UNION FAQs
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The big question: Why?
A union is the single best thing we can do to improve our workplace. With a union, we could win:
- Fair and equitable pay and benefits
- A safe and equitable workplace
- Protections and benefits specific to international students
- A reasonable expectation of work and guaranteed pay for the all work do
and anything else we, the members of the union, feel is in our best interest.
"I want a union because..."
Union Glossary
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Affiliation - when a prospective bargaining unit agrees to organize under a regional / national / international labor organization; if the bargaining unit elects to form a union, that union becomes a local chapter of the larger labor organization with which they’ve agreed to affiliate
Authorization Card - a form voluntarily signed by a worker stating the worker’s consent to be represented by a union for the purpose of collective bargaining; gathering signatures in this way is our first major step toward winning a union–if at least 30% of workers in our prospective bargaining unit sign their authorization card, we can hold a union election
Bargaining Unit - a group of co-workers with sufficient shared interest to constitute a unit for the purpose of bargaining collectively; the size of a bargaining unit is typically determined by presenting a case to the state or national labor relations board
Canvassing - talking individually to each member of the bargaining unit to convey or gather information, or plan for united action
Card Drive - having members of our potential bargaining unit sign cards which indicate their support for a union vote. The legal minimum of signed cards is 30% of the bargaining unit to trigger an official vote, but we would try to get much more than this (60-70%) before filing for an election
Certified Union - a union certified by a state or national labor relations board, typically after a card check or election in which 50% plus one of the workers in the prospective bargaining unit elects to form a union
Collective Bargaining - a process in which the union and the employer negotiate employment conditions (such as salary and benefits) for a designated period of time (e.g., six months); both parties to collective bargaining are required to negotiate in good faith
Dues - basic fees that employees pay to their union (typically through a payroll deduction) to support its operations and enjoy full union benefits; exact dues amounts are set by the union and may be a flat fee or a percentage of pay (UAW's dues, for example are 1.44% which starts only after a bargaining contract is ratified.)
Good Faith Bargaining - the legally-required process by which the union and the employer negotiate a collective bargaining agreement; “good faith” means that both parties agree to meet at a reasonable time and place and demonstrate a willingness to reach a collective bargaining agreement
Labor Organization - a regional, national, or international organization representing unionized workers within a particular industry; major labor organizations in the United States include the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), United Auto Workers (UAW) and many others
Labor Organizer - a representative of the labor organization with which a prospective bargaining unit chooses to affiliate, who assists and guides workers through the organizing process
Majority Status - achieved when 50% plus one of the workers in a prospective bargaining unit have voluntarily signed their authorization card or voted “yes” in a union election
Strike - a planned action where workers withhold their labor for the purpose of improving their working conditions (higher wages, better hours, more safety precautions, etc.) or protesting unfair labor practices
Union - a group of workers acting together to represent their own best interests to their
employer
Local union - a local workers’ union affiliated with one of the many larger labor organizations; for example, some Penn State workers are already represented by the local chapter (No. 8) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (AKA, “the Teamsters”)
Union Contract - a written agreement between the union and the employer that addresses matters such as wages, hours, working conditions, benefits, rights of workers in the union, and dispute/grievance procedures
Union Election - a vote that is taken of all members of the prospective bargaining unit to determine if the union will be formed; a vote of “yes” from 50% plus one of workers is needed to certify the union
Union Basics
A union is a group of workers who come together to improve their workplace by advocating for positive changes to their workplace and solidifying those changes in a legally binding contract.
GPSA does amazing work and we admire them for their tireless efforts. Unfortunately, GPSA and any other union-affiliated advocacy organization are granted the ability to operate by Penn State. Administration can choose to listen or not listen as they see fit.
A union on the other hand, derives power from labor law and from our strength as workers standing in solidarity. As such, Penn State would be legally required to bargain in good faith with us, and we would have additional legalprotections as officially unionized workers
The reason we want a union is to get a contract. A union contract is a legally binding agreement between an employer (Penn State) and the members of a union. The contract is where we could see benefits, increased wages, etc.
Some example contracts are:
Broadly, the steps to unionizing are:
1) Build support / affiliate
Build relationships with both our coworkers and a union. We don't yet know which union we would affiliate with. It could be SEIU, PSEA, UAW, IWW, etc.
2) Card Drive
Physical cards are handed out by CGE to as many graduate workers as we can to determine their support for a union vote. The minimum for a vote to take place is 30% of the potential bargaining unit. Ideally however, we'd have 60% or more of the bargaining unit with signed cards before moving on.
3) File with the PLRB
After a successful card drive, we file for a union vote with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB). The PLRB then looks into the case, determines the actual bargaining unit (after hearing arguments from us and Penn State as to who should be included), and sets a date for the union election.
4) Campaign and vote
Once an election date is set, we campaign as hard as we can to make sure graduate students know that a union is in their best interest. To win the election, we need a simple majority of votes cast (50%+1)
5) Elect a bargaining committee
Once we have a union, members vote to decide who will be on our bargaining committee. This is the group of CGE members (i.e. graduate workers) who will represent our interests in negotiations with Penn State administrators.
6) Bargaining committee survey
Once the bargaining committee has been elected, they will survey members to determine what issues are most important to them and to ensure everyone's voice has been heard before going into bargaining.
7) Contract negotiation
Lastly, we enter contract negotiation. This is the primary point of unionizing: to get a contract. The bargaining committee, along with help from the union we've affiliated with, will negotiate over specifics of the contract. If administration does not bargain in good faith or will not give in to the demands of CGE members, we have a legally protected right to withhold our labor (go on strike).
8) Contract ratification
Finally, union membership votes whether to approve the contract or not. If the contract is not approved, we go back to negotiation.
Union dues are funds collected from every member of a union. These dues pay for office space, professional union organizers, lawyers to assist in writing our collective bargaining agreement, a strike fund, other organizing resources, etc. Employers often like to use dues as a point of union busting efforts, but it's important to note
The benefits we would receive from being unionized would far exceed the dues it costs for membership.
As an example, the University of Michigan grad student union's dues are 1.65% of their pay, but in their 2020 contract they won a 10.3% raise over 3 years.
Dues are just one of the ways we engage in collective action. In contributing a portion of their pay to the union, we grow the amount of resources we have, thus growing our power and leverage to get the things we deserve as workers.
When we file for an election, we will specify which employees are in the bargaining unit. This is not set in stone, and the PLRB has the final say on who is included. We will make the case that anyone enrolled in a post-graduate degree program who is paid for work they do at PSU is part of our “community of interest” and should therefore be represented by our union. This will absolutely include teaching and research assistants. In the past however, the PLRB has determined graduate workers supported by fellowship would not be in our bargaining unit, but that decision is not necessarily fixed and we can and will argue to include as many workers as we can in our unit.
According to data provided by Penn State to the Department of Education, there were approximately 4500 graduate assistants (teaching and research assistants) last year, and we are using that as a rough estimate.
No. While we would all be represented by the union, you would not have to be a member of CGE. In the past, workers who were represented by a union but not part of that union could be charged "fair-share" fees to make up for the fact they were benefiting from a collective bargaining agreement, but not contributing dues. This practice was however overturned by the Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME. Because of this, getting graduate workers to support and join the union will be critical to ensure we have the resources necessary to secure a powerful contract.
Union Busting and Your Rights
A union will give graduate workers the power to win things like higher wages, better benefits, and more protections. Those things are expensive for the university, so they will try to obstruct our union at every turn. Moreover, allowing a grad student union to exist at Penn State would mean they no longer have complete control in determining how the university operates. Since they don't want to cede that power, they will fight against a union effort.
We know this because they’ve done it before. CGE organized a unionization vote in 2018 and PSU administration used the tricks described below to convince a large number of graduate employees to vote against the union. Now that we've seen their tactics, we can prepare for them.
Because the administration has a significant financial interest in the outcome of the future union vote, they will invest a staggering amount of money and effort into what is called “union-busting.” That term refers to any action taken by management (in our case, university administration) to prevent the union from forming. There is a well-known collection of tactics they are almost guaranteed to employ:
- They will hire lawyers and union-busting consultants
- They will spread misinformation about the union
- They will try to turn graduate employees against one another
- They will direct figures of authority in the various departments to hold mandatory meetings where they will express anti-union rhetoric
The university will produce a large amount of anti-union messaging. They will try to convince graduate employees to vote against the union by telling us that
- We don’t need a “third party” to represent us
- They listen to our complaints already
- Unionizing will make things worse for us
One of the most frustrating tactics we expect is for the administration simply to delay, delay, delay. Time is in their favor because by the nature of our employment, there is a high rate of turnover. Furthermore, the longer they can draw out the process, the more frustrating and demoralizing our campaign will be.
No! To break it down:
- "We don't need a 'third party' to represent us" - We are the union! It is true that we would be affiliated with an established union. They will provide resources like lawyers, organizing staff, etc., but the contract we negotiate for will be written by us, and agreed on democratically.
- "They listen to our complaints already" - While there are currently various channels of communication between graduate employees and the administration, any of those can be closed at any time by the university, and none of them give us the legal power to compel the university to act in our interests.
- "Unionizing will make things worse for us" - Any contract we win would be democratically agreed upon by all of us. Why would we vote to make things worse for any of us?
Generally yes, but it depends. Administration will be guided by an extremely expensive legal team guiding them right up to the line of what is considered allowable. We are also in a gray area in terms of what are considered unfair labor practices (ULPs) which are legal complaints made to the PLRB. However, there are still limits to what they can do and say, and any union we affiliate with would take care of us and be prepared to take Penn State to court to defend our rights.
Ultimately, the truth is we have a legally protected right to unionize, and cannot be retaliated against for exercising that right.
It is illegal for any employer to retaliate against workers for union activity, as stated by the National Labor Relations Act. You cannot be disciplined in any way, cannot be asked about your support for a union, and cannot be threatened or promised with changes in your working conditions, privileges, or benefits.
The most important step in combating the administration’s anti-union rhetoric is to anticipate it. If every graduate employee knows what to expect and why what the administration tells us isn’t true, then their tactics will have no power. If the administration does go too far and breaks the law, we can report what are called an Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Administration will devote a huge amount of time and money to union-busting, but the law is on our side and together we can win!
International Students
Absolutely! If you are an employee in the U.S., U.S. labor law applies to you, regardless of your home country and the type of visa that you hold. Graduate employees have been forming unions for decades and no campus union has reported complications from being both an international student and a member of a graduate union. Discrimination based on union membership is illegal in the United States. For more information, Brown has a very helpful FAQ.
No. It is illegal for Customs and Immigration to ask about union activity or membership during visa applications. Additionally, to quote Brown University's Graduate Labor Organization: "In nearly 40 years of graduate employee unionization, there is no reported instance of any international student having problems with the law or with their visa status as the result of their union activity."
University administrators often make thinly-veiled threats about international students' visas. This is not just despicable but doing so would be a violation of labor law. To reiterate, across all US graduate unionization efforts, there is not a single reported case of any international student losing their visa for organizing.
International student workers face the impacts of Penn State’s policies even more so than other graduate students. International student workers’ are often not allowed to work outside of their graduate stipend while also having to spend time and resources on the visa process. Other graduate union contracts have been able to provide benefits for international student workers, and we would bargain to do the same. Here are examples from other graduate unions:
- Rehiring graduate workers if they cannot enter the country for a prolonged period of time because of immigration (Georgetown)
- Protection of the private information of undocumented students (Georgetown)
- Provide legal support, a list of immigration attorneys, and paid legal aid (UMass Amherst)
- The reimbursement of work authorization fees (UMass Amherst, Oregon State University)
- All graduate unions follow an independent grievance procedure for contract violations.
What if we win?
No. No grad worker salary has ever decreased after unionization. Additionally, a union is democratic! We would not vote for a contract that lowers anyone's salary or negatively impacts them in any way. Some workers might not experience as much of a raise, but generally pay would increase and there would be more pay equity and transparency across the university.
No. Unions are democratic and any strike would have to be voted for by us, the union members, with a supermajority vote. Strikes are a last resort and would be called for only after all other negotiations have failed. Strikes are also a legally protected action under labor law (in our case, the Public Employee Relations Act, or PERA).
