BREAKING: MIT GSU passes first ever strike authorization vote
This is the GSU’s latest move to get MIT to budge on bargaining priorities
Out of 1,708 ballots, 92.5% of members of MIT’s Graduate Student Union (GSU) voted yes to authorize a strike yesterday evening. During a strike, graduate workers and fellows would be expected to stop all work and “not cross the picket line.”
After six months of bargaining and 15 sessions with MIT, seven articles (5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 19, and 25) have reached a tentative agreement, while the majority remains in limbo or has been closed. However, central issues to the GSU’s campaign — union shop, establishing a three-year contract, wages, healthcare, and protections for international workers — remain at a standstill with the Institute.
The GSU launched their first-ever Strike Authorization Vote on Monday, Oct. 19, at a meeting in 10-250 at 5:30 p.m. Shortly after, voting opened at 6 p.m.
According to an email sent by the UE 256 Bargaining and Grievance Committee, a YES vote shows dissatisfaction with MIT's current offer, readiness to escalate if necessary, and negotiation leverage.
Despite the overwhelming support for a strike, one will not actually take place until the last-chance practice picket on Thursday, Oct. 29. This, according to the committee, would allow graduate students to “accordingly prepare for striking” and provide MIT with a “last-chance opportunity to bring a fair agreement.”
If it takes place, the strike will end after a contract ratification vote.
Undergraduates have also begun organizing to support graduate workers. A coalition called Students on Strike have begun circulating a petition urging students to not attend classes to “the greatest extent possible” if the GSU or SEIU 32BJ, the labor union encompassing MIT Facilities workers, go on strike. As of time of publication, over 600 undergraduates have signed.