Testimonials

CAMB – Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology

A union creates a shared sense of community and deeper understanding among grad workers (and broadly workers!) all across Penn that serve as a prerequisite for any sustainable, effective, and inclusive change. Who knows what we need to flourish in our work better than us?

Annenberg

As a medically disabled person, I’ve been forced to choose between my health and my employment. A union contract could make it so that disabled workers don’t have to fear losing their health insurance, their stipends, or their position within their departments in order to care for themselves. More importantly, collective bargaining can ensure that this ethic of care extends to our greater Philadelphia community. A union gives us the power to fight against Penn’s racializing displacement and advocate for racial justice and equity.

History, Law

Being a part of GET-UP has allowed me to learn from my colleagues about inequities at Penn and the immeasurable value of coming together as workers across departments and schools to share experiences, discover commonalities, and plan for a better shared future. Current avenues for worker input into pay, conditions, benefits, and job expectations at Penn are woefully insufficient, and we can’t push for satisfactory changes unless we can leverage some real power as workers. We are part of a growing movement of workers within and without academia, locally and nationally, fighting for the power we deserve.

Comp Lit

So many issues, like compensation and recourse from abuses of power, are make-or-break for our work. Because these issues are decided from the top without our input, we have no real say into when they are given, taken away, or allowed to fall victim to external factors like inflation. What has pushed the university to make improvements is the pressure of unionization at Penn and around the country. Finishing the job will enable us to turn what we know about our needs and working conditions into a better, healthier university for all of us.

CAMB – Genetics and Epigenetics

A union contract would address student concerns directly instead of depending on the decisions of administrators multiple times removed from our jobs. We know what we need to do our jobs safely and effectively so we should decide for ourselves.

English

We shouldn’t have to wonder whether the administration will act in our interest. We know what we need, and as a union, we can make decisions that will help us improve our working conditions.

Chemistry

Whether you have issues in the workplace or not, we work in a system where student workers have very little power. I support the union’s mission to advocate for more fair treatment of graduate students and more mechanisms by which important issues can be address.

Genomics & Computational Biology

For grad students, working conditions here at Penn are often a case of advisor roulette or program roulette. Having the power of collective organizing to fight for our interests will also help protect us from retaliation from an advisor or a program.

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Having a union provides us, as workers, the agency to advocate for our working conditions. Being part of the conversation allows us to make our interests and needs known rather than being at the will of administrators to create structures that serve us.

Genomics & Computational Biology

Having a union would give me and my fellow employees leverage to advocate for our own needs, instead of being dependent on our PIs and the administration to hand out benefits. For me, dental insurance has been the perfect example of this, because every year we have to wait to see if they’re going to reimburse it or not. I want to be able to negotiate for benefits that are clear and can’t be changed.

Pharmacology

When the pandemic hit my first year, I felt pressure to return to in-person labwork before I felt it was safe. I wished I had a real say in our university’s masking and testing policies, since those decisions directly impacted my safety at work. With a union, we would have had the power to demand a seat at the table where those decisions were made. By organizing with our coworkers now, we can ensure we always have an equal say in the conditions of our work, in times both normal and unprecedented.

Philosophy

A union is the only chance we have to exercise meaningful control over our working conditions. When things as basic as a living wage are at stake, we can’t afford to rely solely on the good will of the university.

Annenberg

I support a union because I care about the community and friendships I’ve built with my fellow student workers, and I want us to have the power to make our lives at Penn better. We all deserve support in our interactions with our advisors, our departments, and our PIs, particularly students who are already dealing with issues related to immigrating to the US or supporting a family. A union means a democratic workplace, which means all our voices and all our issues must be heard.

CAMB – Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology

As a Ukrainian student, during the time of my biggest need, I had to pick up a second job to afford moving my family to safety. When I asked Penn for financial and legal support after countless emails from admins sending “thoughts and prayers”, I was told by the same administrators that it is “too pricey” for them to set up a hardship fund for international students or to have a lawyer stop by campus to give us legal advice. I had to rely on a second poorly paying job and good grace of individual faculty to assure safety of my family and friends. I will no longer stand by as international students are left as an after thought at Penn. We are what makes this campus move. So, I am no longer asking for help, I am demanding justice for all international students by strongly supporting unionization.

Biology

As a graduate student without centralized advising and support, I am often on my own when it comes to navigating my PI, department, and degree. With a Union, I don’t need to tackle these issues alone.

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

A union will help secure better protections for students when conflicts with supervisors arise, improve transparency with administration, and give teeth to improvement requests students have been making for years.

Pharmacology

Penn’s self-appointed status as the “Cellicon Valley” was built on graduate student labor, yet our stipend has not kept up with the cost of inflation or the worth of our collective skills and talents. I support a graduate union because a union would ensure us a seat at the table with the administrators, giving us a democratic say in stipend amounts, working conditions, and other matters important to us.

History and Sociology of Science

Graduate workers do the teaching and research necessary to run Penn. We should be able to negotiate over the conditions of our work. As a TA, I’ve often felt that the flexibility of my work schedule has been taken for granted. With a union, we would negotiate over work standards to ensure a stable and supportive learning environment for TAs/instructors and our students.

Law

Law students are workers, too. I pay my rent with my TA wages. I think the administration still conceptualizes RA/TA positions as optional honors for law students, but in reality, our work is what keeps classes running. I want a union contract so I can protect what I like about working with professors, and so I can fight for the wages that my colleagues and I deserve.

CAMB – Cancer Biology

Having a union would give graduate workers more power to address issues in the workplace. As it currently stands, graduate student workers can only hope that administration will take our concerns seriously. A union puts greater support in your corner to secure positive working conditions.

Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education

I want a union because getting a doctorate at Penn should be less of a precarity. Our degrees should be more accessible to all, not just those able to commit to financial insecurity for the better part of a decade. Our current contracts fall short of the average years to completion and leave many out to dry for the summer. The graduate workers who keep this university running do not deserve to be left guessing where their next month of pay is coming from.

Biology

Every year, Penn student workers waste valuable research time advocating at the individual or department level for small concessions, like stipend increases that haven’t even kept up with inflation. A union for all student workers will increase university transparency and guarantee we all get a say in Penn’s decisions about our working conditions.

CAMB – Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology

I believe having a union would improve the lives and working conditions of Penn graduate students in my cohort and future cohorts to come. Together, I believe we can address issues such as transportation, salary increases to match inflation, and childcare.

Electrical and Systems Engineering

I want to stand with my fellow graduate workers for a better Penn. I know that higher wages, better benefits, and fairer treatment is possible but only if we work together for it.

History

I believe it is critical for graduate workers to have a platform for collective bargaining which would give us legally sanctioned rights and help us improve working conditions across campus. The University of Pennsylvania lags behind other Ivy League Universities which have already unionized–including Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, and Yale– it’s time for us to join them.

Neuroscience

If Penn is truly driven by “the impetus to create new knowledge to the benefit of individuals and communities around the world,” it has a duty to recruit students from diverse communities to its advanced degree programs and ensure that each of them has a fair chance at success. By giving students bargaining power with the university, GET-UP will ensure that barriers to this ideal of equal access are not allowed to persist, and in doing so, actually help Penn fulfill its mission.

History and Sociology of Science

Having a union would allow the voices of graduate workers to be heard at Penn. From work expectations to individual stipends, I’m confident that collective bargaining will bring democracy to an otherwise one-sided conversation.

Sociology

An organized, strong union will put real power in the hands of graduate workers.

Bioengineering

As graduate workers, we deserve the right to collectively bargain with the University to secure better conditions, greater financial security, vacation time, and health care. A Union means we don’t have to kindly beg for what we deserve – we can demand it and bargain for it.

Genomics & Computational Biology

The work environment of graduate students is an inherently competitive and stressful place. Having a union to hold the administration accountable for how we are treated and fairly compensated is necessary to make Penn a healthy and productive place of work.

English

As a grad student with a dependent, I worry about my family’s healthcare costs. Having experienced vastly superior (and more affordable!) healthcare at my previous, unionized graduate institution, I find the exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for dependent coverage at Penn unconscioniable. We need a union to negotiate on grad workers’ behalf so that grads are not taking on additional work to pay for costly dependent coverage.

Political Science

I am fighting for a union because I believe our protections from harassment, retaliation, and abuse of all kinds are best guaranteed through a ratified contract. I also want to see major improvement in childcare and parental leave policies, and a union is the best avenue for helping grad worker parents.

Political Science

In my position as a TA I’m responsible for too many students to be able to give each of them the attention they need and deserve in order to succeed at Penn. Improving my working conditions with the power of a union would also improve my students’ learning conditions.

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

I’m currently content in my working conditions, but I have no delusions about what Penn would choose between my needs and their own financial success. A union is not only a show of solidarity with all the students experiencing hardships, but security that we can maintain fundamental rights and compensation.

South Asia Studies

As an international student, the last few years have exemplified how precarious our position can be in a foreign country. It was exhausting and near-impossible to juggle housing, funding and visa/immigration uncertainties all at the same time. Knowing that a union will have my back is the only way I can give a hundred percent to the academic demands of grad school!

Neuroscience

In conversations with my co-workers at Penn, I’ve heard so many exciting ideas that would ensure that graduate workers can live without worrying about money and that would increase the equity and justice in our community. Collective action is the only way that we can build real power to implement these changes through a clear, legally binding contract. We already know what we need, we just need to organize to make it happen!

Annenberg

When decisions are being made in the workplace, a union allows for the people those decisions affect the most to have a voice. Being a graduate student facing various challenges may feel lonely, precarious and alienating, but collective action and community through unionizing gives us an avenue to address those issues in solidarity.

Neuroscience

As a graduate student researcher and a student organization leader, I see first hand all of the work that graduate students at Penn do to build successful programs. We are workers that deserve dignity, respect, and fair pay; a union will help us secure that.

English

When it comes to grievance mechanisms, adequate pay, and democracy in the workplace, Graduate Student Workers should not have to rely on the good graces of our employer.

English

Institutional goodwill always runs out. Unionizing will secure us a say in our working conditions.

Biology

From my perspective as an international student, I strongly believe that unions can play a crucial role in addressing the unique challenges that we face. By banding together and advocating for our collective interests, we can work towards creating a more supportive and inclusive environment for ourselves and for those who will come after us. I believe this can offer a platform for our voices to be heard and our concerns to be addressed.

Electrical and Systems Engineering

Being active in GET-UP has shown me just how much the interests of all student workers, regardless of the degree being pursued or the area of study, align. We are united in our precariousness in the face of rising rents, a cost of living crisis and our lack of comprehensive healthcare coverage. Together, we can obtain essential improvements to our working conditions. Better wages, more support for international students and better protection against unfair workloads are all possible through collective bargaining.

Annenberg

So often as grad students, we are positioned as being “in training” when we are really doing so much of the labor that makes the university run. Without us, things would really grind to a halt. A union recognizes the essential role that grad students play in day-to-day workings at Penn, and gives us a way to ensure that we are treated fairly as a result.

Electrical and Systems Engineering

I think we are generally treated well, but our health insurance is horrible for anything beyond routine primary care. This means we lack true financial security as one accident could lead to significant medical debt (to the hospital operated by our employer nonetheless). A union would give us power in determining our own working conditions and benefits.

Annenberg

During the pandemic, I saw firsthand how crucial it was for us to come together to collectively advocate for what we needed to get through the most difficult times. At scale, with all students standing together, we can guarantee that student workers aren’t being exploited and are having their basic needs met while working to become the scholars of tomorrow.

Religious Studies

When I developed a chronic, disabling illness two years ago, there was no transparency around whether I could retain my Penn-funded health insurance if I took medical leave. Against my better judgment, I chose to push through and not take leave because of the uncertainty—I couldn’t afford the possibility that I’d lose my coverage. While Penn introduced a “pilot program” this year that allows students to retain Penn-funded health insurance during 1 semester of medical leave, uncertainty remains. By joining together as a union, we can work collectively to ensure better, more transparent health care policies for us all, as well as a more inclusive and accessible campus where disabled and chronically ill students thrive.

Philosophy

Joining a union is one of the key ways that we as graduate students can ensure enduring representation and a seat at the table. We can do more as a united group than we can as separate actors!

Sociology and Demography

When interacting with a powerful institution, I would like to have my peers organized with me on my side. Every other university I have been at has a graduate student union and I think that it is past time that UPenn does! And, as a Sociologist, I am engaged with research about the broader connection between union strength and worker wellbeing, poverty, and income inequality. Working in unionized jobs over a lifetime is associated with a host of positive outcomes. I think this is an investment in ourselves and future generations of grad students that is well worth it!

Annenberg

As a graduate student who is a parent, I need help supporting my family. Having a union helps us create new and improve existing resources that support students with dependent care responsibilities.

Neuroscience

As academia becomes increasingly competitive and requires additional pre-graduate experience, many graduate workers begin school in their mid-20s. I find that our student health/dental insurance has not kept up with this demographic change and does not meet the needs of an adult. I have delayed removing my wisdom teeth to avoid medical debt, and as a woman in science, the lack of family planning/fertility preservation coverage is a significant concern. A union would allow us to negotiate health insurance that meets our needs as adult workers.

Neuroscience

I knew before applying that completing my doctorate would be my greatest academic challenge. However, I did not anticipate spending every day (including weekends) in the lab for seasons at a time in order to obtain the data required for me to one day graduate. Before applying, I was under the impression that my role would be as a student, here to learn from experts. However, I did not anticipate that these experts would be too overworked themselves to dedicate the proper time to teach me. That the expectation is to largely teach yourself whatever you need to learn. At Penn, research is the primary objective. We are being paid to produce data for the university. Whatever learning that happens to accompany this is secondary. Our title as “student” only serves them when convenient. We are “students” so that we can be underpaid for a contract with no set end date.

Architecture

As a PhD in Architecture History & Theory at Weitzman School of Design, I have to teach every semester (sometimes in two classes) to make up for the very low stipend amount that only lasts four years. Having a union would help myself and my colleagues bargain for another year or two in our PhD stipend contract, as well as a higher annual stipend amount. We chose to come to Penn because of the excellence of the student research it supports. Now we are asking Penn to make good on its promises: value PhD students & their research through better compensation!

Annenberg

As an international student-worker at Penn, my situation is very precarious and I am fully economically dependent on the stipend I receive from the University every month. With the recession and the increasingly precarious living conditions in the US, especially for non-unionized workers, people in a similar situation as mine are facing a lot of financial problems because our visa situation restricts the possibility to obtain income from other sources (which, with a decent wage, we shouldn’t be in need for). This is particularly pressing if they have previously acquired debt or have dependents they need to take care of. I firmly believe that a union contract would provide a more solid ground to negotiate decent wages for everyone that reflect the current economic situation, and that can provide more financial security, especially for those of us whose only source of income is our jobs at Penn.