FAQs

We are a group of graduate workers / Academic Student Employees (ASEs) from various departments across the University of Alaska campuses. As grad employees we do a substantial amount of the work that makes the University of Alaska a world-class institution, but we have no representation and find that the support we receive often doesn’t match the value of our contributions.  By forming a union we are seeking to negotiate as equals with the University of Alaska administration over wages, benefits, and conditions that affect equity and the quality of teaching and research.  

We have affiliated with UAW (International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America) to help us successfully bargain as a union. UAW is one of the largest and most diverse unions in North America. Over 100,000 employees in higher education have already chosen to join UAW, including Academic Student Employees at the University of Washington, University of California, Columbia University, and more.

By affiliating with UAW, we are able to draw on their legal and institutional resources as we establish our union and bargain for our contracts.

We will not pay union dues until after we’ve successfully bargained and democratically ratified our first contract.  At that point each individual student employee can decide whether or not to become a dues-paying member.  Dues will be an important source of power for us, and are independent resources that support our work (unlike, say, student fees which are controlled by the University of Alaska administration).  Union members democratically decide how union dues are spent, and create accountability: we all can and should decide whether the value of a collective bargaining agreement is worth union dues.

UAW membership dues are 1.44% of gross income.  At the University of Washington, wages for unionized student employees have increased by well over 30% in the past 10 years, whereas here at the University of Alaska wages have barely increased and other out of pocket expenses (for health care, student fees, etc.) have increased. ASEs with extra financial costs—parents, caregivers, international students—receive little if any support. Arguably, we have paid more as a result of not having the power that comes with a union. 

As a worker in the US, you have the right to vote in unionization elections, participate in union activities, and speak in favor (or against!) a union. Discrimination against employees because of their union activities/sympathies is against the law. In fact, tens of thousands of international student workers nationwide have actively and visibly participated in their unionization efforts and none have reported retaliation.

There are several international students on our Organizing Committee who have loudly and proudly expressed their support for a union and worked to create one for graduate workers at UA. If you have any concerns or problems, please contact us at organize(dot)agwa@gmail(dot)com.

Our Bargaining Committee  (BC) (formed with roughly representative proportion of members from each college/campus) develops 'proposals' about each issue, using proposed and/or approved portions of CBAs from other academic and graduate student unions as references and to develop the 'legalese' for the proposal. The BC then meets with the Universities' BC and both teams share their proposals on the issues. Each team then 'caucuses' separately to discuss the others' proposal and make adjustments to their own proposal or language that they find reasonable or acceptable. Then repeat! After a few rounds of this, hopefully both BCs agree on the proposal and put it into the "Tentative Agreement" or "TA" category. Once TA has been reached for all issues, the proposed CBA is sent out to all AGWA-UAW members for approval by majority vote!

It is hard to say. In Alaska, collective bargaining agreements for public sector unions (like ours) need to be approved by the legislature. For a contract we negotiate to take effect with the 2024/25 school year we would therefore need to get a collective bargaining agreement to the legislature by mid-March 2024. This is a very fast turn around as we are beginning bargaining in January, but we are planning to work very hard to try to bargain a good contract in that time.  However, if negotiations take longer than that, as they often do with a first contract, we would continue bargaining into the summer and, potentially, fall. In doing so, our negotiations might overlap with the next round of faculty union negotiations, which potentially could be to our advantage. 

In either case,  the larger the majority of us who support and actively participate in the negotiation actions, the more leverage we have to negotiate good contract provisions and do so in a timely manner!

The university already sets policies (including pay and other minimums) for graduate student employment that all departments must adhere to (see here for UAF and here for UAA). Many departments choose to supplement pay or other benefits but cannot violate established University policy.  If we can bargain with the University administration as equals, we would review these current policies and decide collectively what we think could be improved or what should stay the same.  We could also maintain the flexibility departments have to, for example, pay grad workers more. This is how most Academic Student Employee contracts are structured, because most Academic Student Employees wouldn’t vote for a contract that results in losses to their current situations.  

This can make a big difference in our compensation, as many unionized campuses' minimums are far above what even the highest paid graduate worker at UA makes. For example, at the University of Washington (where graduate workers have been unionized for over 30 years), the minimum pay rate for a Premaster student is $2664/month and for a PhD candidate is $3076/month (for the academic year at 50% FTE)–more than even the highest paid departments at UA. But departments have the flexibility to pay more than the established minimums, and many do (see this chart). We’re stronger together! 

We will democratically decide on the terms of employment that most benefit our ability to perform research at a high level. Recent contracts negotiated by other UAW academic unions have emphasized protections against excessive workload while allowing flexibility to allow for maximal productivity. For example, the contract for ASEs at the University of Washington protects against excessive workload by setting an hourly limit to the amount of work that may be assigned, but allows work assignments for Research Assistants to exceed their hourly limit if that work contributes to their dissertation project.  UW grant revenue has significantly increased over time while ASEs have been able to protect themselves against doing work that slows their time to degree.

Hopefully not! The decision to strike (like all others within the union) is democratically made, and requires a ⅔ majority to be authorized.  But any individual does not have to join the strike and we would engage in a process to determine a strategy that would permit maximum participation.

Awesome! Send us your name and email at organize(dot)agwa@gmail(dot)com and we'll be in touch.