“These agreements will place our graduate student employees among the best supported in public higher education,” Michael V. Drake, president of the University of California, said in a news release Friday. The academic workers had argued they couldn’t afford to live in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley, where housing costs are soaring, with the current salaries. If graduate employees and researchers ratify the contracts, it could prompt similar changes at colleges that compete with UC or where graduate workers are organizing unions. “There’s a fundamental shift in who’s doing the academic work in higher education,” Cain said. Just this year, graduate student employees at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Clark University, Fordham University, New Mexico State University, Washington State University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute all voted in favor of unionization.

Source: The Star December 17, 2022 03:15 UTC