On Friday March 21, 45 members of the Wayne State University Graduate Employees’ Organizing Committee (GEOC) organized an open barging session to continue their contract fight. However, when the Wayne State university administration, along with its board of governors, saw that this would be public bargaining, they refused to meet with the union representatives. 

With this change in plans, GEOC, which is committed to having this open barging, decided to organize a teach-in on their plans, objectives, and options moving forward. This process of open bargaining is important, as it allows for full democratic discussion from all of its members and the full creativity of the working class to be utilized. As we have previously written, Wayne State graduate workers have been fighting for a better contract over the past six weeks. One of the most important parts of the negotiation is the fight for higher wages of $30,000 base pay, as their current rate of $21,000 is well below a living wage — it forces many to have to work a second job on top of both their current job and schooling. Furthermore, despite only being supposed to work 20 hours a week, many end up working 80 hours a week of which 60 hours is unpaid.

Their contract fight also induces pay equality across the college, including for Graduate Resident Assistants, plus protections for international students which are currently under attack by the Trump administration. It also includes better access for housing as the university’s current model is run through third-party leasing agencies. The union is also demanding better and clearer work rules as on top of the previously mentioned working of almost 80 hours a week, many graduate student employees are forced to, for example, immediately grade papers and projects on the spot for professors. 

The final demand is to have better health and safety conditions. As one grad worker told me, many of their classrooms are freezing in the winter, hot in the summer. The buildings have serious infrastructure problems such as water damage, ceiling tiles falling down, weeks without janitorial maintenance, and sewage issues, which got to the point that a grad worker had to cancel class sessions.

At the open bargaining session, the speakers highlighted how important it is to be transparent about their contract fight as the union is not just its leadership but every rank-and-file member, too. Their collective power comes from the fact that, like all workers, if their labor is withheld, then the bosses and the corporations won’t be able to function. The same is true for universities: without these grad students’ labor the university won’t be able to function. If GEOC decides to escalate by doing malicious compliance or even going on strike, then papers won’t get graded, classes won’t get taught, and the university will come to a stand still. That is what the board of governors is afraid of and that fear can become a reality as GEOC workers continue this fight. 

In order to continue their fight for a better contract, GEOC is asking for more grad students to join the union and the ongoing process of open barging, and for support from the community as well. A stronger union can lead to not only a better contract fight but stronger support for social movements, such as Palestine which is under threat from not only the university but the Trump administration. The union could, for example, go on strike to protect democratic rights on campus. A stronger union can show the president and board of governors that they don’t have the power — workers do.