On Oct. 2, more than 60 graduate workers and students from Northeastern University marched across campus, urging President Aoun and the administration to negotiate a fair contract with the Graduate Employees of Northeastern University (GENU), which is part of the United Auto Workers union (UAW). The union, representing roughly 3,000 graduate workers, has been pushing for better wages, benefits, and working conditions since last year. The marchers chanted slogans, carried handmade signs, and made their way across campus from Centennial Common to the doors of the EXP building, where they posted their demands and personal messages calling for a good-faith negotiation process.

Their demands include a living wage, comprehensive dental and vision insurance, and additional protections for vulnerable groups, such as graduate workers with dependents and international students. Other demands involve protections against workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, concerns that graduate workers argue have not been adequately addressed by the administration.

GENU-UAW has also received widespread support from other unions and organizations, both on and off-campus. SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 509, which represents adjunct faculty, and Unite Here Local 26, the dining hall workers union, have been key allies in the fight. Additionally, student groups like Huskies Organizing With Labor (HOWL) have shown strong support, understanding that the working conditions of graduate workers directly affect the learning environment at Northeastern.

Jack Rubien, an organizer from the MIT Graduate Student Union (MIT-GSU) Local 256, spoke at the rally, drawing on his experience from a similar struggle at MIT. Rubien emphasized the importance of solidarity and collective action in the fight for better working conditions. “Mass participation strikes win contracts,” he explained. “Solidarity has an immeasurable benefit on morale. Battles with university admin are long and require grit, determination, and unyielding hope."

Rubien’s testimony similarly resonated with the rally’s organizers, who saw the event as a way to energize their own graduate worker community. “We wanted the rally to drive energy to our community of grad workers,” said the GENU-UAW Organizing Committee. “A year ago, we won our election by a landslide after years of tough organizing work, and we can and will achieve similar success in our contract campaign.”

The GENU-UAW Organizing Committee noted that the administration has been slow to engage in meaningful negotiations, despite 14 bargaining sessions. “The administration has been stubborn in refusing to consider many of our proposals,” the Organizing Committee shared. “They’ve tried to push us to accept an insulting package proposal that offers grad workers less than the current status quo in many departments.” Despite these challenges, GENU workers have consistently attended events in large numbers, such as during an August bargaining session where over 100 graduate workers attended to submit their full contract proposal. 

After the October rally, GENU-UAW plans to continue applying pressure through a petition campaign. The petition calls for a fair contract and will be delivered to the administration and President Aoun's office. “We will continue showing the strength of our numbers….by collecting grad worker signatures in support of our petition [for] a fair contract now,” the GENU-UAW Organizing Committee said, highlighting the importance of collective action in driving further concessions from the university. “We will ultimately deliver this petition to the university administration and President Aoun’s office. By continuing to escalate and demonstrate the sheer strength of our internal campus community support from the workers we represent, we aim to further move the university to accept our proposed contract language and provide workers the rights we have been fighting for over the course of our nine-year campaign,” said the Organizing Committee.

As the contract negotiations continue, GENU has made it clear that they are prepared to escalate their efforts if necessary, including the possibility of organizing strikes. Their message is clear: graduate workers are an indispensable part of Northeastern University, and they deserve a fair contract.