WPI graduate workers voting on whether to join union

Photo | Timothy Doyle WPI campus in Worcester

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By Timothy Doyle

Three weeks after the Clark University Graduate Workers United union voted to ratify its first contract with Worcester’s Clark University, graduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are holding a vote Wednesday and Thursday on whether to officially form their own union.

If the majority votes in favor, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Graduate Workers Union would be formed under the larger United Auto Workers union.

The WPI students are seeking to raise their stipends to keep up with the rising cost of living in the area and to obtain health insurance benefits.

Graduate student workers at WPI receive a nine-month stipend of $24,345. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach report, a renter needs to make $46,480 annually to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Worcester.

The school did not immediately provide a comment but sent a message Arthur Heinricher, WPI’s interim senior vice president and provost, sent out during the week of Oct. 24 to eligible students encouraging them to vote on Wednesday and Thursday.

“I hope you will move quickly to investigate the issues that matter most to you. I encourage you to talk with each other, and with faculty, staff, and others, to look to the experiences of other institutions, and to consult press coverage and the academic literature to decide if unionization is in your best interests academically, financially, and personally. Graduate students are an important part of the WPI community, and we respect your right to consider unionization,” said Heinricher in the message.

Representatives of the union did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.