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After graduate student workers voted to form a union in April, Alexandra Scrivner, along with the rest of Syracuse Graduate Employees United, surveyed the wants and needs of its workers. Scrivner said the surveys will inform the organization’s negotiations.

“We know that what our bargaining committee is claiming at the table is in fact what exactly our membership wants and is willing to get up to bat for,” said Scrivner, who serves on SGEU’s Organizing Committee.

The union established working committees over the summer to gather feedback from members about what terms the contract should entail, including a bargaining committee specifically focused on the contract. SGEU elected the bargaining committee in May, which reports to the administration and legally represents the union in negotiations.

Bridget Mack, a member of the SGEU bargaining committee, said they’ve received a good amount of survey responses, but that they want to get as much data as possible before they start negotiating. There are separate bargaining surveys currently active for both returning SGEU members and new members, she said.

“We’ve been more or less collecting data from all the stipend grad workers on campus, trying to figure out what kinds of things that they want, what are the gaps that we ought to fill and more or less getting other measurable metrics,” said Roger Rosena, another member of SGEU’s bargaining committee.

Going into the negotiations process, Rosena said current concerns include work hours in addition to stipends and wages. Members will also seek fair treatment in terms of payment benefits for employees, Scrivner said.

The survey’s questions reflect their concerns. Both surveys ask about employees’ current pay as well as the quality of childcare and overall support from the university they receive. SGEU also included a question asking about discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

The other SGEU committees — education, membership, communications and outreach and coalition — are working on improving organization within the union, Scrivner said.

“These committees that we’ve formed over the summer are really just to support a cohesive membership and knowing what’s happening through this bargaining process and getting their constant engagement and feedback,” Scrivner said.

To strengthen their outreach further, Mack said SGEU will hold office hours so that graduate workers can directly meet the bargaining committee to voice concerns or ask questions about the contract negotiations.

While the bargaining committee will represent all graduate student workers in contract negotiations with the university, Scrivner said the committee itself does not create the contract alone. Before negotiations begin, all committees and SGEU members will collaborate to compile a list of proposals and priorities that they will present to the university, she said.

As the bargaining committee prepares to meet with administrators, members are continuing to collect data to establish a consensus among members. Though SU and SGEU haven’t finalized an official start date for formal negotiation yet, SGEU is in scheduling talks with administrators.

“What we’re trying to do is get a better contract for everyone and just make sure that we’re getting fair treatment here,” Mack said.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that SGEU members would create a draft contract to present to SU administrations during negotiations. This was incorrect; members will compile a list of proposals and priorities to present to the university. The Daily Orange regrets this error. Updated August 28th at 1:30p.m.

Published on August 27, 2023 at 10:20 pm

Contact Roxanne: rmboychu@syr.edu