In an historic win, Emory University graduate students have voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing as EmoryUnite! under the umbrella of the Service Employees’ International Union (SEIU). That makes them Georgia’s first private university student-worker union. They’re the second at a private university in the South, after Duke University grad students unionized on Aug. 22.
With 92% of Emory grad students who voted choosing to unionize, EmoryUnite! representatives say they’re hopeful that the landslide victory will lead to swift contract negotiations with Emory’s leadership.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released the election results on Nov. 24. Out of 983 graduate student-workers voting, 909 voted to unionize. Emory has 1,722 graduate student-workers overall.
That decisive win is a culmination of over two years of organizing by EmoryUnite! That organizing work includes multiple meetings, rallies, and a year-long union card drive to drum up support for EmoryUnite! leaders David Meer and Nathan Goldberg told Atlanta Civic Circle.
“We got a huge W. I thought maybe we’d get like 80% [of the vote] – and like 500 people to show up,” said Meer, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in physics who co-chairs EmoryUnite! “But we just completely blew that out of the water. More than half of the entire grad student body showed up.”
Preparations for Negotiation
Now the newly unionized grad students are putting together a bargaining committee to begin contract negotiations with Emory, Meer said. EmoryUnite! has stated broadly that members want a living wage, fair compensation for the many jobs they do on campus, better working conditions, and affordable healthcare.
They’re hoping that the strong turnout and decisive union win will lead to smooth negotiations. “When we come to the table, Emory will have to listen to us because it’s almost unanimous support,” he said.
When asked for comment, an Emory spokesperson pointed to a Nov. 28 letter to the student body from Emory Provost Ravi Bellamkonda that signals the university will negotiate with the new union, rather than try and stall contract negotiations.
“I would like to thank all of you who engaged in this process for making your voices heard,” Bellamkonda wrote. “Emory respects the outcome of the vote, and we are committed to bargaining in good faith with the union as your representative, consistent with our mission, vision and values.”
Next steps
EmoryUnite! aims to begin negotiations in the upcoming spring semester, with the hope of quickly landing a contract, Meer said. “We’re going to be putting together our committees and mapping things out early next year. The optimistic goal is to have a contract next fall.”
They’re hoping to get their due diligence and other preparations done fast. Right now, they’re assembling a bargaining committee made up of 20 to 30 grad student-workers of diverse backgrounds, ages, and fields of study.
The bargaining committee along with other EmoryUnite! members will catalogue the differences in job descriptions, duties, and workloads for different types of graduate student-workers.
“The differences between [fields of study] are sometimes framed as ‘this is the different training you need for your professional career.’ In reality, what that does is obfuscate the actual labor demands that graduate students are fulfilling,” said Goldberg, a third-year art history Ph.D. candidate.
Goldberg added that cataloging the duties and workload for grad student-workers is very important. It shows that graduate students are vital employees to the Emory ecosystem, not just people training for their careers.
With this advance preparation and Emory’s indication that it will negotiate with the union, contract negotiations may move more quickly than at other schools in similar situations.
Immediate Benefits
For context on the timeline, Duke University grad students haven’t landed a contract yet, after voting to unionize in late August. But they’ve already claimed a couple of wins on their official union website during the bargaining process, such as an increase in their base stipend to $38,000 per year, an increase from $34,660 in 2022, and cheaper parking on campus.
EmoryUnite! is also looking to achieve some tangible benefits before finalizing its contract with Emory, Goldberg said.
For example, Emory’s graduate students immediately gained Weingarten rights when the NLRB certified their union election. That’s a big deal, Goldberg said, because these rights allow graduate students to request support from a union representative if they’re called into a meeting with an advisor or supervisor.
“This is a first tangible result,” said Goldberg, explaining that these rights are meant to protect employees from coercive tactics and the possibility of undue disciplinary action. “We’ve had victories in the past like [union] card signing and getting the election scheduled, but people ask ‘what’s in it for me?’ This one matters to everyone. Immediately.”