At 11:55 a.m. on Monday, April 22, graduate students, including BA/MA students and foreign language teaching assistants (FLTAs) from the University, gathered at the steps of South College outside the office of President Michael Roth ’78 to hand him a signed letter outlining their intent to create the Wesleyan Graduate Labor Union (WesGLU). Currently, 76% of graduate students at Wesleyan have signed authorization cards.

In their statement to The Argus, WesGLU said that the union will protect the unique status of graduate workers and provide a structure for members to more effectively negotiate and communicate with the University over concerns surrounding working hours, academic advising, and student visas.

“Our hope for this union is that it will provide a two-way street between us and the Wesleyan Administration,” WesGLU stated in the letter to the administration.

In the April 22 letter, WesGLU asked that the University voluntarily recognize their union, as it has done with Physical Plant workers and Residential Life employees in 2019 and 2022 respectively, by the following Friday, April 26. This would prevent a more protracted process that would involve the National Labor Relations Board. The University must make an official statement of position by Wednesday, May 8.

“We have to file with the National Labor Relations Board, which is part of the federal government,” Katie Sagarin, a graduate biology student and early member of the GLU, said. “They then set up a vote that they oversee. Based on that vote, if there’s majority support, then Wesleyan is basically forced to recognize us.”

By April 25, WesGLU had received an update. Phil Murray, the incoming director of Labor and Employee Relations at the University, wrote to Scott Williams of OPEIU 153—the union that represents WesGLU—stating that due to the unique circumstances, the union would not receive an official response until May 6.

“The proposal in your most recent letter is a little more complex than previous but similar requests if, for no other reason, it potentially involves categories of individuals who attend Wesleyan under quite different circumstances,” Murray wrote.

Much of the discussion around WesGLU’s demands has been centered around the disputed position of FLTAs in the union. FLTAs’ financial and academic situation can be especially precarious because of their status as international students. Although their contracts with the University and student visas are supposed to protect their rights as students, the problematic treatment of FLTAs as workers has been raised in the past.

In an interview with The Argus, current FLTAs Marcos Alcazar Estrella and Thomas Annebicque outlined many of the problems facing FLTAs at the University. Both mentioned the working hours as an ongoing issue: Though their visas cap the amount of hours they can work in a week to 20, many FLTAs—especially those in the College of East Asian Studies—routinely go over this limit. Additionally, the lack of a meal plan and increases in rent for student housing have challenged their ability to balance their studies and work. Both Estrella and Annebicque said that they hoped a union would address these concerns.

In response to Murray’s letter to the union, WesGLU emphasized its support for FLTAs and said that the drive to unionize would continue regardless of support from the University. Furthermore, Williams said that the response runs contrary to the amicable relationship that Wesleyan had with labor organizations in the past.

“We are disappointed that Wesleyan has decided to do the bare minimum in responding to graduate workers who make critical contributions to the research and teaching at Wesleyan,” Williams wrote in an email to The Argus.

Williams, whose organization has represented unionization drives at the University for over 30 years and now represents around 500 student employees, said that the University’s treatment of WesGLU was an alarming departure from how labor relations have been handled in the past.

“Although this is a typical playbook among most colleges, it’s a new model of labor relations at Wesleyan,” Williams said.

According to members of the union, Murray has refused to answer calls made by student organizers. He also has not reached out to Williams. 

As of this publication, no further updates on the unionization process have been made available to The Argus.

Although the negotiations with the University and the National Labor Relations Board may continue until next September, WesGLU members remained hopeful. 

“I don’t think a graduate student union has ever lost a vote, ever,” Sagarin said.

Students from private universities gained the right to organize in 2016, yet some fear that the National Labor Relations Board’s ruling may change if national leadership shifts.

“Our right to unionize might not exist within the next election year,” Sagarin said.

Miles Craven can be reached at mcraven@wesleyan.edu.