c/o @wesglu

Graduate student workers and Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTA) at the University will cast their ballot in a vote to join the Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153 on Thursday, Sept. 26. The vote comes after months of organizing and internal discussions within the Wesleyan Graduate Labor Union (WesGLU). 

WesGLU first announced their intention to unionize last April, and subsequently entered into negotiations with the University. Those negotiations ended earlier this semester, when the administration refused to voluntarily recognize the union. WesGLU leadership determined that the University’s decision was a departure from the status quo, and that it was not in line with the good faith labor relations expected by some organizers.

Many within the organization expressed hope that University administration will be more accommodating this semester, and will adopt a stance toward graduate student workers and FLTAs which is more in line with their treatment of other recent organizing efforts on campus. WesGLU leaders especially hope that, if they achieve a strong showing at Thursday’s vote, the University will treat their organizing efforts with the same gravity which they brought to negotiations with the successful unionization effort by residential advisors in 2022. In an April letter to the University, WesGLU organizers said that 76% of graduate workers had signed union cards in support of the formation of a labor union.  

“Wes grads will have a chance to share their overwhelming support for having a seat at the table to negotiate a contract with Wesleyan administration through winning recognition and legal certification of their union,” wrote OPEIU 153 representative Scott Williams wrote in a statement to The Argus. “We will have a strong showing of support that will lead to gains at the negotiating table.”

Discussions including graduate student workers and FLTAs have been ongoing at the University for months, hinging on the unique position that they hold as both students and workers at the University. Student workers who advocate for unionization recognize the importance of their dual identity at the school, and hope that unionizing will provide new protections for community members who sometimes feel like they wholly belong to neither one group nor the other.

“By having a codified set of expectations, it’s not so variable, and you’re not at the whims of who’s there right now and paying attention,” Astronomy graduate student Cat Sarosi MA ’25 said.

Of the graduate student workers and organizers interviewed by The Argus, all said that they were confident the union vote would go through. To bolster their confidence, organizers have hosted a number of events this fall aimed at spreading awareness for the graduate student union vote and showcasing unionized workers on campus.

“We hope that the show and the speeches will highlight the critical role of workers on this campus and build support for grad workers as they unionize this week,” Williams wrote.

One of these events was a town hall meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11, in which graduate student workers presented their individual reasons for the unionization drive, and their hopes going forward. Presenters also outlined specific goals for their future union, including retirement matching, increased labor protections, and mandated caps on working hours.

“I feel so strongly about this because I hope when I proceed on to a PhD, I’ll be able to go to a program with the kinds of protections that will ensure that whether it’s the good or, God forbid, the bad things that happen, there is an explicit set of supports,” Sarosi said.

The meeting ended with a presentation by Williams on the unionization process and what graduate student workers should expect following up to and after the vote. Moving forward, graduate student workers hope that strong turnout at the vote on Thursday will carry momentum onto the bargaining table. 

“The more yes votes we can get, the stronger position we’ll be in when we begin bargaining our first contract with Wesleyan.” biology PhD candidate and WesGLU organizer Katie Sagarin wrote in a statement to the Argus.

WesGLU will host its final event before the vote on Tuesday, Sept. 24. The event, which will run from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, will feature performances and speeches from graduate students and workers on campus.

The vote will be held this Thursday, Sept. 26 with ballot boxes open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and then again from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., in Usdan University Center. Voting will be supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.

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