IU graduate workers submit cards, seek union election

Graduate student workers at Indiana University have formally begun the process of holding a union election.

Representatives of the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition-United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America submitted 1,584 union cards to the university last week, representing almost two-thirds of the roughly 2,500 graduate students the group estimated are working at IU Bloomington.

On Friday, IGWC representatives brought a thumb drive with digital versions of the union cards, as well as the physical cards themselves to the offices of IU President Pamela Whitten and the IU Board of Trustees. They also brought a letter outlining their intent and saying that graduate workers wish to have a meeting with university leadership by Feb. 1.

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IU spokesperson Chuck Carney told The Herald-Times the university would review the submitted materials before following up with the graduate workers. IGWC members believe IU's human resources policy HR-12-20 dictates an election must now follow.

“Now (IU) should be the ones to hold an election for us,” said Chelsea Brinda, an IGWC member and a Ph.D. student in the education school. “They should also remain neutral because they are the ones who are facilitating the election.”

There was plenty of support for grad worker unionization on campus this semester, according to Brinda, and she thought the move to formally seek an election would prompt further support. “Now that we are officially taking the step and putting this choice to the administration to recognize us or at least even holding the election, I think that we're going to see a lot more support from our community and the students we teach and the professors that we interact with," Brinda said.

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There is a strong desire among IGWC members to work positively and constructively with university leadership, according to IGWC member and information and library science Ph.D. student Huixin Tian.

“I want to build a very constructive bargaining relationship with administration,” she said. “If they have the same kind of genuineness we have and they will acknowledge us, this progress can move forward faster.”

IGWC member and media school Ph.D. student Sam Smucker saw no reason why there could not be a positive relationship with the university.

“There are other unions on campus who have gone through this process,” he said. “We want to be treated as employees just as they are treated as employees. Our expectations are that the university is going to give us a pathway for recognition, for dialogue and for improving graduate education.”

Smucker said it was relatively easy to convince graduate workers to get on board with unionizing. "We signed up an enormous amount of people," he said. "But it's actually not that hard to sign people up because there's a deep sense that things have gone off the tracks at IU in terms of graduate education. People want to see a really big change and we hope that this is the process that will bring that about."

Tian worked to ensure international graduate workers were onboard as well, despite greater fears of reprisal. “As international students, they have more concerns,” Tian said. “They feel insecure to participate in a lot of this kind of campaign and fight for their own rights.”

Contact Patrick McGerr at pmcgerr@heraldt.com, 812-345-7559, or follow @patrickmcgerr on Twitter.