MIT Graduate Assistants Approve Union Bid

Graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology voted, 1,785 to 912, to form a union affiliated with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, they announced Wednesday. Broad organizing campaign issues include affordable housing, equal protections for international students and workplace climate and safety. Prior to the union election, organizers successfully campaigned for an increase in the annual number of approved mental health sessions from 12 to 52 and a reduction in visit copay fees.

MIT chancellor Melissa Nobles and Ian A. Waitz, vice chancellor of undergraduate and graduate education, said in a memo following the election that 75 percent of the 3,823 eligible graduate students cast ballots, with 66 percent voting in favor of unionization. “We are grateful to the many members of our community, on all sides of the debate, who have engaged constructively and respectfully in this conversation,” they continued. “In light of the outcome of this vote, in the coming months, MIT’s representatives expect to meet with [union] leaders to begin good-faith negotiations over the terms and conditions of employment for the members of this bargaining unit.”