Members of the unofficial Duke Graduate Student Union gathered on the quad outside Duke Chapel last week with boxes of pizza they handed out free to any PhD student.
Engineering student Patrick Faught wore a button on his shirt that said, 鈥淎sk me about my union.鈥� He鈥檚 been wearing it around campus, and getting more and more questions from fellow students as the union election approaches.
鈥淚t's a great icebreaker to talk to people I otherwise wouldn't,鈥� Faught said.
Students who support a union have been working toward this election for years. Christopher Kilner was a first-year PhD student in environmental science when students tried to unionize six years ago. Now he鈥檚 about to graduate.
鈥淚 was here, way back in 2017, when the first union vote failed,鈥� Kilner said. 鈥淪o, to see it in my time here go from that to an opportunity to win 鈥� is really exciting.鈥�
In 2017, many students who voted in the election tended to be divided between fields, with fewer students in STEM departments voting for the union. This time, organizers say they have more support from across departments. They believe they have the numbers to win.
Last summer, union supporters ran a membership drive. They say a 鈥渞apidly growing majority鈥� of students who are eligible to vote in the election have signed union cards to join. They are considered a direct-join union now, but they need to win this election to be recognized.
鈥淲e started trying to fight for a legally recognized union with bargaining power, the power to sit down and bargain in good faith for a contract with Duke,鈥� says out-going union co-chair Anita Simha, who studies ecology.
This week, about 2,500 PhD students from Duke University who serve as research or graduate assistants and are compensated for their work will receive ballots in the mail to vote on whether to form a union.
The outcome of the election will be determined by a simple majority of those who return mail-in ballots by Aug. 22. Union supporters say they hope to win by a landslide.
PhD students fight for cost-of-living increases, healthcare and worker protections
Unlike undergraduate students, many PhD students receive tuition waivers and spend more of their time teaching and doing lab research for the university than they do taking classes. Those students get paid with living stipends, but without a contract.
Duke did not make an administrator available to 瓜神app for an interview for this story. In a written statement, Frank Tramble, Vice President for Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs said:
鈥淒uke supports the right of doctoral students to debate unionization and encourages them to vote in the election. The administration believes Duke鈥檚 relationship with our students is centered on education, training and mentorship, making it fundamentally different from that between employer and employee.鈥�
Union supporters say they consider the years they spend teaching undergraduate classes, grading papers or conducting research unrelated to their own dissertations to be work.
鈥淲e make this university run,鈥� Simha says. 鈥淲ithout PhD students, Duke would not be able to offer the high caliber classes that it does.鈥�
This past year, organizers ramped up their efforts to unionize, scheduling regular walks through labs and offices to talk to fellow students about unionizing.
鈥淚f I ask, what issues are you concerned about when it comes to work, the number one thing I've heard is my rent has gone up by maybe $500 a month or something ridiculous,鈥� Simha says.
The union sent a survey to PhD students asking about their top issues, and students responded with concerns about the cost-of-living, work restrictions on international students, and the need for comprehensive healthcare plans.
鈥淲e heard about healthcare a lot, especially dental and vision, and spousal and child healthcare,鈥� Simha says. 鈥淪omething a lot of people don't realize about grad students is that a lot of us are in our 30s and 40s and have families.鈥�
The Duke Graduate Student Union has pushed for a $40,000 annual stipend. The university to $38,000 last fall after students announced the membership drive.
Union members also flooded administrators鈥� inboxes with emails asking for a reduction in parking fees, and got that too. Out-going union co-chair Matthew Thomas says they still want the ability to bargain.
鈥淕etting collective bargaining rights allows us to not only get these things that we've won as a direct-join union, but to actually enforce them, and not just ask for things, but actually negotiate for them,鈥� Thomas says.
This generation of PhD students has been energized by union wins at other universities, and by high profile unionization efforts at Starbucks and Amazon.
鈥淣ot only will we be the first recognized graduate student union in the South, but we'd also be one of the largest unions in North Carolina,鈥� Thomas says.
Legal analyst says Duke鈥檚 strategy has been to 鈥楧elay, delay, delay.鈥�
Jeff Hirsch, a labor law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, has been watching this trend as graduate students at several private universities have recently won elections.
鈥淏y grossly lopsided margins,鈥� Hirsch says. 鈥淢argins I have never seen before. So, it'll be really interesting what happens in this election.鈥�
Hirsch says he鈥檚 been keenly interested in the efforts at Duke since it鈥檚 in his own backyard.
鈥淚t's just hard to unionize in the South,鈥� Hirsch says, citing a long history of anti-union legislation limiting public and private sector unionization in southern states in laws that often originated during the Civil Rights Movement. North Carolina has the in the country, at 3.9%, behind only South Carolina.
Hirsch says so far Duke University's main strategy has been to: 鈥渄elay, delay, delay.鈥�
鈥淭hat's what a lot of employers do,鈥� Hirsch says. 鈥淒elay is a killer for unions.鈥�
One of the ways Duke has delayed union efforts already was by objecting to the students鈥� petition for an election by arguing they are not workers, challenging an established precedent set by the National Labor Relations Board in 2016. The university lost its challenge, as anticipated by observers like Hirsch.
The delay caused by that challenge pushed the union vote from spring into summer, when many students are not in Durham 鈥� or even abroad on research trips. Students who are eligible to vote will receive paper ballots in the mail and must return them in less than a month.
Hirsch says those kind of delay tactics could continue, even if the union wins its election.
鈥淒uke has multiple opportunities to drag things out for potentially years,鈥� Hirsch says. 鈥淒uke could say, 鈥榊ou know what, we're going to refuse to bargain.鈥欌��
That could turn into a legal battle in federal court, but Hirsch says that might also hurt Duke鈥檚 image as a high-profile university.
鈥淭hey're not just your average sort of manufacturing company [that] no one has ever heard of," Hirsch said. "They can face public relations pressures, more than your average employer from a lot of different constituencies.鈥�
Hirsch says the only way he foresees Duke changing its strategy is if the university鈥檚 attitude toward unionization affects its public persona in the eyes of alumni, donors or future students.
鈥淚f they were to change their stance at all, in any meaningful way, it would likely be because of something like that 鈥� any sort of risk to their brand,鈥� Hirsch says.
It鈥檚 also possible, at any point, that the university could simply agree to recognize the union and start to bargain.
鈥淒uke has not taken that path,鈥� says student Matthew Thomas. 鈥淏ut we really do hope that Duke does take that path, because they still have the option to. There's still time 鈥� and we intend to win our election.鈥�
