support a union for graduate students at Penn State because I believe in representation of and accessibility for all students. Additionally, I believe a union would provide more standardized workload expectations for assistantships, as well as fairer wages.
Timothy Emeigh, Astronomy and Astrophysics
I want a union for the assurances of consistency and protection it would provide. While my situation is pretty good so far, I know workers in my department (and others) have a worse situation–and that my situation itself rests on factors outside of my control. By having a union, we could have a bigger voice in determining how we’re paid and treated, and make sure our considerations, wants, and needs are met and protected.
Sara Bonilla, Agriculture Economics, Sociology, and Education
I want a union for graduate students to be able to secure a minimum livable wage and insurance—but overall I want to build solidarity among us. I think one of the benefits of the union is finding people that would help you out, who will be by your side and fight with you to claim your rights.
CJ Gust, Penn State Law
I support a union for graduate students at Penn State because we are so much stronger as a collective than any one of us on our own. Graduate students have sincere, shared wants and needs, including better pay and better support. If we speak with one voice, we’ll get those things.
Shubham Mirg, Biomedical Engineering
I find it hard to digest the severe power imbalance and systemic inequalities against graduate students. Moreover, I have personally seen how the current system at Penn State provides limited to no protections for international and/or LGBTQ+ graduate students. I see the graduate student union as a way to reclaim power for all of us. I believe that having a union will help us graduate students lead a fair and equitable life by providing better wages, improved access to healthcare, harassment protections, and added accountability for PIs and administrators.
Theo Newbold, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology
A graduate student union at Penn State would give us power in the workplace–not just the power to organize or advocate for ourselves, but to collectively bargain for a just contract that meets our needs as workers. All of us are impacted by the rising cost of food, housing, utilities, healthcare, and the everyday things we need to survive. However, the reality is that these are not things we have to accept: they are launching points for action. A union would give each of us the power to improve our lives. We all deserve a voice and a seat at the table. A union is that opportunity, with an incredible community of people who want to care for each other, support each other, and lift each other up so that we can do more than just survive–we can thrive.
Kristin Schoenecker, Geography
I want to see a graduate union form at Penn State not only for our current community, but for others who are interested in pursuing a higher degree and cannot due to systemic barriers implicit in our current system. The best parts of academia become better when voices that have been marginalized can instead contribute to and inform scholarly dialogue and research; we can create the academy that we want to see by supporting current and would-be academic workers so we can all live well-rounded lives. A union would move us closer to this goal, as we could collectively advocate for the policies and financial support we deserve, and which would allow our various disciplines to flourish.
LG Zeng, Chemistry
“The fact is that graduate workers often put in much more hours than a typical full-time employee, yet receive considerably less compensation. Given that Penn State’s functioning depends heavily on TAs and RAs, it’s only fair that we have a union to represent our interests. This union would negotiate with the university to ensure we receive appropriate remuneration and the benefits befitting our role as employees.”
Kieran Cavanagh, Mathematics
“In my department, graduate employees manage teaching loads comparable to full-time professors while balancing coursework, exams, and research on a supposedly “part-time” contract. As graduate employees, our teaching and research is vital for Penn State, but we lack control over our working conditions and many of us are inadequately compensated. I want a union to ensure we are fairly compensated for the work we do and, most importantly, to give graduate employees a real, substantive (not merely symbolic!) voice.”
Megan Norman, Communications
“I believe when we come together, we can make life better for one other. I’m encouraged by the prospect of a union offering paid parental leave, childcare assistance, and fully subsidized healthcare (to name a few potential benefits) to support graduate employees at all stages of career and life. Together, we can make graduate school a safer, healthier, and more supportive environment for graduate employees to thrive.”
Winter Parts, Astronomy and Astrophysics
I found out that my friends in the physics department were being paid less than I am, despite the fact that they probably work harder than I do. I want them to be paid more fairly, and for all students to have more rights and be treated fairly by the university, which is why I support a union.
Owen Harrington, Geography
“I want to form a union at Penn State because graduate students are workers on whom this university depends. We are more likely to get the rights and protections we need and deserve through our own collective power, rather than as gifts from university administration. We can fight for better wages and cost of living adjustments, mechanisms for enforcing the terms of contracts, protection from retaliation from faculty (especially for international students), and more clarity on and access to summer funding. I think it’s important to have a contract in place to protect our rights as workers, as well as to be able to make demands on what the future of academic labor at Penn state looks like. I’m in my fourth year here so I likely won’t get to enjoy much of the fruits of having a union, but it’s my hope that our efforts will make being a graduate student at Penn State much more livable in the future.”
Madeline Luthard, Ecosystem Science and Management
“Graduate workers are workers, but often we are not seen that way. While we are essential to the operations of the university, our livelihoods are not recognized accordingly. Concerns about pay, benefits, and the realities of living on a graduate wage are often dismissed because we’re told that we “should be grateful to be paid or have health care coverage at all.” I believe a union represents a sort of insurance against mistreatment so that a positive grad school experience is not wholly dependent on a supportive PI or well-funded department. A union will strengthen our position as graduate students who so often are thought of last and given the least power.”
Shannon Buttimer, Ecology & Biology
“A graduate worker union at Penn State will establish a united front across departments, amplifying our collective voice. Graduate workers nationwide have successfully formed unions and negotiated better contracts, and we should too! This will enable us to have more say in decisions affecting our quality of life, including setting livable wages, ensuring adequate health insurance, and advocating for transparency in administrative decision-making.”
Ava Spangler, Geoscience
I want a union at Penn State so we can use the power of collective action to protect and bargain for future graduate student rights.
KC Read-Fisher, Penn State Dickinson Law
I want a union for graduate students at Penn State because my labor is worth more than $14 an hour!
Laurel O’Neill, Electrical Engineering
“I want a union for graduate students so we can have a voice in the work we do and the environment we do it in. Without a union and a contract we are just individuals—as a union, we are a force to be reckoned with.”
Chyvonne Rhoads, Ecosystem Science and Management
A union for graduate students at Penn State would help ensure fair compensation for the invaluable labor we provide, often involving long hours of research, teaching, and administrative tasks essential to the institution. It would offer stronger protections for workers, especially regarding job security, workplace conditions, and mental and physical health. Additionally, a union could advocate for better wages and benefits, particularly for those of us supporting families, ensuring more equitable treatment and improving the overall well-being of the graduate student community.
Chima Ukaomah, Energy and Mineral Engineering
Graduate students deserve to have a seat at the table when decisions that will have a significant impact on their stay at Penn State are being made. A union will ensure that this is the case.
Dia Brown, Architectural Engineering
“During my brief time working at the University of Vermont prior to coming to Penn State, I got to see firsthand how powerful it is to have a union. It gives workers the ability to have a fairer playing field to negotiate with the university, and also builds a sense of shared community between workers like I had never experienced before!”
Christine Bowlus, Kinesiology
“I want a union for graduate students at Penn State because we are dependent on faculty and administrators’ “good will” to provide a living wage and protections from intimidation and retaliation within lab groups and departments. A union means we will finally have the power to work for fair pay and better conditions.”
Maddy Jupina, Communication Arts and Sciences
“In grad school, compensation, workload, and treatment often depend entirely on the advisor, department, or college. A union ensures that all grad workers have fair pay and treatment across the university and provides us with the opportunity to take action against poor working conditions. With a union, grad workers can advocate for their own best interests.”
Sanjana Mendu, Information Sciences and Technology
“I want to form a union because I’m sick and tired of settling for less than what I am worth. When I came into grad school, I expected respect and equitable treatment. However, at Penn State, I have been disappointed time and time again by my department and the university. I took a medical leave of absence, as is within my rights as a student. However, because the student insurance is contingent on an active assistantship, a criteria which I was unable to meet due to my absence, my benefits were retroactively terminated leaving me without the care I needed and with debt I had not anticipated. This is disgusting and unjust and I deserve to have these basic rights protected. Furthermore, my graduate study has been cut off prematurely due to financial circumstances beyond my control. This has been a pattern of neglect and mismanagement for which I feel there will be no consequences beyond my own stress and uncertainty. I am confident that a union will give future graduate employees the power they need to protect their interests and rights and provide resources to navigate any mistreatment they may suffer during their study.”
Grady Iliff, Mechanical Engineering
As graduate student workers, we provide significantly more value to the university than our meager pay tends to reflect, whether it be through teaching, grading, writing grants, or doing research. With the collective power of a union, there is so much we can accomplish towards improving our working conditions and compensation. It is not unreasonable to demand fair pay that reflects the actual hours we work, cost of living adjustments, housing assistance, multi-year contracts, and paid time off to name just a few. I believe that forming a strong union will benefit future generations of graduate students and foster an environment of mutual support at Penn State.
Anthony Taylor, Plant Pathology and Biology
Benefits such as health, dental, and vision insurance are difficult to get in jobs and are often the first on the chopping block when the employer suffers budget issues. We’re lucky enough at Penn State to have these benefits (good ones too); however, recent years have seen the school change how much they’re subsidizing without letting us know beforehand or giving us the opportunity to provide input before the decision is made. Many graduate students are 30+ years old and may be starting families or, like me, have chronic health conditions that are terminal without care. For those of us that rely heavily on employer-subsidized health insurance, It is hugely concerning that at any point Penn State could stop insurance coverage, drastically reduce subsidies, or change to a cheaper provider that doesn’t cover things like gender affirming care, STI testing, annual wellness exams, or rare drugs. A union would make sure that Penn State is held accountable for changes like this, and compel them to provide the same standard of care for international students as they do for domestic students.
Nicole Derosia, Pharmacology
Graduate degrees are designed to be difficult, and as such, the students at Penn State work incredibly hard not only to further their education, but also to contribute to their respective fields in a meaningful way. Despite the benefits provided for us here, many of the students struggle with representation, adequate compensation, housing, inflation, healthcare costs, food costs, etc, to name a few. Organizing a cohesive group of our peers would allow us to begin the conversations necessary for adequately improving the conditions for graduate students here at Penn State.
Bailey Campbell, Electrical Engineering
“I have had the extreme fortune of working for an incredibly supportive advisor who understands the difficulties of being a graduate worker. Because of this, I am incredibly sympathetic to my fellow graduate workers who are so frequently mistreated—in addition to the myriad other issues plaguing us like low pay, exorbitant healthcare and transportation costs, minimal international student protections, and more. Our experience as graduate workers should not depend so heavily on the luck of the advisor draw, and we should not be forced to live in poverty to perform labor that ultimately benefits the university.”
Rachel Kang, Neurosurgery
I am very fortunate to be in a lab and program that cares greatly for my well being, but that is not true school-wide. A union for Penn State will provide equity and equal opportunities for students across all campuses including a voice to fight for benefits we care about like housing, time off, and child care. Many of us sacrifice so much to continue our education; we deserve to have our voices heard rather than hushed behind closed doors.
Daniel O. Oni, Philosophy
Unions give graduate workers a body for us to make our demands directly to our employers. I want to have a union at Penn State because no matter how good things might seem right now in any given department, there is no guarantee that they will remain so. A graduate worker union will break us out of our departmental silos and allow us win these guarantees—on stipends, healthcare, childcare, and more. I want a union because it will give us the control we desperately need in our working conditions and let us do our jobs even better.
Elise Shealy, Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics
In recent years, academia has begun to accept that a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints is crucial to good science. However, the extended training period of over 40 hours/week of work, with low compensation and little if any infrastructure for childcare, lends a clear advantage to incoming students from privileged backgrounds. If science–and Penn State–is serious about improving diversity and quality of research, it will work with graduate students to create environments that support all kinds of students.
Sarah Lipitz, Biobehavioral Health
I am in support of a union for graduate students at Penn State to facilitate clear policies and protections for students experiencing medical and personal crises. I am currently on a medical leave that has been massively complicated by losing my health insurance because of taking that leave. In the last nine months, I have had three different health insurance policies, three different sets of providers (with variable access to specialists), and three different levels of access to (and affordability of) medication and treatment. A union for graduate students would allow access to policies like FMLA that were created to protect employees in situations like mine. A union would also encourage clear policies and resources regarding medical care and leaves of absence. Finally, a union would allow me to confidently return to my work, knowing that I will have secured access to university spaces, accommodations, and medical care.
Sangjun Ko, Mathematics
I think it’s important to have a sense of worker solidarity and consciousness, especially with an employer like Penn State. Getting a union would be important to achieving this goal.
Emily Dunning, Human Development and Family Studies
I want a graduate student union so that we have collective bargaining power and can advocate for health insurance, a living wage, and a safe and inclusive work environment!
Marissa Kopp, Ecology
I want a union to protect graduate workers’ passions. Graduate degrees require hard work, but the same passion driving our work ethic can, unfortunately, leave us vulnerable to exploitation. We may feel that we should be grateful for any opportunity to be part of the projects we love, regardless of the physical, mental, or financial consequences. I want to join with a group of like-minded folks to mitigate these consequences and recognize that our passions should be celebrated. We are hard workers, yes, but people first—our well-being is deserved, not earned.
Janniry Cabrera Belen, Ecosystem Science and Management
Although graduate students contribute an immense amount of effort and time towards the development of knowledge, we are universally underpaid and under appreciated. A union would offer greater leverage and autonomy to the graduate student body, allowing us to advocate for our needs.
Jennifer Harris, Plant Science
During my time at Penn State, I’ve learned how drastically different grad students’ experiences are in regard to pay, workplace safety, and funding security across departments and colleges. A grad student’s financial and mental wellbeing shouldn’t just be dependent on their department and PI. These things need to be guaranteed and protected.
Joseph Heimerl, Aerospace Engineering
Graduate student labor is the reason that Penn State ranks among the top Aerospace Engineering universities, and I’ve greatly benefited from the unique research opportunities offered here. I want a union so that my fellow graduate students and I can achieve fair compensation for this critical function we serve in the university, as well as protection during uncertain financial situations.
Kristina Bowers, English & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
“Pay disparity is a big problem across Penn State’s grad worker population. We all deserve a living wage for the full-time hours we are expected to put into teaching, researching, and being a student. A union contract supports pay equity, greater access to health insurance, and support if you’re experiencing abusive or inappropriate behavior from advisors. The university depends on our labor to function—we deserve to be treated better.”
Megan F. Veltri, Anthropology
“As a graduate employee, it is important to me that we as graduate students are treated fairly and equally within our university. We should not have to worry about paying our bills on time, being able to take care of our families, or facing retaliation from faculty and administration. We work just as hard as anyone else, and we should be compensated and treated equally. A union would directly address these concerns, in addition to allowing us to vote for what we know we need in order to succeed at this university.”
Lucy Thompson,Geography and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
I want a union because I want to feel like an active and equal participant in my own workplace. More agency in my contract and therefore more ethical working conditions will allow me to be a better researcher, educator, and student.
Jiacheng Liu, Communications
“As an international student-worker, I need a union to substantially improve our living conditions. International students fully depend on our stipends because of the visa constraint on off-campus jobs and ineligibility for food stamps. We are also sick of being mistreated and gashlighted as fungible academic labor. Collective action is the only way we can build up the power to ensure a sustainable working environment for ourselves.”
Abigail Cowan, English
Not every student is given the same financial, social, and pedagogical resources to succeed. Forging a community with political power ensures all graduate students have equal access to educational opportunities, financial support, and, ultimately, an environment which fosters academic exploration.
Rachel Wigmore, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology
“Graduate students at Penn State do incredible work that benefits our institution and society. Despite this, working conditions and financial security for graduate students vary so much from program to program or even advisor to advisor. A graduate student union will allow students to advocate for and codify minimum requirements for ALL students, not just one or two departments.”
Molly McDonough, Materials Science and Engineering
“Graduate students at Penn State deserve wages that keep up with the cost of living, and to work and learn in an environment that is free from retaliation. A graduate student union is how we come together as workers to get the rights and benefits we deserve.”
Jess Rafalko, English
“Most graduate workers in my department teach English 15, a required undergraduate course. These classes are small, so we really get to know our students: we become, in a way, the face of Penn State. And while we put on a brave face in the classroom, behind the scenes we are dealing with low pay, heavy grading loads, and the constant stress of doing right by our students (who are also, in their various ways, being failed by the university). A union would ensure we are fairly compensated by acknowledging that our work doesn’t end with the twenty hours a week we’re technically contracted for—that, in fact, we are giving our all to our courses and our students. Without our labor, the university would grind to a halt; our paychecks should reflect the pivotal role our work plays in keeping Penn State (and its students) going.”