Temple University Graduate Students' Association reached a tentative four-year agreement with the University concerning increased wages, improved health care benefits and workload requirements last week.
In October 2000, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students at Temple were legallyÿemployees and would be allowed to vote to hold union elections, which they did in March 2001. Temple recognized TUGSAÿlast fall, following in the footsteps of New York University, which reached a contract settlement withÿthe United Auto Workers in regards to its own graduate students.
This Wednesday and Thursday, TUGSA will be holding contract ratification meetings. The agreement also needs to be ratified by the Temple University trustees.
"We would be surprised, and frankly dismayed, if we accepted this agreement and the University told us that they were unable to ratify," TUGSA Director of Organizing Rob Callahan said. "Our [negotiating] team would not settle on an agreement that they weren't confident our membership would pass."
The developments at Temple bolster the efforts of proponents of a graduate student union at Penn, currently awaiting an NLRB ruling on whether Penn graduate students have the right to hold union elections.ÿThe petition for the right to hold contract negotiations with the University was filed by Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania last December, and preliminary hearings overseen by theÿNLRB ended last month.
Briefs from lawyers for both the University and GET-UP were originally due today, but as it is unlikely that there will be a spring election, the lawyers agreed to take an extra week for preparation. The briefs are now due on April 23.
GET-UPÿhas also been conducting a survey to determine what issues graduate students think are important and what input they have in the planning of a contract.
GET-UP representatives said they are encouraged by the successful negotiating process that occurred at Temple.
The contract is "wonderful," GET-UP spokeswoman Joanie Mazelis said. "It provides an across-the-board raise, which is great because it shows that there is still room for variation as some people have been worried that in a union, everyone would have the same salary. The idea is to lift the bottom up, and that's wonderful."
Highlights of the Temple agreement include the establishment of new minimum salaries -- up 12.75 percent -- for the upcoming academic school year that will increase by 2.75 percent in each subsequent year.ÿThe new pay scale differs by department.
University spokeswoman Lori Doyle emphasized in an e-mail statement that "the stipends in the [Temple] contract are less than what Penn students already receive, so the [American Federation of Teachers]/GET-UP must agree that our stipend levels are more than fair."
"It's very likely that the graduate students at Temple would have been able to negotiate a similar increase in stipends without the need for a union and without the added burden of union dues and rules," Doyle added.
However, Mazelis stated that the amount that Temple pays, compared to Penn, is irrelevant.
"The point is that Temple students unionized and got significant increases," Mazelis said. "It's about improving the situation from where it is. It's clear that stipends do not provide enough for living, so how can the stipend levels be fair if graduate students can't live on them?"
In terms of health care, Temple currently offers its graduate students three health insurance plans. Under the new contract, the university will pay 100 percent of the nine-month premium for one of the plans and 100 percent of the 12-month premium for the low-option plan, regardless of premium increases and in addition to offering more benefits.ÿTUGSA is also the first group of employees who have won domestic partner benefits from Temple, with the option of enrolling their domestic partners in the healthÿplans.
However, Doyle considered the health insurance conclusions an example of how Temple graduate students have actually lost ground in their contract.
"The contract gives the administration sole discretion over which health insurance carrier they will use," Doyle said. "So graduate students have lost their say about this altogether... and turned over that decision to the union. At Penn, there is a very consultative process about health insurance, and both graduate and undergraduate students are deeply involved in these decisions."
Though GET-UP will most likely have a different contract agreement than Temple, the same basic issues, such as stipend levels and healthÿcare plans, are still going to be addressed, according to Mazelis.
"In general, the [Temple agreement] is very exciting for us," Mazelis said. "It's a first for graduate employees in the state of Pennsylvania, and we're very happy for the people over at TUGSA."
Doyle, however, viewed the Temple and TUGSA agreement in a different light.
"The graduate students at Temple are now being treated as one single work unit," Doyle said.ÿ"It just shows how a one-size-fits-all union contract does not fit in an educational setting where each individual graduate student has different needs and educational requirements. Under a union contract, everyone gets treated the same -- and in this case, it's at a lower level than before."
Mazelis cited examples that counter the "one-size-fits-all" characterization of unions.
"Not only did Temple have variation in its stipend levels, [the agreement] also includes a two-tiered health plan -- a low option plan and a moreÿcomprehensive plan," Mazelis said. "This health plan is a perfect example of how it is not one size fits all. Penn has consistently only provided a one-size-fits-all option for health plans of graduate employees."
