USC Continues to Bargain in Good Faith Toward a Fair Agreement While Union Organizes Picketing on Campus

11/08/23

As the union conducts an informational picket on Thursday, USC continues to prioritize reaching a fair and competitive agreement to support its graduate student workers.

USC’s latest economic proposal includes increases of 13% over four years and benefits that our peers do not provide, including a semester-long paid parental leave, a fund for dependent-related expenses – including eligible medical expenses – and five days of sick leave.

The parties have now reached tentative agreements on USC’s offers of an $1,800 childcare subsidy, a fund available to international graduate student workers who lose visa status during their appointment, reimbursement of mandatory student fees, and tuition remission.

The proposal continues the progress the university has made since its first economic proposal on October 9, and concluded the 18th good faith bargaining session since April.

In addition, we have reached 21 Tentative Agreements with the union, which is more than half of the proposals under negotiation. This picketing is an unnecessary distraction at a time when we are making steady progress towards a mutually beneficial agreement.

Since April, the university has consistently come to the bargaining table in good faith with fair, competitive proposals.

The USC Graduate School enrolls more than 27,000 students, approximately 2,800 of whom are graduate student workers included in the bargaining unit. As a result, while we continue to prioritize reaching an agreement, we remain focused on making sure we are investing in other areas of the graduate school, achieving our academic and research goals and supporting the broader university community.