{"id":117052,"date":"2026-02-18T12:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117052\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T12:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:55:08","slug":"penn-grad-student-union-has-tentative-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117052\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn grad student union has tentative contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xiangyi Fang<\/a>, a fifth-year bioengineering graduate student, said the new minimum stipend puts Penn in line with peer institutions like Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University, instead of falling short by close to $10,000. The union had highlighted the disparity<\/a> during negotiations. She said that she sometimes talks to students looking to obtain doctorate degrees since she is almost done with hers, and now she can promote the protections in the new tentative contract.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we can be like, \u2018If you\u2019re excited about research, with this contract, this is a place for you to do really great research and still have a good life in your Ph.D. \u2026 You\u2019re not spending your mid-20s being poor, \u2019\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Multiple organizers also highlighted new protections for international student workers. Under the new contract, the university would establish an annual $50,000 fund to international students who need help with visa expenses, and give them time off for visa and immigration proceedings for themselves and family members.\n<\/p>\n

As the union surpassed a year of bargaining, a supermajority of the union initially authorized a strike<\/a> in November, citing university administrators\u2019 \u201cdelays and insufficient proposals\u201d during negotiations. In January, the union set a strike deadline<\/a> of Feb. 17, and multiple organizers said that the pace of negotiations markedly increased since then.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really started to see articles coming back, [and] we started to see Penn working with us and really trying to negotiate and compromise with us,\u201d said Clara Abbott, a third-year graduate student studying literacy studies who serves as a bargaining committee member for GET-UP. \u201cWe were all prepared, ready and able to go on strike, and I think demonstrating that strike threat to Penn really pressured them to be able to agree to these rights and protections that we as workers deserve.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Support for the graduate workers\u2019 contract fight stretched across Penn\u2019s campus and into the surrounding community as the strike deadline approached.\n<\/p>\n

More than 300 faculty members across Penn\u2019s undergraduate and graduate schools had signed a pledge<\/a> circulated by the university\u2019s chapter of the American Association of University Professors vowing to \u201cnot act as strikebreakers\u201d in the event of a graduate work stoppage.\n<\/p>\n

Jessa Lingel<\/a>, an associate professor of communication and president of the association\u2019s chapter at Penn, said the first push for unionizing graduate students at Penn started in the early 2000s<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThousands of graduate students have worked towards this over \u2026 literally two decades, and all of those students who came before pushing for this, they knew that they weren\u2019t directly going to get the benefits of that activism,\u201d she said. \u201cSo seeing the contract come together and knowing a lot of people in the bargaining committee are going to graduate and not benefit directly from their efforts is really amazing. And that\u2019s my favorite part about seeing this win.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The union organizers will now present the tentative agreement to members for a ratification vote, which will happen next week.\n <\/p>\n