Negotiations Updates

On May 8, the University team met with BUGWU for three hours. The federal mediator joined the session for the second time to help facilitate discussion between the parties.

The session began with BUGWU presenting counterproposals on International Worker Rights, Non-Discrimination, and Assignments/Appointments. Following the presentation, the parties went into private caucuses with the federal mediator. When the parties returned from caucus, the BU Administration team presented a counterproposal on Workplace Accommodations & Access and responded with a rejection to BUGWU’s most recent counterproposals on Bargaining Unit Information, Union Security, Childcare Subsidy, PTO, Parental Leave, and Commuting Benefits.

Following this presentation, the University team and BUGWU discussed data regarding the number of BUGWU members on strike and not working. The University shared wage attestation data indicating that approximately 80% of stipended bargaining unit members have been working each week throughout the strike. The University also shared that, based on a comparison between current and 2023 spring data, 90% of the hours typically worked by the hourly workers in the bargaining unit are being submitted.

As of the close of the session, the University owes the Union a response on the three articles presented at today’s session. The Union owes the University a response on twelve articles.

On May 2, the University team met with BUGWU for approximately 90 minutes. The federal mediator joined the session for the first time to help facilitate discussion between the parties. The session unfortunately started with technical issues, as the mediator had significant challenges logging into the University’s Zoom account that delayed the session’s start. The University notified the SEIU representative for BUGWU of the delay, but BUGWU expressed strong disappointment that their student bargaining team members were not emailed directly and significant annoyance at the delay. The University has since developed an alternative structure for the mediator to login to future sessions to avoid delays.

The mediator introduced himself to the parties, met both bargaining teams, and explained the mediation process.

BUGWU opened their presentation by demanding that the University bargaining team drop Judicial Affairs charges brought against some of their membership. This is not a bargainable issue or something that the bargaining team can address; the Judicial Affairs process is an independent and confidential process overseen by the Dean of Students office.

BUGWU then presented counterproposals on union security, commuting benefits, childcare subsidy, paid time off, and parental leave. They also read a scripted demand reiterating their prior position that they refuse to counter on compensation because they believe BU’s offer is too low.

As of the close of the session, the University owed the union a response on seven articles (including the four counterproposals presented at today’s session). The union owed the University a response on fourteen articles.

Each party then met with the mediator independently, and the session closed for each party upon the end of those sessions.

The University met with BUGWU for nearly three hours today and is pleased to announce that the parties tentatively agreed to six articles: professional rights and academic freedom, workers’ rights, discipline, grievances, union rights, and workload. This represents meaningful progress toward reaching agreement, and we appreciate the students’ efforts to work toward compromise on these issues. The parties also made productive strides toward discussing a proposal related to bargaining information and FERPA waivers.

At this point, BUGWU still has 18 open articles under consideration. They continue to decline to present counterproposals to the University’s offers on compensation and benefits, which have been on the table for six weeks.

In another positive development, BUGWU agreed to our invitation to pursue federal mediation. The federal mediator will join the parties to help facilitate negotiations starting at the next bargaining session on Thursday, May 2.

BU and BUGWU met for nearly two hours to discuss package proposals—which involves accepting the language within a group of proposals rather than accepting or countering each specific article—presented by both sides.

BU presented a counterproposal on academic freedom and a package that coupled together a compromise on FERPA and bargaining unit information in exchange for BUGWU agreeing to participate in the mediation process with us. BUGWU asked clarifying questions about the mediation process and what it would entail.

BUGWU presented a counterproposal on union rights and a package that coupled together counterproposals on worker rights, discipline, and grievances. They declined to present counter offers on compensation and benefits but asked clarifying questions about commuter benefits.

The University met with BUGWU for almost three hours to discuss each party’s counterproposals. We reached another tentative agreement on a side letter focused on maintaining gender-affirming care benefits and establishing a staff member in Student Health Services to help students navigate their insurance coverage.

BUGWU presented counterproposals on academic freedom, with Clinical Professor of American Studies Mary Battenfeld joining as an expert representing her role as co-president of BU’s local chapter of the American Association for University Professors. They also presented counterproposals on health and safety, union rights, and grievances. BUGWU also asked the University for clarification on workers’ rights related to lactation rooms. Despite this, BUGWU currently owes the University responses on 22 additional outstanding items and did not present a counterproposal on compensation.

BU presented counterproposals on discipline and workload. We also expanded the commuting benefits available to graduate workers in a counterproposal that included the choice of either a 50% MBTA subsidy or enrolling in our bike expenses reimbursement program for all graduate workers.

The parties met for two hours during this session.

BU was pleased to reach tentative agreement (“TA”) with the union on the personnel records article. Each TA represents forward progress toward a fair contract and the University appreciates the union’s efforts to compromise and work diligently toward resolution.

The University team presented counterproposals on union rights, union security, and grievances. The only remaining item on which the University owes BUGWU a counterproposal is their proposed Commuting Benefits article. The University intends to present a counterproposal to BUGWU regarding Commuting Benefits at the next bargaining session.

BUGWU presented counterproposals on workload, access needs, discipline and discharge, and bargaining unit information. BUGWU currently owes the University responses on 22 additional outstanding items.

The union declined – for the third bargaining session in a row – to present a counterproposal on compensation.

The University requested again that the union agree to bring in the federal mediation service to assist the parties in coming to resolution on the contract. The union again declined.

The union did request additional, weekly bargaining sessions with the University in April, and the University agreed. The parties will bargain weekly on Thursdays, starting on Thursday, April 11 (the next scheduled session to date).

The University presented counterproposals on professional development, paid time off, and workers’ rights. The professional development article quadrupled the University’s existing annual fund to support graduate professional development from $15,000 to $60,000 (doubling the University’s prior offer). The University also agreed, in response to feedback from BUGWU, to allow students to apply for larger grants – up to $1000. BUGWU presented counterproposals on union security, grievances, personnel records, and commuter benefits, which included requests related to biking reimbursement costs and parking. The University will carefully review these proposals and respond as quickly as possible so the parties can continue to make progress.

The parties reached a tentative agreement on the payday article – the sixth tentative agreement to date.

At this point, the University owes BUGWU a response on 5 items – the five counterproposals presented at the March 27 session. BUGWU owes the University a response on 23 proposals. Notably, BUGWU has continued to decline to present a counterproposal on compensation in response to the University’s offer of a 7% raise in year one, followed by a 3% raise in years two and three of the contract.

The University again offered to bring in a federal mediator to help the parties make progress toward resolution. BUGWU again declined this offer. The parties will meet again on April 1.

The parties met on March 22, for three hours.

In this session, the University presented a strong counterproposal on benefits, offering all graduate workers in the union a 50% MBTA subsidy. The University also made clear its intent to offer this MBTA subsidy to PhD students who are not in the bargaining unit but within the five-year funding guarantee.

In addition, the University presented counterproposals on discipline, non-discrimination, personnel records, and union rights, as well as an update to our transitional assistance side letter. We rejected a proposed Memorandum of Understanding from BUGWU that sought to extend the benefits in the contract to students outside the bargaining unit.

BUGWU presented counterproposals on payday, professional development, and worker rights.

At this point, BUGWU owes the University a response on 25 proposals, and the University owes BUGWU a response on 4 proposals.

The parties reached tentative agreement on two items: the waiver article and the optional performance evaluation template appended to the performance evaluation article.

The University acknowledged the impending strike action and reiterated our hope to continue to make progress at the bargaining table. The next scheduled sessions are on Wednesday, March 27, and Monday, April 1. The University also reiterated its willingness to meet with BUGWU members on additional dates and to engage with the federal labor mediation service to the extent that it could help facilitate the parties’ work toward a mutually agreeable contract.

On March 18, the bargaining teams met for four hours and covered counterproposals from both BUGWU and the University.

BUGWU declined to present a formal counteroffer on compensation but presented their formal responses to the University’s compensation proposal, the University’s rejection of their public health proposal, and the University’s access needs side letter.

The University presented counterproposals on waiver, bargaining unit information, payday, gender-affirming care (through a side letter), health and safety, union security, and worker rights.

The University and BUGWU reached tentative agreement on the performance evaluation article.

The meeting ended with both sides agreeing to follow up on scheduling meetings in advance of our currently scheduled session on April 1.

The bargaining teams for the University and BUGWU met on March 13, for three hours.

The University rejected the union’s intellectual property and public health proposals, retaining management rights on these issues. The University explained that it did not want to include an article on intellectual property given the existing University policy on this issue, which also governs graduate students. However, the University did extend an invitation to BUGWU members to attend several forums to discuss these issues and hear graduate student concerns—for intellectual property, the Research and Scholarly Activities Committee, and for public health, the Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC).

The University presented a side letter on access needs, confirming a commitment to dialogue on access needs going forward through a specific JLMC subgroup focused on this issue.

The University also presented counterproposals on union rights, personnel records, grievances, and international student rights, and a new proposal describing no strike no lockout.

On March 5, the bargaining teams for the University and BUGWU met for two hours. 

The University presented revised benefits and compensation proposals to BUGWU during this session. Previously, the University had offered an increase in the 12-month PhD student stipends to $42,159 next year and an overall increase representing 13% over three years. BU had also offered a commitment to raising the minimum hourly rate for students paid hourly (from $15 to $18). Specifically, the University proposed the following:

• Moving PhD students currently on eight-month stipends to nine-month stipends. This will mean an increase in stipends for these students from the $28,106 we initially proposed in year one of the contract to $31,619.
• Covering 33% of the cost of MBTA passes for 12 months of the year for all our PhD students and other graduate students who are in the union.
• Creating a dental insurance plan for all graduate students for which they would pay the full premium ($452/year), with PhD students receiving a $100 subsidy toward this dental insurance premium.
• For full-time PhD students within the five-year funding guarantee, covering the annual cost of dependents that are added to the University’s student health insurance plan (SHIP) for children six years old and under.
• Adding a Graduate Worker Help Fund of $50,000 to help provide needs-based support during times of unforeseen crisis and emergencies and a no interest loan to help graduate workers with other financial exigencies who do not qualify for the Help Fund.

The parties met today and had productive discussions about a number of items. 

Based on discussions with BUGWU in previous sessions, the University presented revised workload and assignments counterproposals.

The parties continued discussions related to FERPA waivers and the best process to get the union information about the bargaining unit. BUGWU rejected the University’s compensation and benefits proposals, stating that both proposals failed to address their key priorities.

The University continued to present revised articles and new counterproposals to BUGWU, including workload, revisions to the transitional assistance side letter, and a side letter that committed the University to examining an institutional shift to a fully 12-month funding model for PhD education.

The University also took questions related to healthcare and benefits, inviting BU’s Chief Health Officer and the Executive Director of Benefits to join the discussion.

The parties also reached tentative agreement on the JLMC article.

The University presented a revised professional development proposal. In the proposal, the University offered to expand professional development grants to include master’s and professional students and tripled the number of $500 awards granted from 20 to 60.

The University presented compensation and benefits proposals. The University’s compensation proposal included a significant increase in PhD student stipends, representing a 13% increase over three years, with a 7% increase occurring in year one. Our benefits proposal also includes a 20% increase in hourly graduate student worker wages and a 67% increase in childcare subsidy support.

The University also presented a counterproposal on personnel records and a side letter that would create a transitional assistance program for PhD students experiencing challenges within their primary advising or mentoring relationship.

BUGWU presented a clarification on their benefits proposal that included vision benefits and subsidized eyewear and a minor edit to the professional development proposal.

BUGWU presented proposals describing workload and discipline and a response to the University recognition clause that would generate a tentative agreement attached to an MOU that required the University to maintain similar levels of support described in the contract for all graduate students. The University presented four counterproposals during this session—professional development, performance evaluations, JLMC, and assignments.

BUGWU presented proposals describing international worker rights, intellectual property, and paid time off.

BUGWU presented concerns and questions related to the recognition and bargaining unit description article presented by the University.

The University presented a counterproposal on Academic Freedom that contextualized student academic freedom within their mentored student role, rather than defining the issue as it is defined for faculty.

The main focus of discussions during this session was the University’s response to BUGWU’s public health proposal. Staff members from Environmental Health & Safety and Facilities joined the bargaining session to describe the University’s current practices specifically related to building standards and ventilation and air filtration. BUGWU maintained that the proposal is meant to describe in writing public health standards to create transparency in what is expected and reassure bargaining unit members that the University is accountable to meeting them.

The University also presented a management right article that maintains the University’s authority to make operational and academic decisions independent of the contract.

BUGWU presented articles describing professional development, worker rights, waiver (as it pertains to articles of the contract), unit information, and performance evaluations.

BUGWU presented benefits and non-discrimination proposals during the session. The benefits proposal encompassed expansions to healthcare coverage and subsidies, fully covered gender-affirming care, offering the faculty/staff dental plan to graduate students, tuition remission for all graduate workers, $8,000 childcare subsidies per child per year for all graduate workers, $2,500 relocation grants for all graduate workers, transportation subsidies, and funding for emergency situations and visa assistance. BUGWU also presented a non-discrimination clause that proposed a transitional assistance program for students experiencing discrimination or harassment from their supervisors and expanded the University’s reporting requirements beyond Title IX definitions.

BUGWU shared their compensation proposal in advance of the session. They also stated their priority that compensation levels eliminate student rent burden and be designed to address this challenge specifically. They requested that in the first year of the contract that all PhD students receive a 12-month stipend of $62,440, with 7% increases annually or corresponding to the increases in rent prices, whichever is higher. They also requested the hourly worker minimum wage be set to $41.63 with the same 7% annual increases or increases corresponding to the increases in rent prices.

BUGWU presented articles related to public health and disability and access needs. BUGWU’s public health article maintained our current practices and, in some cases, required additional measures related to COVID-19 testing, communications related to COVID-19 rates locally, a teaching fellow’s right to require all students to mask during their class sections, and ventilation infrastructure and air filters/HVAC systems.

The disability and access proposal presented by BUGWU removed any medical documentation requirements to obtain accommodations, asked for expedited requests through the Disability & Access Services office, and proactive access for students with disabilities to several types of accommodations and services.

The University presented an article describing the contract preamble with updated gender inclusivity language and a proposal on recognition and a description of the bargaining unit.

BUGWU presented three articles during this session—Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC), Pay Day, and Appointments. The University acknowledged that the appointment article was more complex because of the different types of student employment roles within the unit and the different mechanisms and timelines that guide how and when students are appointed.

BUGWU also asked the University to clarify our definitions of service and non-service funded graduate student roles, specifically related to PhD students.

The University and BUGWU had discussions on several issues related to previously presented articles, including personnel records, union rights, and grievance and arbitration procedures. We also had discussions about data sharing and developing a waiver process to share FERPA-related information.

The University and BUGWU tentatively agreed to the separability and conformity to law article.

BUGWU presented three articles: union security and deductions; grievance, mediation, and arbitration; and separability. Union security and deductions described BUGWU’s proposal for how the union would be notified of its membership, required all students in roles within the unit definition to join the union, and outlined a procedure for the University to collect dues.

BUGWU presented articles describing personnel records and union rights. BUGWU presented an article describing union rights, including access to facilities on campus, mechanisms to communicate with members of the unit (e.g., mailboxes, bulletin board postings), and dedicated presentation times at required University orientation sessions. Their proposal also described that BUGWU would be allowed to identify ten student representatives released from their service duties with pay to complete union-related tasks, and the option for Graduate Student Workers to put the union label on any materials they complete connected to their employment at Boston University.

The BU Graduate Workers Union and the University hold an initial “meet and greet” session. Our initial session was designed to serve as a “meet and greet” between the BU Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU) negotiations team and our Boston University team. To accommodate BUGWU’s desire for transparency and access, the University agreed to conduct this session, as well as future sessions, via Zoom and to permit up to 300 people to attend.

The union previously sent the University an extensive Request for Information (RFI) which the parties discussed.