August 30, 2023
The University continues the bargaining process with the Graduate Student Workers Organizing Committee – United Auto Workers (GSWOC-UAW), with the tempo and tone of negotiations remaining productive and collegial. Since bargaining began on April 11, 2023, we have had a total of eleven negotiation sessions, reaching 15 tentative agreements:
- Appointments
- Discipline and Discharge
- Grievance and Arbitration
- Health and Safety
- Holidays
- Labor/Management Meetings
- Personnel files
- Postings
- Reasonable Accommodations
- Severability
- Training and Orientation
- Travel
- Work Incurred Injury and Illness
- Workweek
- Workspace Support
Consistent with current practice, the parties tentatively agreed that the workweek would average 20 hours for a 50% appointment and that graduate student workers would follow the academic holiday schedule.
At the August 30 bargaining session, USC offered to cover the following fees for students in the bargaining unit: Orientation Fee, Student Health Center Fee, Student Programming Fee, Norman H. Topping Student Aid Fund Fee, and Transportation Fee, with plans to move forward with discussion of additional economic issues, including stipends and benefits, and provisions for international students, among others. We will continue to meet regularly, confident that both sides are focused on constructive conversation and excellence in graduate education at USC.