From the Community | Graduate workers need an immediate and substantial raise

It’s about time we Stanford graduate workers get a raise.

The Stanford Graduate Workers Union (SGWU) has been negotiating with University administration for the last seven months over the contract on the working conditions of graduate student workers on campus. We have presented our economic demands to the University. One of our core demands is an immediate and substantial raise for all graduate workers.

Why we need a raise

A fact many graduate workers know all too well is that, even though Stanford stipends compare favorably with peer institutions in absolute terms, our graduate students are actually some of the most poorly compensated when adjusted for the high cost of living in the Bay Area. Stanford’s 2023-2024 Ph.D. stipend of $50,616 falls far short of Santa Clara County’s living wage of $68,619, as defined by MIT’s Living Wage Calculator for a single adult with no children. It also falls far short of Santa Clara County’s “Very Low Income Limit” (VLIL) of $64,550, established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

In fact, the difference between the VLIL and minimum stipend at Stanford is greater than virtually all comparable private institutions in the U.S. Minimum stipends at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University actually exceed their respective VLILs by 15%. This is not exceptional — at Johns Hopkins University, Yale University and Brown University, graduate workers’ minimum stipends exceed their VLILs by 10%, 18% and 25%, respectively. Even compared with institutions with a similarly high cost of living (Columbia University, for instance), the disparity between what graduate workers are paid and a living wage is still higher at Stanford.

Beyond the numbers, this reality is confirmed by the lived experiences of graduate workers: long lines at on-campus food pantry events, on-campus rent rising faster than salaries (exacerbated by inflation) and workers taking on additional jobs or relying on Emergency Grant-in-Aid Funds for basic necessities. In the months-long process of preparing our economic demands, SGWU members persistently vocalized their need for better compensation simply to live their lives with dignity and feel adequately supported as they accomplish their world-class research.

Stanford does not pay us what we deserve. Even Stanford’s own IR&DS survey in 2022 showed that a quarter of graduate workers experienced food insecurity due to a lack of income. A third avoided seeking medical care due to high costs, and three quarters experienced financial stress, according to the survey,

Further, these conditions disproportionately affect graduate workers from low-income or first-generation backgrounds, workers with disabilities and workers with dependents. The conclusion is evidently clear that nothing will be acceptable to graduate workers other than an immediate and substantial raise.

Why a raise is winnable

A substantial increase in compensation is not only needed, but eminently feasible to win. Between 2015 and 2021, while Stanford’s net assets and top executive pay increased by 66% and 67%, respectively, graduate worker compensation increased by only 33%. Stanford routinely receives growth on its $41 billion endowment at rates far exceeding growth in graduate worker salary. A raise in our pay is not only feasible, but an appropriate allocation of University resources if Stanford truly believes in its mission to provide world-class research and teaching — activities which are impossible without the labor of its graduate workers.

As members of SGWU, we call on Stanford to re-allocate its budget and pay us a living wage. Fair compensation is a win-win for everyone. It is essential to Stanford’s avowed mission to attract and retain world-class future scholars, teachers and researchers. Graduate workers like us are the indispensable foundation for the University’s teaching and research ambitions. We are the ones who mentor and teach  undergraduates, develop cutting-edge research protocols and drive new topics of study. However, we can only do so if we have what we need to live, which will require an immediate and substantial stipend increase.

In recent years, graduate worker unions have seen massive successes in winning substantial raises through collective bargaining agreements at peer institutions. Unions at UChicago and Northwestern recently ratified a 28% raise over the contract’s three-year term, with an immediate raise of 22% in the 2024-2025 academic year. Similarly, the union at Johns Hopkins University obtained a 40% raise in the minimum stipend. 

What we are demanding

In May, union members ratified SGWU’s economic platform with over 1650 affirmative votes. The platform asks the University to immediately raise the minimum stipend by 43.2% to $72,479, and to continue increasing the stipend in subsequent years based on inflation and rent cost. This proposal will free graduate workers from the burden of rent, food insecurity and other financial anxieties. They would instead be able to focus on the important work they came to Stanford to do. 

Additionally, our proposed economic articles contain provisions for tuition waivers and guaranteed 6-year funding for Ph.D. students. Typically, our advisors pay for Ph.D. students’ stipends, tuition and overhead costs. This creates stress for both students and advisors. Tuition remission and guaranteed funding, taken from the University’s provost funds, can prevent our pay raises from harming our advisors or constraining future Ph.D. cohort sizes. In the face of Stanford’s large endowment, the University, rather than our advisors or our departments, should carry the burden of our pay raises now and in the future.

How we win

We call on the University’s negotiating team to take our economic platform in the good-faith with which we have presented it and respect the economic needs of graduate workers. We hope for a quick bargaining process that leads to agreement on compensation satisfying the needs of graduate workers. However, if Stanford continues its stalling and intransigence at the bargaining table (which has been the norm since negotiations over non-economic terms started last November), we as graduate workers are prepared to take action to win this for ourselves.

Over the last year, thousands of us have mobilized through action meetings, rallies, votes and petitions to pressure Stanford, and we are prepared to continue escalation of these actions to secure our demands. The wins of unions at UChicago, Northwestern and Johns Hopkins (all three unions are also affiliated with SGWU’s national union, the United Electrical Workers, or UE) were achieved through pressure exerted by the student workers, not as a gift from the universities.

In all of these cases, the large pay raises were secured by a majority of the union members signing a pledge to go on strike if their demands were not met at the bargaining table. We, as Stanford graduate workers, are prepared to take the necessary steps to exert similar pressure on the University if they are not willing to treat us with the respect we deserve.

We encourage all graduate workers who want to join our fight in this process to attend our weekly union area and Contract Action Team meetings. Together, we will win!

Emily Chen is a Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering. Ocean Zhou is a second-year Ph.D. student in applied physics. Suyash Raj is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and part of SGWU’s Bargaining Committee.

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