The NMSU Graduate Workers Union is awaiting a response from the university's administration after the union delivered an Intent to Bargain letter to Interim President Dr. Mónica Torres. Chief Domestic Steward for the union Alexander Allison led the group as they marched to hand deliver their requests.
“We have five main main priorities that the members have ratified. Those include more tuition (assistance), a pay raise, centralized job posting hub for assistantships, paid time off, and benefits," Allison said.
The union says that many of the estimated 900 graduate workers on campus struggle to make ends meet and hope to be more fairly compensated for their work. Graduate worker Ezra Huscher agrees with this idea.
“There is no 9-5 situation for a grad student. It’s something where you might be working late into the night to finish your work, so it's really important that we are not so worried about how the bills are being paid because it can be a 70 hour week sometimes," Huscher said.
Many at the rally say that NMSU has been lagging behind other universities when it comes to graduate worker pay. In a statement, NMSU said, “As always, NMSU is supportive of our students. The work done by our graduate assistants is valuable to our mission. We look forward to continuing our conversations as part of the collective bargaining process.”
This is far from the first time NMSU and graduate workers have disagreed on compensation but the union says they are hopeful that the negotiations will go well.
“In the past they have been very cagey, they have locked the doors on us and we have had a hard time trying to find folks to deliver this stuff too and overall not showing a very high willingness to engage with us but today went well," Allison said.
Once both parties agree on a meeting time, negotiations will take place for what new benefits the graduate workers may receive. The union's deadline for NMSU to respond is October 4th.
