Members of UE Local 256, the MIT Graduate Student Union, are gearing up for negotiations this spring as their contract is set to expire on May 31. Over 1800 workers engaged in the union’s bargaining survey and sent a clear message: as higher education comes under attack from the federal government, student workers need a fair and safe workplace — one where arbitrary decisions do not uproot their futures. Members believe that the university must double down on its commitment to its student workers with protections for international workers, fairly compensated and secure appointments, and inclusion of over a thousand workers called “fellows” in the union’s contractual protections.
Although fellows do the same teaching and research work as bargaining unit members, these workers receive no guaranteed protections. MIT plans to move more bargaining unit members to fellowships as means of adjusting to federal funding cuts, threatening the protections that thousands of MIT graduate workers have secured through their union contract. As negotiation preparations are underway, union members are engaging their co-workers to sign onto a petition that demands guaranteed, contractual rights for fellows, which already has hundreds of signatures.
Bargaining preparations are happening all the while many universities, such as Northwestern and Cornell University where two UE sibling locals are situated (Locals 1122 and 300, respectively), have started to capitulate to deals with the federal government. In October 2025, the Trump administration issued a so-called “compact” to nine universities, which would have required the universities to pledge loyalty to the Trump administration and implement numerous unprecedented policies in exchange for federal favor and preferential funding. The UE Higher Education Conference Board has coordinated a fight back against these attacks and hold universities accountable to their workers and students.
After Trump announced the compact, Local 256 pulled together a coalition of leaders from 29 campus organizations at MIT within 72 hours. Led by this coalition, students and workers successfully pressured the MIT president to reject the compact wholesale. MIT management is now looking to cut $300 million from its budget each year, and has decided to close libraries and threaten good union jobs instead of halting costly, and largely cosmetic, building renovation projects. As Local 256 moves into negotiations, union members are calling on the university to cease using the cover of this unprecedented attack as an excuse to undermine fair workplace benefits and protections.