Local 1104 Graduate Student Employees Union Members Build on Recent Victories

University classes are back in session throughout the country, which means that our graduate workers in the State University of New York system - members of CWA Local 1104/Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU) - are ramping up their efforts to build stronger universities for workers and students!

Until recently, graduate workers across the SUNY system - who teach classes, grade papers, conduct research, and more - were forced to pay an average of 15% of their salaries back to the university in the form of mandatory fees. These included fees for things that many grad workers require in order to do their jobs, like labs and computers, creating a pay-to-work system that left many of our members living below the poverty line and forcing them to go to lengths such as selling blood plasma, sleeping in their cars, or dumpster diving for food in order to make ends meet.

GSEU-1104 members at every SUNY university have mounted strong campaigns over the last several years to eliminate these fees, through member mobilization, direct action at each university, and lobbying New York State elected officials to eliminate fees through State funding. And our members won. Earlier this year, State legislators agreed to a phase out of the SUNY grad worker fees over the next several years. Certain universities, including SUNY Binghamton, previously agreed after mobilization and pressure by our members, to eliminate grad worker fees, and with this year's legislative work, that will extend to all campuses.

As students and workers have headed back to campus for the 2023-2024 academic year, GSEU-1104 members have been working hard to make sure that all grad workers know about these recent victories and that they weren't just handed out by the universities - they were fought for and won through strong mobilization as well as political action. Members are now gearing up for their next contract bargaining, including a living wage campaign to ensure that all grad workers are paid fairly.

GSEU-1104 members at SUNY Albany gathered to discuss their Living Wage Campaign