Since the Teaching Assistants Association won their first contract with the University of Wisconsin in 1969, graduate student employees have been organizing, forming unions, and negotiating with their employers. There are currently campaigns on many campuses, as well as several unions fighting in states that do not yet recognize their right to union representation. Unionized workers meet with their employers as equals to negotiate wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions. Disciplines across the board have become more complex, demanding a detailed proficiency in theories, research methods, and technologies that were unheard of only a few years ago.
Prospective employers demand publications and postdoctorate positions as prerequisites.
Teaching Assistants do more teaching while they're in graduate school, and they face poorer job prospects when they finish. Graduate employee unionists are proud to be a part of this growing social movement, affiliating with a wide range of international unions and uniting with industrial workers, healthcare workers, K-12 teachers, telecommunication workers, restaurant employees, custodians, and others in the fight for justice on the job. These are the contractual benefits. Graduate employees who are active in their unions also gain a sense of community, solidarity, and empowerment in their lives. They take part in vibrant democratic organizations.