Graduate students at Wayne State University are heading into negotiations for a new contract. After many years of near-dormancy, graduate students have been energized by the momentum of the 2023 strike at University of Michigan and a series of industrial strikes in Detroit. Squeezed by increasing costs of living and an unstable environment for international students, graduate students at Wayne have been taking the first steps to revitalize their union. Now they’re taking the growing union into bargaining ahead of the end of their contract later this year. This week, graduate students, faculty, undergrads, and community supporters gathered outside the Wayne State Administrative building and held a rally to support the Graduate Educator Organizing Committee (GEOC) bargaining team.
Starting in March, GEOC will hold open bargaining sessions every Friday at 1pm in the Wayne State Administrative Building. They’re calling on graduate students, undergrads, faculty, staff, and community to come to bargaining sessions to show support.
Chief among their demands for the new contract are a salary of $31,000, increased protection and support for international students, housing support, and improvements to facilities. At the rally, one graduate student in the Graphic Design department talked about a water pipe bursting in a computer room and inconsistent heating in classrooms during winter. Others talked about needing state poverty assistance programs, despite working the maximum hours allowed in their departments.
As is common across universities, graduate workers at Wayne are overworked and underpaid. Wayne’s graduate teaching assistants have not seen a meaningful raise in over a decade. According to the Administration, graduate teaching assistants at Wayne State are only supposed to work 20 hours per week so they can focus on their research and coursework required to graudste. The University uses this 20 hour limit to justify the incredibly low base pay of $20,570 per year. Yet the demands of teaching, class prep, office hours, and grading push assistantship requirements to 40 hours or more, meaning graduate workers are making around $10/hour. Meanwhile the cost of living due to inflation, and especially the price of housing, has skyrocketed. The average rent near Wayne State is approximately $1300-1500 for a studio. $20,570 is far from a living wage, which is upwards of $40,000 for Detroit.
Last year graduate workers got a $500 raise. By contrast, Wayne State’s spending on administrative salaries increased by $16.8 million from 2021 to 2023. Around the same time graduate workers got their $500, the Board of Governors voted to give President Espy a $30,000 raise, putting her salary at a cool $738,000.
The revitalization of GEOC comes at a critical moment, as the Trump administration steps up attacks on campus organizing and reckless cuts to federal programs, including research funding. University administrations have a survival instinct, and as the budget squeeze comes, they will look to make sure their salaries and jobs are protected first. A stronger union will help make sure that it’s harder for university administration to shoulder staff and students with the burdens of federal budget cuts.
A stronger union can also open up more space for social movements on campus. Last year Wayne State University, with the backing of the Detroit Police, used a riot squad to violently clear the pro-Palestine encampment. The Wayne State SJP chapter was at GEOC’s rally to support the bargaining team. This is a good start. Growing an alliance between the campus social movements and labor organizing will strengthen both.