Rising housing costs in the Bay Area have become a major issue for most residents, but have notably impacted student workers who are expected to balance their academics alongside maintaining basic necessities. Most recently, Stanford graduates have expressed their dissatisfaction with their lower-end compensation preventing them from keeping up with rising costs of residence in the Bay Area. Although the graduate students’ initiatives aim to advance their rights as employees and students, many undergraduate students and university administrators remain concerned about how these strikes may affect campus life at Stanford.
In the interest of advancing their cause of achieving more equitable pay for their services, involved Stanford students worked for months to unionize and garner support from their peers. The students’ efforts resulted in the official formation of the Stanford Graduate Workers Union (SGWU) formed on July 6th, 2023.
Upon the formation of the union, students featured on the Stanford Daily noted that a primary concern is that “students often have no feasible option other than to live on campus, giving the University a unique amount of power as both the landlord and primary employer of graduate student-workers.” Stanford’s overwhelming role in students’ lives reportedly stifles theri individual advocacy and ability to grow, constraining them to the bounds of the university. Additionally, the lack of financial compensation for graduate students’ efforts has prevented them from purchasing even basic necessities. To battle these challenges, graduate students began participating in bargaining meetings with Stanford’s administration, citing demands to relieve them of their burdens. SGWU’s official website features a July 2024 contract “demanding a 43.2% raise of the minimum stipend…a 6-year funding guarantee…full coverage of basic healthcare needs…etc.” Graduate students and Stanford administrators have gone back and forth for the past year on specific salary changes and rules for workplace equality, seemingly unable to reach a finalized agreement.
Frustrated with the lack of recognition regarding their demands, graduate students began putting together plans for a walk-out strike beginning in mid-November. To prevent this, the Stanford administration agreed to a final bargaining meeting on November 12th, 2024, which finally resulted in a tentative agreement between the two groups. The full agreement involved some financial concessions on Stanford’s part, while refusing other demands the graduate students proposed.
In addition, Stanford University’s administration released a statement regarding the ongoing struggle between the two parties: “Our students are going to be the highest paid in the world at the end of this negotiation, because our current offer already puts them above every other University in the country.” Many graduate students were dissatisfied with the response, claiming that the high pay rates do not account for the high living costs of the Bay Area—notably higher than most other University regions.
Although the final strike had stopped short because of the agreement, many undergraduate students, staff, and parents expressed their solidarity for the graduate students. Andrew Song, who is a member of the Stanford undergraduate Class of 2025, expressed his belief that he would rather “have less Research fellowships available if that means that people can eat.” This statement holds true for many other students such as Song, who saw the value of the graduate students as assistants in most of their classes and believe that graduate students’ rights should be respected.
The Stanford graduate strikes have created much strife between Stanford administration and the students’ Union. Although opinions from other students, parents, and staff have been somewhat divisive, the final conclusion on the topic of compensation and conditions for graduate students remains undecided as final negotiations continue. As of early December, the SGWU is likely to continue negotiations with the University and will not be conducting the extensive strike as initially planned. More updates on the conflict can be viewed on The Stanford Daily.
