Strike FAQ

Graduate workers have been bargaining with the Penn administration since October 2024, seeking to come to an agreement over a contract that improves our pay, benefits, and workplace rights. During that time, Penn has needlessly delayed the bargaining process. While we have come to agreements on many aspects of the contract, several important issues, including pay, benefits, and support for international workers, remain outstanding. Graduate workers voted to authorize a strike in order to give our elected Bargaining Committee the ability to call a strike in the event that Penn admin continues to fail to come to a fair agreement. During the past year, unionized graduate workers at peer institutions such as Caltech and Stanford have won transformative contracts after taking successful strike authorization votes.

The Strike Authorization Vote took place from Tuesday, November 18th to Thursday, November 20th, 2025, via an online, secret ballot. Voting started at 9:00 AM ET on 11/18 and closed at 9:00 PM ET on 11/20. Graduate workers received a link to a secret ballot in their email when the vote began. Graduate student workers employed in teaching and/or research roles during Fall 2025 and/or Spring 2026 (including those who expected to hold a teaching or research role in the Spring semester) participated in the vote.

The results of the Strike Authorization Vote were 2,229 to 187, with 92% of graduate workers voting in favor of authorizing a strike. 71% of all Penn graduate workers participated in the vote. Given that more than two-thirds of voting graduate workers voted in favor of authorizing a strike, the elected GETUP-UAW Bargaining Committee is now authorized to call a strike in the future if circumstances justify.

Graduate workers have set a strike deadline: if the Penn administration refuses to come to a fair agreement, we will go on strike beginning February 17. Striking is the strongest tool we have to secure a fair contract. But making the decision to strike is a last resort, and it is not something graduate workers take lightly. It is still possible for Penn to avert a strike by reaching a fair agreement before our strike deadline, and we hope that they will do so.

A strike is a complete work stoppage. During a strike, graduate workers will not perform our work duties related to teaching and research and we will instead participate in picket lines around campus to increase the visibility of the strike. A strike would last until Penn agrees to a fair contract and graduate workers ratify a Tentative Agreement, or until graduate workers collectively decide to cease striking.

For graduate workers to win a contract that will transform our lives, work stoppage during a strike should be complete. While participating in a strike will require all of us to make sacrifices, this action also gives graduate workers the collective power to ensure that Penn reaches a fair agreement. A contract that provides vital improvements to our pay, benefits, and workplace rights would also make Penn more equitable, inclusive, and competitive with other major research institutions, and this will in turn improve research and teaching at Penn.

Penn graduate students who are paid by Penn for research or teaching services are in the GETUP-UAW bargaining unit and should participate in a strike by withholding our labor. This includes all graduate students with appointments as Research Assistants and Teaching Assistants, and anyone else doing paid teaching or research work while enrolled as a graduate student. Graduate students employed in jobs unrelated to teaching or research (such as library workers or administrative assistants) are not part of the bargaining unit and thus would not participate in a strike. Email organize@getup-uaw if you have questions about whether your position would be included in a strike.

In the event of a strike, graduate workers with teaching appointments should cease all work duties, including: recitations, office hours, exam review sessions, proctoring exams and quizzes, and grading assignments and exams.

In the event of a strike, graduate workers with research appointments should cease all work duties, including starting new experiments, analyzing any data, submitting any data or reports to your supervisor, attending lab meetings or other lab activities.

Yes, employers can legally withhold health benefits from striking workers in Pennsylvania. If Penn decides to withhold health benefits during a strike, graduate workers would have our medical benefits paid through the UAW Strike and Defense Fund.

Retaliation for organizing and striking is illegal. Additionally, as with all other union action, our solidarity and willingness to be public is our best protection. Because we would be striking collectively, it would be difficult for the Penn administration to single out any individual worker.

Penn has the right to not pay us while we are on strike and not working. In the event of a strike, Penn graduate workers who are on strike and who complete strike duties, such as picket lines, can receive Strike Assistance. Strike Assistance includes $500 per week, along with medical benefits in the event that Penn withholds healthcare benefits.

It’s ultimately Penn’s responsibility to make sure that any basic lab maintenance happens during a strike. There are also ways that you can prepare for a potential strike. These plans could include advance-planning your experiments or informing supervisors that they may need to make alternative plans to take care of these subjects.

During a strike, the university may send an “attestation form” to graduate workers, asking us to attest that we are working. In this situation, if you are striking and withholding your labor, you should not fill out this form.

If graduate workers do go on strike, there are many ways that you can support our fight for a fair contract. The best way to support our strike is to join us on one of our picket lines, which will be held across campus during normal work hours. For more updates and requests for community support, please follow our Instagram.

International graduate workers have the same rights as domestic workers under US labor law to participate in union activities, including striking. Thousands of international graduate workers on visas in the US have taken strike votes and gone on strike alongside their domestic coworkers to win strong, transformative contracts. No international academic workers have ever reported being denied visas due to this activity, including under the Trump administration.

Yes, every striking worker is eligible to receive strike benefits, regardless of visa or immigration status. In the event of missed pay, workers are eligible to receive  $500 per week from the UAW Strike and Defense fund to mitigate lost wages. This is similar to when workers receive short term disability benefits from an insurance company when they’re not working while on disability or pregnancy leave. Strike pay is not a form of employment; you will not become an employee of the UAW by receiving strike pay. Thus, receiving strike pay does not impact student visa restrictions with regard to the number of hours worked.

Thousands of international academic workers have exercised their legal right to participate in strikes in the US without any reported instance of delay or rejection of applications as a result of their participation. It is against the law for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to ask questions about international employees’ union membership or their legal union activities, or to take them into account when reviewing those employees’ visa applications. The University cannot retaliate against you for exercising your right to participate in lawful collective action, including striking, in any aspect of your relationship with the University. Striking is not considered restricted political activity.

Collective bargaining gives all workers, including international and undocumented workers, a means to improve pay and benefits, address visa delays by the university, and win job security and recourse when your employer violates your rights. In addition to all of the other benefits of the contract, international graduate workers at Penn are fighting for visa fee reimbursement, expanded ISSS services, and other support for maintaining immigration status.