BARGAINING UPDATES ARCHIVE

JUNE 20, 2024 | SESSION XXVIII

Dartmouth presented a new package proposal with movement on Short Term Disability that grants 60% of pay for two months equivalent to ~$4800.

After a sidebar between Dartmouth’s lead negotiator and our bargaining committee, Dartmouth agreed to move on Dependent Healthcare by increasing the amount of premium coverage from 25% to 40%.

Dartmouth’s first response to our strike settlement terms did not include back pay or protections of our academic status, but they signaled they’re willing to discuss protection from academic dismissal further.

JUNE 16, 2024 | SESSION XXVII

We presented a time-limited, comprehensive package that maintains our most crucial demands, but makes significant movement towards Dartmouth’s last offer.

Dartmouth responded on Friday evening, rejecting the package and scheduling a bargaining session for Thursday 6/20.

JUNE 5, 2024 | SESSION XXVI

Dartmouth reasserted their previous package proposal, and faculty spoke up in support of our demands. We will picket Commencement this Sunday.

MAY 30, 2024 | SESSION XXV

We won a huge increase to the childcare fund! Members will be able to reimburse out of pocket child care expenses, and the fund is now at an amount that will support parents through the life of the contract.

We received small movement on short term disability, increasing the TAMR grant from $1200 to $3200.

Dartmouth maintained all other proposals. We introduced strike settlement terms.

MAY 16, 2024 | SESSION XXIV

We won 100% dental care for members! And we reached tentative agreement on Tuition and Fees.

Dartmouth reasserted all other proposals on Compensation, Dependent Care, and Medical Benefits.

MAY 8, 2024 | SESSION XXIII

Dartmouth made no significant movement at the bargaining table.

In a replay of our session on the eve of the strike, Dartmouth called us to the table only to make no offer on compensation.

Dartmouth is giving our members no choice but to stay on strike.

MAY 2, 2024 | SESSION XXII

OUR STRIKE IS WORKING! We finally saw significant movement from Dartmouth on multiple key issues: stipend security, childcare access, and international worker support. 

After much discussion, we decided to move in Dartmouth’s direction on our stipend amount (from $53,000 to $50,500), retirement benefits, and dependent care support in an effort to maintain this momentum at the table.

There are still very important issues Dartmouth has left unaddressed: dependent healthcare, dental, short-term disability, housing COLA, and strike protections.

We requested a bargaining session for next Monday before our GBM, however Dartmouth only committed to meeting on Wednesday from 9:30am - 12:30pm.

Sign up for a picket shift to keep the pressure on Dartmouth! https://tinyurl.com/goldpicket

Join us at our GBM next Monday, May 6 from 5-7pm in Life Sciences Center 100 to participate in our weekly strike continuation vote. 

APRIL 25, 2024 | SESSION XXI

Just like last week, Dartmouth did not make significant moves despite returning a number of articles: (Management Rights, Union Security, No Strike No Lockout, Medical Benefits, and Time Away). The changes they made were superficial with the lone exception being their first move on dependent healthcare, and even that was inadequate.

Most notably, Dartmouth did not return the article on Compensation despite receiving our last offer two sessions ago on 4/11 and the pressure of our successful strike authorization vote. Therefore, our members will have to consider their last offer from 4/11 when evaluating whether to accept what’s on the table or take action at the General Body Meeting this Monday, April 29th at 5:30pm.

Have questions about the strike? Read our FAQs and talk to an organizer in your department about forming a group strike plan.

APRIL 18, 2024 | SESSION XX

Dartmouth returned Medical Benefits, Retirement, Time Off, Dependent Care, and Employee Assistance articles that showed virtually no movement from their last offers.

Despite encouraging progress on compensation, medical funds, and immigration fee coverage, Dartmouth continues to entirely reject many core benefits: dental, vision, retirement, childcare, and more.

Our members have voted to authorize a strike. Dartmouth has one more opportunity at the April 25th bargaining session to address the outstanding core issues. Following this session, we will hold a general body meeting on April 29th to collectively determine if their offer is sufficient or if we should escalate in response. 

Have questions about the strike? Read our FAQs and talk to an organizer in your department about forming a group strike plan.

APRIL 11, 2024 | SESSION XVIII - XIX

Dartmouth is feeling the pressure of the looming strike threat, and they have expressed explicitly that they intend to wrap up negotiations soon. Their sense of urgency is welcome!

Dartmouth has agreed to yearly cost of living adjustments tied to CPI! A groundbreaking step forward, we are no longer fighting over if we have COLA, but over whether the COLA is tied to housing. 

Overall, Dartmouth is moving in our direction with less friction, but is holding on some very concerning provisions. Should they be able to cut our hours, pay us proportionally less, without changing the amount of work we are actually expected to do?

MARCH 29, 2024 | SESSION XVII

Dartmouth returned comprehensive economic counters including: a stipend increase to $46k plus 3% raises each contract year, medical funds, $1200 signing bonus to cover international student visa fees and more.

Dartmouth rejected: Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), healthcare coverage for dependents, Retirement benefits, free parking, life insurance, sick leave, paid family and medical leave, vision coverage, short term disability benefits, access to the childcare center, increased relocation benefits, and proposed cutting our paid time off.

We are thrilled with the progress but there is still much more to win. Now it is up to the rank-and-file membership to decide how to proceed.

MARCH 7, 2024 | SESSION XVI

Dartmouth failed to return counters on all remaining economic articles as they promised us at our last session. It’s been nearly 2 months since we proposed our economic demands. Dartmouth is blatantly attempting to run out the clock on the Academic year.

Dartmouth returned a formal counter on Management Rights for the first time since November.

We reached a Tentative Agreement on Grievance Procedure and Nondiscrimination.

FEBRUARY 22, 2024 | SESSION XV

After a month of waiting, Dartmouth responded to 3 economic articles: Dependent Care, Guaranteed Funding, and Employee Assistance. Dartmouth rejected these proposals nearly entirely.

Dartmouth rejected free parking, indicating that they may wish to resume charging for parking in Dewey, Ledyard, and Lewiston. We cautioned Dartmouth that this choice would severely antagonize our members.

We returned a counter on No-Strike/No-Lockout, maintaining our right to strike over contract violations and unfair labor practices.

FEBRUARY 1, 2024 | SESSION XIV

Dartmouth failed to provide any counters on our economic articles

We reached tentative agreement on noneconomic International Employee Rights, Intellectual Property, and Assignment Notification

Dartmouth rejected our package proposal on Grievance Procedure and Nondiscrimination

JANUARY 18, 2024 | SESSION XIII

Yesterday, 90+ members attended our bargaining session to show support for the following economic demands:

• • $55K/yr for stipend-supported workers

  • Cost of live adjustment (COLA) raise for each contract year

  • Full dental and vision coverage

  • $100K support fund for out-of-pocket medical expenses

  • Guaranteed transitional funding

  • Fully subsidized child care and healthcare coverage for dependents

We reached an agreement on Discipline and Discharge

We continued to negotiate over Nondiscrimination, International Employee Rights, and Intellectual Property and Research Misconduct

JANUARY 4, 2024 | SESSION XII

Last session, our union won the means to hold Dartmouth accountable when graduate workers fight cases of harassment and discrimination! This session we saw continued movement for a faster process, greater transparency and enhanced protections against harassment and discrimination as current policies have failed members in the past.

We reached a Tentative Agreement on our Workload Article! Graduate workers now have protections from being forced to work outside of regular weekday hours!

We made strides in our fight for protections for international student workers.

Our pressure on discipline and discharge was successful, and Dartmouth finally returned a formal counter, resulting in meaningful progress towards real just cause discipline, clearly delineating the bounds of just cause.

DECEMBER 14, 2023 | SESSION XI

Our collective actions for nondiscrimination resulted in substantial wins!

Our union now has means to hold Dartmouth accountable when graduate workers fight cases of harassment and discrimination.

We won protections for graduate workers forced to work at unreasonable hours.

Graduate workers will now get at least 21 days of notice for teaching assignments.

NOVEMBER 27, 2023 | SESSION X

For the second session in a row, we saw significant movement from the College on our articles for Workload and Discipline and Discharge. The language we have come to agreement on in these articles provides better protections than any existing grad worker contract!

While we reached agreement on multiple sections in our International Employee Rights article, Dartmouth still refuses to provide adequate tax support, guarantee time off for appointments necessary to maintain immigration status, or remove arbitrary limits on OPT/CPT for international student-workers.

Dartmouth still has not offered a formal counter for Nondiscrimination. Their committee instead communicated that they hope to continue discussing the matter in future sessions.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023 | SESSION IX

We packed the room and packed the zoom with over 100 observers!

We made the most significant breakthrough in bargaining yet, with 3 Tentative Agreements and very significant movement on Discipline and Workload.

We must continue to organize to build on these wins and keep up the pace going into winter term. Dartmouth still has not returned an article on Discrimination and Harassment, and President Beilock is still silent on the issue.

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 | SESSION VIII

We presented testimonies from international students on the issues they have experienced as workers. After offering these concrete examples of why support should be added and improved, we presented our revised proposal for International Employee Rights.

We received counters on Inclusive Work Environment, Union Rights, and Professional Rights and Workspace Conditions; and quickly responded to them with revised versions after a caucus.

We didn’t receive other counters that we were eager for such as Discipline and Discharge, Nondiscrimination, Intellectual Property and Research Misconduct, Workload, and the Grievance Procedure.

We must continue to organize so that Dartmouth feels pressure to accelerate the pace of negotiation. Dartmouth will not move on vital issues if we do not force their hand.

OCTOBER 26, 2023 | SESSION VII

We presented counters on Union Security, Discipline and Discharge, Nondiscrimination, and Intellectual Property. We moved where we could, while also re-asserting our primary demands so that Dartmouth understands what our priorities are.

They did not give us any counters except for Management Rights. We asked questions about their last counter on Workload, and were able to produce a response after a caucus.

Overall, no major progress was made. Getting Dartmouth to come to the table to discuss solving actual problems is a constant struggle, as they are generally in denial that there is anything fundamentally wrong with the status quo.

It is becoming more and more clear that we will get nothing that we are not organized to take.

OCTOBER 19, 2023 | SESSION VI

Dartmouth has presented their second round of counter proposals, a welcome contrast to the last session where they came empty handed.

We have reached agreement on the articles Health & Safety and Training, both of which are major wins for grad workers.

Dartmouth has moved considerably in our direction on the Grievance Procedure and on Inclusive Work Environment.

Despite this progress, there is still a lot at stake.

• Dartmouth is fundamentally in denial of how insufficient their existing policies are,

• and have not been very willing to consider changes to the status quo.

• Dartmouth views reasonable protections that are afforded to workers in any other

• unionized workplace a threat to their academic freedom – in particular, they

• believe that sexual harassment and discrimination is strictly an academic concern

• and should not be prohibited by our contract.

OCTOBER 3, 2023 | SESSION V

Dartmouth did not come prepared with any new counter proposals. They even indicated that they didn’t realize we had given them our complete counter proposals last session, and acted surprised when we reminded them that it was their turn to respond.

We reasserted our proposal on Nondiscrimination/Title IX, demanding real recourse against sexual violence. Members came to this session to share some of their lived experiences with discrimination, harrassment, and sexual assault. This powerful testimony highlighted the need to build union power so that members can stand up together against all forms of abuse.

In response to line-by-line questioning on our International Employee Rights article, Dartmouth asserted that they do not want to be contractually obligated to provide (1) immigration support for graduate workers’ dependents, (2) assistance for immigration emergencies in a timely manner, (3) increased access to transportation, and more. Dartmouth maintained their position that the services currently offered to international student-workers are sufficient.

SEPTEMBER 12-13, 2023 | SESSIONS III & IV

We've achieved some wins on outside employment, health and safety, access to tools and supplies, and other items!

Unfortunately, in these back to back sessions, Dartmouth said the quiet part out loud: that they think we are not workers and that most of our day-to-day looks more similar to that of undergrads than that of faculty.

AUGUST 31, 2023 | SESSION II

Dartmouth has agreed to set up a Zoom feed, so that our members can observe sessions remotely. Zoom bargaining was a huge success on its first run.

Dartmouth provided their initial proposals, seeking to limit the union's access to information, deny our right to a grievance procedure, deny our status as workers, deny our right to strike, and allow the college to make any changes they like without having to bargain.

Dartmouth did not provide any counter offers to our proposals and spent the rest of the morning session reading from printouts of their internal (not legally binding and not grievable) policies. They've provided assurances that they'll have *some counter proposals in the next session, in two weeks.

AUGUST 25, 2023 | SESSION I

The first day of bargaining is complete!

We gave Dartmouth our noneconomic language proposals, which you can view in the live bargaining tracker.

Bargaining is open to any member (and we are hoping to secure a zoom link for future sessions).

To help us win a great contract, come to our next CAT meeting on Monday, where we will be planning orientation events.