WE ARE VGWU-UAW
We are graduate workers forming a union in order to improve our research and working conditions at Vanderbilt University. Our labor drives the teaching and research mission of Vanderbilt, but we lack secure rights and protections in the workplace, struggle to afford housing and other basic expenses, and face increasing insecurity.
By joining together to form a union, we will gain more rights and a more powerful voice in the institution. We look forward to joining over 100,000 other unionized academic workers who have negotiated legally-binding contracts that make institutions of higher education more equitable and sustainable.
I support the graduate workers union because we do vital work as graduate students within the university, and we all deserve a say in the university’s decisions that affect our day to day lives. Forming a union allows us to strengthen our collective voice on campus and negotiate a union contract so we can create lasting changes in our working environments in higher education, including increased stipend amounts, better health insurance, and fair grievance procedures.
Because I strongly believe improving grad students’ working and living conditions is crucial to making academia accessible and inclusive. Vanderbilt and all higher education institutions will benefit from happier and healthier grad students who have a union consistently looking out for their rights and wellbeing.
We teach the classes, do the research, run the seminars, lead department events, help recruit new grads, and do the other work that makes VU work. This university works because we do. We therefore deserve to have a permanent seat at the table with the administration to advocate for the best working conditions possible.