Constitution Committee Elected (2024-12-14)

The SGWU Constitution Committee was elected with one seat for Graduate School of Business + Graduate School of Education + Stanford Law School, two seats for Biosciences, one seat for Civil and Environmental Engineering + Doerr School of Sustainability, one seat for Humanities, one seat for Social Sciences, one seat for Materials Science and Engineering + Chemical Engineering + Applied Physics, one seat for Physics + Chemistry, one seat for Aeronautics and Astronautics + Mechanical Engineering, one seat for Electrical Engineering, one seat for Computer Science, one seat for Mathematics + Statistics + Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering + Management Science & Engineering, and one member of the Humanities area elected to the at-large seat. The Constitution Committee now begins its work to draft and take feedback from the members, before proposing for ratification, a SGWU Constitution.

SGWU Contract Ratified!!! (2024-11-22)

After a year of bargaining, our tentative agreement was ratified with 86% voting in favor! Out of 1732 votes, 1482 voted in favor while 250 voted against. The next steps are to establish a constitutional committee (CC), composed of elected rank-and-file union members who will draft the constitution for our local, and an interim grievance committee (IGC), consisting of existing elected leadership alongside volunteers. IGC members will serve as temporary stewards and support colleagues who pursue grievances before formal union leadership is elected and departmental stewards are established. More details about the IGC and the elections for CC will come in following weeks. Get in touch and join our slack through this link as first steps to helping us build our union!

Tentative Agreement Reached, Strike Delayed (2024-11-12)

We were able to get sufficient movement from Stanford to reach a tentative agreement (TA). As such, the strike has been called off. Voting ballots will be sent out in the following week for people to vote on the TA. The bargaining committee recommends a yes vote for the TA, explained here.

Strike Authorized; Stanford’s Proposed Contract Rejected (2024-11-07)

Graduate workers resoundingly rejected Stanford’s proposed contract and also authorized a strike. Stanford’s proposed contract was rejected by a 94.0% vote with 2,333 graduate workers voting. 89.3% voted to authorize a strike, with 2,317 total votes. If Stanford does not make serious movement, most importantly on the first year wage increase, nondiscrimination, benefits, and guaranteed funding, the bargaining committee (BC) is authorized to call a strike beginning on Tuesday, November 12. All graduate student workers have a legal right to strike. This includes fellows, international workers, and graduate workers on hourly wages working on every job paid by Stanford. Read our guidance on graduate workers’ legal right to strike for more details.

Strike Authorization Vote and Contract Vote Now Open! (2024-11-01)

Stanford continues to stall in our negotiations with them. As such, the vote on whether or not to accept Stanford’s current proposed contract as well as whether or not to authorize a strike is now open. The Bargaining Committee (BC) strongly recommends that all graduate workers vote “NO” on Stanford’s proposal and “YES” to call for authorizing a strike. If the strike authorization vote passes with a majority, we will initiate the strike on November 12. We have established a strike fund and are recruiting volunteers from every department to help with the strike.

Strike Pledge Launched (2024-09-28)

At our rally today, we have launched our strike pledge! Over a thousand workers have already signed the pledge within the first 24 hours. Besides an actual strike, this pledge is the most powerful tool we have to extract concessions from Stanford. Please urgently consider adding your name to the pledge. The more rapidly these pledges rise, the more we obtain at the table. Details on what the pledge means, and what a strike would look like can be found in our FAQs (short and long). If you have already signed, please get your coworkers, friends, and labmates to sign the pledge as soon as possible. To answer 3 common questions:

  • The names on the pledge will not be shared with Stanford
  • Fellows can and should sign the pledge
  • The pledge is NOT the same as the rally RSVP. You still need to pledge even if you RSVPd for the rally.

Bargaining Platform Ratified (2024-05-15)

With 98% approval, SGWU members approved our proposed Bargaining Economics Platform which includes an immediate and substantial pay and benefit increase that accounts for on-campus rent increases, inflation, and the cost of living at Stanford.

SGWU Election Results (2024-05-15)

In this vote, our Bargaining Economics Platform was ratified by majority vote by our membership. The results:

Ballot Item Approve Disapprove
SGWU-UE Economic Bargaining Platform Summary 1660 (98.3%) 29 (1.7%)

SGWU Files Unfair Labor Practice Charges (2024-02-20)

We filed our first Unfair Labor Practice charges against Stanford for illegally blocking union messages from some departmental mailing lists where other non-work communications (free food, parties, etc.) are allowed. Despite weeks of trying to resolve this at the bargaining table, Stanford refused to admit wrongdoing or agree to stop. We filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold them accountable.

February Action Meeting (2024-02-07)

On February 7th, 2024, hundreds of graduate workers attended our February Action Meeting (FAM)! Workers presented major issues our bargaining committee is currently fighting for, including a six-year funding guarantee for all PhD workers, real recourse for harassment and discrimination, protections for international workers, fellow inclusion, health and safety protections and a strong union shop. Despite rain earlier that day, we wrapped up the FAM by marching across campus hanging posters calling for a strong contract. Thank you to everyone who showed up!

First Day of Bargaining (2023-11-03)

Today was a great day for grad workers at Stanford! We kicked off negotiations for our contract with a spirited rally to celebrate our first bargaining session! Today we completed our first bargaining session with Stanford’s administration, where we presented our non-economic contract proposals. They stated a willingness to listen to our demands and negotiate in good faith, and we look forward to holding them to their word. Our next bargaining session is set for Monday, November 6th, where we expect to field questions and possible counter-proposals from Stanford’s administration.

If you would like to follow the bargaining process and how our contract proposals evolve as we negotiate with Stanford, check out our publicly available bargaining tracker.

Solidarity Statement Adopted (2023-11-02)

A 65% majority of SGWU members have voted to adopt a statement of solidarity with Palestinian Trade Unions written by SGWU members. This statement was ratified by majority vote by our membership on November 2, 2023.

Bargaining Platform Ratified (2023-11-02)

With 96% approval, SGWU members approved our proposed Bargaining Language Platform which includes robust independent grievance procedures, expansive nondiscrimination proposals, strong workplace protections, and broad inclusion of grad workers. The platform was ratified on November 2nd, 2023.

SGWU Election Results (2023-11-02)

In this vote, our Bargaining Language Platform was ratified by majority vote by our membership.

In the same ballot, a non-bargaining voting item concerning the adoption of an official SGWU-UE statement in solidarity with Palestinian Trade Unions written by SGWU members was also ratified by majority vote by our membership.

The results of both elections are provided below.

Ballot Item Approve Disapprove
SGWU-UE Language Bargaining Platform Summary 1117 (95.6%) 51 (4.4%)
SGWU-UE Statement of Solidarity with Palestinian Trade Unions 683 (64.9%) 370 (35.1%)

SGWU Bargaining Committee Elected (2023-08-16)

We have concluded our first Bargaining Committee election with 25 graduate workers elected to represent our needs at the bargaining table. Thank you for participating! Your vote is a vital part of the democratic process that empowers our graduate worker community.

Congratulations to our first Bargaining Committee!

NLRB Ratification Election (2023-07-06)

The votes have been counted, and 94% of workers have voted in favor of the union!!! The overwhelming margin of victory in this historic election, 1639 yes to 108 no, shows that we have widespread support for our platform. We are thankful for all conversations that gave gone into this historic labor victory. Our union, SGWU-UE, is enthusiastic to begin bargaining with Stanford for a fair contract, living wages, and a safe, healthy workplace where we can teach and conduct research as effectively as possible.

SGWU Files for NLRB Election (2023-04-26)

Today, we took the next tangible step toward bargaining a union contract—we submitted over 3,000 signed union cards to the NLRB! We are excited about the opportunity to vote yes for our union this spring and ensure we have a voice in our working conditions.