What to Know
- Striking graduate student teaching and research assistants reached a tentative agreement with Temple University, putting them on the verge of finally ending a walkout that has lasted longer than a month.
- TUGSA, which represents about 750 members, began the first strike in its two-decade-long history on Jan. 31 after more than a year of negotiations and no agreement. The students teach core undergraduate courses and assist professors with research.
- While replying to their announcement Thursday night on twitter, the union said they made “meaningful, material gains on every major issue we set out to address in bargaining,” including wages, dependent care, leave policies and working conditions. Union members will vote on the agreement on Friday.
Striking graduate student teaching and research assistants reached a tentative agreement with Temple University, putting them on the verge of finally ending a walkout that has lasted longer than a month.
The Temple University Graduate Students Association (TUGSA), the labor union for teaching and research assistants at Temple in Philadelphia, tweeted the announcement Thursday night. Union members will vote on the agreement on Friday.
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TUGSA, which represents about 750 members, began the first strike in its two-decade-long history on Jan. 31 after more than a year of negotiations and no agreement. The students teach core undergraduate courses and assist professors with research.
The university has said about 20% of graduate student teaching and research assistants have not continued to work, but the union said at least twice that many were on strike. Many classes were moved online to accommodate new instructors’ schedules and following reports of intimidation of students and instructors, the university said.
Temple has withdrawn free tuition from the strikers, giving them a month to pay in full or face a late fee and a financial hold that would bar them from registering for more classes. Union leaders have said the university has also been deactivating striking students’ health care accounts.
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Late February, the union overwhelmingly rejected a proposed new contract which Temple said included wage increases in each of the contract's four years, as well as a one-time payment. The announcement on the university’s website said graduate students would retain free health insurance for themselves but didn’t mention insurance for dependents, which the union has sought.
The union was seeking to raise average pay from $19,500 a year to more than $32,000, while the university is offering 3% raises that would result in average pay of about $22,000 over the four-year contract. The strikers also want health care coverage for dependents and longer paid parental leave and bereavement leave.
While replying to their announcement Thursday night on twitter, the union said they made “meaningful, material gains on every major issue we set out to address in bargaining,” including wages, dependent care, leave policies and working conditions.
