In a March 6 social media post, the SEIU 509 Tufts University Graduate Workers Union shared that the Departments of English, Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry all attempted to violate the union’s contract this year.
The union wrote that the BME department’s violation attempt came from requiring workers to submit paid-time-off requests that had already been approved by their supervisors. The union also alleged that graduate workers in the department were being forced to submit PTO requests for work-related travel.
Ph.D. student Grace Evans, a steward and worker within the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, noted that many graduate workers are students and family members who are entitled to paid time off as outlined in their contract.
Other key grievances included delaying or incorrectly administering pay to graduate workers in the English department and creating an unsafe work environment by keeping rooms in the Pearson Chemical Lab below 60 degrees in the winter.
Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations at Tufts, addressed why issues with graduate worker pay and PTO requests arose by pointing to “a relatively new” collective bargaining agreement.
“The implementation of a relatively new collective bargaining agreement often involves an initial period of adjustment, as both parties work through how newly negotiated language operates in practice,” Collins wrote in a statement to the Daily. “During this phase, issues sometimes arise that are either outside the scope of the CBA, not fully anticipated during negotiations or subject to differing interpretations of existing language.”
CBAs outline the terms and conditions between a union and their employer. Tufts graduate workers are currently in their second CBA, ratified in 2023 and expiring in 2028.
Evans refuted Collins’ statement that issues with graduate workers’ ability to take PTO were due to an adjustment period for the contract.
“I really don’t see the relationship between the ‘recent contract ratification’ and the issues that have emerged in the BME department,” Evans said. “Something that we’re dealing with as stewards is a tendency for certain administrators to willingly or oftentimes unknowingly spread misinformation about the union, or blame the union for issues that come up.”
Evans also shared that challenges in applying for PTO in the biomedical engineering department have led to delays in booking travel, which resulted in higher prices for graduate students.
In their recent social media post, stewards conveyed that issues with PTO and pay had been resolved.
Stewards pressured the BME department to clarify their travel policy in writing which confirmed that department administrators have no role in approving PTO requests and that there is no requirement to use PTO for work-related travel.
Stewards also launched a grievance regarding low temperatures in Pearson and corrected pay for graduate workers in the English department.
The union is also actively working on several other projects, which include ending staffing cuts to the Center for STEM Diversity and using the union’s Arbitration Provision in an attempt to gain back pay that has been withheld from some graduate workers.
Back pay is unpaid compensation which can occur when workers are being paid according to the rates of expired contracts or the absence of a contract at all.
In late 2024, graduate workers at the School of Engineering at Tufts joined the union which previously just included graduate workers from the School of Arts and Sciences. As a result, Evans argued that workers within the School of Engineering should receive back pay at their higher rate for time worked prior to joining the union.
Beyond addressing worker-related issues, the union has also hosted wider-scope events related to safety at protests.
“One of the things I’m proud of is that, over the last year, the Graduate Workers Union has hosted three different protest safety trainings which were attended by our fellow union members, but also by undergraduate staff [and] other folks in the community,” Evans said.
Evans also echoed the key role graduate workers play within the Tufts community.
“I think that grad workers do provide a really valuable service to Tufts University in being both the instructors for a ton of undergraduate classes as well as the folks in the trenches doing a lot of the work in our various labs, all while wearing multiple hats: teacher, researcher [and] student,” Evans said.
Collins reiterated Tufts’ commitment to working with its unions to resolve issues in good faith.
“Tufts remains committed to a collegial, respectful, and constructive relationship with its unions and seeks to administer contract language consistently and in accordance with the CBA,” Collins wrote. “As with any complex labor agreement, reasonable differences in interpretation may occur, and operational realities may require management to clarify or enforce provisions that function differently than past informal practices.”
