On Friday, Sept. 11, Tufts University facilities workers, represented by 32BJ Service Employees International Union, reached a tentative bargaining agreement with the university. The agreement addresses a number of concerns raised by the workers, including wage increases, improved paid time off, new opportunities for groundskeepers and protection of workers on leave for immigration-related issues.
The agreement came eight days after the workers held a Sept. 3 rally on the Medford campus. The rally was attended by elected officials, labor groups and community members, and it concluded with a unanimous vote by the Medford 32BJ SEIU members to authorize a potential strike if necessary. This step had already been taken several days prior by workers on other Tufts campuses in a move intended to put pressure on Tufts rather than secure an immediate deal.
The tentative agreement and strike-authorization vote followed nearly a dozen meetings between members of the university bargaining committee and union representatives. Initial meetings had failed to produce meaningful progress on a new contract.
The provisional agreement will now go before the entire facilities workers’ union for a formal vote of ratification.
In a press release provided to the Daily, Franklin Soults, regional communications manager for 32BJ, explained that the union had hoped to achieve lower health insurance costs, increased wages and access to the 32BJ Legal Services Fund, which gives members low-cost legal help pertaining to civil and immigration issues.
Workers reported that they have struggled to make ends meet in the face of inflation and stagnant wages. “The cost of everything is going up: food, rent, gas, childcare…and everything else goes up except for our wages,” Jackson Francois, a maintenance mechanic at Tufts, said.
Jason LaBrie, a locksmith at Tufts, added that the university had previously proposed incremental, sub-1% wage increases, despite facilities workers at Tufts paying healthcare premiums roughly 14% higher than peer institutions.
Before reaching a preliminary agreement, speakers at the rally expressed frustration at Tufts’ refusal to increase wages despite a $29 million budget surplus last year. “How many multi-million-dollar buildings do you have to build and say that you can't afford to pay us a decent wage?” LaBrie questioned.
Medford and Somerville city council members planned to put pressure on the university by attending the rally and passing resolutions in both cities supporting Tufts facilities workers.
“In Medford, we do not get our fair share from Tufts for the services that we provide to them. We, our taxpayers, subsidize Tufts to the tune of millions of dollars a year, and you know who else does? Workers here at Tufts,” Zac Bears, Medford city council president, said.
Referring to the possibility of a strike, Bears pledged solidarity, saying that he would “walk that picket line with them.”
At the end of the rally, facilities workers voted unanimously on the Medford/Somerville campus to authorize a strike. “We need to remind Tufts that we are serious,” Francois said.
Facilities workers at the Tufts University School of Medicine and School of the Museum of Fine Arts had also voted unanimously to authorize a strike earlier in the week.
LaBrie felt that the strike authorization “definitely sent a message to the university.” Following the rally, union representatives and the university engaged in off-the-record meetings before coming to an agreement.
Initially, LaBrie expressed concerns about the lack of progress in on-the-record negotiations. “Our guys are poised to strike, and you know, we will have to do what we have to do,” he said.
In preparation for a potential strike, facilities workers conducted practice pickets at the School of Medicine campus, with potential plans to organize practice pickets on the Medford/Somerville campus by the end of this week, if a deal or significant progress had not been made.
However, by late last Friday, a provisional agreement was reached.
Patrick Keith, a Tufts electrician and union steward, thanked the university for the haste with which they moved to make this agreement happen. He also expressed gratitude for everyone who showed up to the Sept. 3 rally, especially union members from MIT, who Keith wrote, “made a big difference in helping us reach this outcome.”
Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations at Tufts, had previously asserted that Tufts remained committed to bargaining in good faith, adding that the university had been preparing for a potential work stoppage. He declined to comment following the tentative agreement, adhering to university policy not to comment on negotiations until formal ratification.
Kevin Brown, 32BJ SEIU executive vice president, emphasized the greater significance of the agreement.
“Now, we call on other higher ed employers to heed Tufts’ example and promptly agree to fair contracts for the workers who keep their campuses running every day,” Brown wrote in a press release.
