Why we’re forming a union

“We need a union to ensure fair compensation, transparent policies, job security, and a stronger voice in institutional decisions. Postdocs drive research, mentor students, and contribute significantly to the university’s success. We deserve clear protections and equitable treatment. A union is not about conflict, it’s about fairness, stability, and building a stronger research community together.”

“Postdocs need a union because it is the only way for us to ensure that our voices are heard and our needs met, long-term, regardless of turnover in administration or changes in relationships. We ALL deserve job security, support, and pay that reflects our contributions. We may each only be in our current positions for a few years, but I believe we should try to leave our institutions better than we found them and improve things for those who come after us. We are stronger together.”

I don’t think it’s reasonable for the workers responsible for basic university functions, including maintaining R1 research statuses, to have to put back food on grocery shelves, to not receive basic preventative medical care, to not take off time for family or medical emergencies, because of a lack of compensation and administrative policies barring. We deserve the same rights as any other kind of worker, including PTO, cost of living increases that keep up with costs of living, and fundamental security for international workers.

“I want to form a union because we deserve to have a say in our working conditions. I would love to see the postdocs in Nevada have fair wages across all departments and campuses, better job stability, and better protections for international scholars who contribute so much to our universities.”

A Graduate Assistant (GA) union is essential to address the financial and employment challenges GAs currently face. Despite the critical work we perform—whether teaching, conducting research, or supporting university operations—our compensation is not sufficient to meet basic living expenses in Las Vegas. Many GAs struggle to afford rent, food, and transportation due to low pay, which does not reflect the value of our contributions. Additionally, we are ineligible for essential benefits like health insurance and retirement plans, leaving us without support for medical needs or long-term financial security. This lack of benefits creates an unsustainable situation, as GAs are unable to access the basic protections available to other university employees. Furthermore, the absence of job security and standardized protections means that GAs often face uncertain workloads, pay, and contract terms, adding to the instability of our positions. A union would give GAs the collective bargaining power necessary to advocate for better wages, benefits, and job security, ensuring that we are fairly compensated for our labor and can support ourselves while contributing meaningfully to UNLV’s academic mission. Through a union, GAs could push for a more equitable and sustainable working environment that reflects the importance of the roles we play within the university, ultimately benefiting both GAs and the institution as a whole.

I want to form a union because graduate worker pay is so low that we automatically qualify for food stamps. But I am also interested in gaining protection for students from abusive working environments. In contrast to the industry, there is currently no oversight of an academic supervisor’s management of their students. Students that are facing unfair treatment, coercion, and abuse have no one to turn to that can advocate for them. It is important to remember that graduate students are adults and that their journey through graduate school is their very livelihood. Graduate school is an extremely stressful and serious endeavor that defines the lifestyle and wellbeing of the student. International students have even less support when the future of their life and success in the United States is in the hand of a single person. It is difficult enough to have to willingly plunge oneself into poverty, and have to find multiple roommates in order to pay the bills, just to manage graduate school, before having to deal with potential unchecked disrespect and hostile working environments. Forming a union will push the university to come to the negotiation table in good faith to address our concerns.

At UNR, I’m fortunate to be surrounded by brilliant, passionate, hard-working graduate students laboring in unsustainable conditions. Myself and my colleauges struggle to meet our basic needs, lack adequate healthcare. We have no protection from exploitation, harrassment, or unsafe working conditions. We are essential workers and deserve to be treated as such. Unionizing gives us the platform and power required to advocate for ourselves and to construct working conditions that will allow us to continue producing world-class research, providing excellent instruction, and devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to our studies.

I support the establishment of a graduate student union because we – graduate research and teaching assistants (GAs) – deserve to be fairly compensated for our work and forming a union will afford us the ability to collectively bargain for the conditions of our employment. We are indispensable assets to the institution and, if the university expects to continue bringing in talented and skilled researchers from around the world and maintain its status as a Carnegie R1 university, the administration needs to raise its GA compensation to remain competitive with other universities.

I am a graduate student in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs MPA program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I am choosing to stand with the efforts to form a union because not only do I want my decisions in life to matter and have purpose, but I want better for those who will come after me. The opportunity to unionize will allow for more transparency, more protection, and being valued for our significant contributions to and for the universities we serve. When I first started, I received such a low stipend that barely covered my rent and I am only allowed to work 10 hours additional hours outside of my program. Since my first year, the stipend has increased, but so has the cost of living, so I feel as if I am back in the same position as when I started. I am only covered with medical insurance, no vision and no dental. Graduate student workers play a vital role in the university and deserve proper treatment, respect, and compensation.

As an international student, I have seen and faced lot of hurdles to pursue my higher education here. The immigration laws and rules are not clearly explained. Most of the students do not even know what are they even eligible for or not on campus. The housing around campus especially for graduate Students is not available or if available too expensive. Post Covid there is this rule of mandatory 3 credits in person class but many departments are not aware of it, even aware choose to ignore it as professors are more comfortable online. This is a big hurdle for International Students and we have to enroll into random in person class not even required for the degree. Apart from these, issues like summer not being paid or paid less overall, insurance coverage range are other common issues, I would like to see being addressed via this union.

The way I see it, we have below average income and many of us may struggle to provide for ourselves in turn, especially with the expectation to work many hours with minimal pay. With this minimal pay it is hard to save up for unexpected scenarios, health scares, your car breaking down, etc. To top it off, many have barely any money to do recreational activities at times, which may contribute to feeling overworked and demoralized. A union will give us the opportunity to get the funding for these basic functions.

I am a first generation student who grew up in a low-income family. I graduated at the top of my undergraduate class — but only because I paid my way through college with student loans. I support unionizing the graduate student population so that we can negotiate for fair salaries and working conditions for all graduate assistants. I believe that anyone who meets all other prerequisites (knowledge and work ethic) should have the opportunity to elevate their life through the completion of a graduate degree, especially people from low-income families. Let’s change the system to provide better opportunities for all!

I am a graduate student researcher in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As such, we are faced with long work days filled with research and teaching. Forming a graduate worker union at UNLV will open the door to discuss better pay, better working conditions, better benefits, and overall transparency with the university administration. With a union, I would not feel the need to put other areas of my life on hold, such as starting a family, simply because I lack the support from my job.

Graduate students deserve to be represented and able to advance our basic needs to stay and work as graduate workers for our universities. By forming a union, we will be able to use collective bargaining to advocate for our working conditions, wages, and benefits instead of leaving them in the hands of administration.

I support forming a union because I believe everyone–without exception–should be able to work in a safe, discrimination free, trustworthy environment. It is important to me to be a part of this effort to help make this a reality for my peers in my university as well as those student-workers who will come after us. In this way, I want to be part of investing in the future for student-workers at universities.

Every worker deserves to be treated with respect, to be compensated fairly for their labor, and to know someone has their back. While my experience as a graduate student worker has been really positive, I know that’s not true for everyone. So, for all the times in my career I wished I was part of a union, I’m supporting efforts to form one here and now.

Carlos Tkacz is currently a PhD student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he studies speculative fiction and pop-culture through an ecocritical lens and in the Global Anglophone context. Carlos supports unionizing Graduate Assistants because he believes that workers, no matter their work, deserve increased say in the conditions of their employment. He believes this is especially true in the university setting, where GAs are absolutely essential to the work of education, which in turn is necessary for an equitable and just society.

I am a graduate student instructor and researcher in the Political Science Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I care about the graduate student worker unionization effort because graduate workers are a necessary part of the foundation of our university, and we deserve a seat at the table to advocate for our needs.

I am getting involved because I believe that a comfortable wage is the bare minimum for all workers. As a graduate worker, I can do my small part to help send a message to our local universities that they must set the example for students and the larger community. That a more equitable system is possible and that our labor is indeed valuable. The impact of collective action is more powerful than ever and I hope to see that reflected across academia.

As graduate assistants we are in a weird limbo between student and employee of the university; as such we do not have the same protections and benefits that many of our colleagues have. We all work more than our allotted weekly hours and that does not include our own studies. We are not paid over the summer even though our work does not stop. We need assurances, we need collective bargaining, we need to be able to do our jobs without worrying if we can pay rent or afford food every month.

I am proud to be part of NGSW because of the excitement I hear from student workers all across the university. We know that we provide integral services, and the school would not function without us. We want this to be reflected in our compensation, in the quality of our workplace, and in our own agency here on campus. Forming a union will give us the power to make meaningful decisions for ourselves, improving our quality of life now and setting a lasting standard for future graduate workers.

I am a PhD candidate in the School of Life Sciences and throughout my time in the program I have witnessed many challenges that graduate workers encounter that hinder their ability to grow as students and scientists. Wages are varied greatly between labs as are expected hours, publication requirements, and mentorship relationships. Some students struggle to meet their basic needs while also working well beyond full time hours. I believe the formation of a union and the right to collectively bargain would result in better working conditions as well as an overall healthier work environment allowing students to succeed.

As graduate students, we are the engine that powers research and innovation, yet too often we are left without the protections and support we deserve. Together, through collective action, we can build a future where our work is valued, our voices are heard, and our rights are respected.

I am a first-generation, mixed-race, graduate student, and I am one of many at UNLV. A graduate student union would provide essentials for graduate students, helping ensure that students from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds have access to fair working conditions, pay, and resources. Grad student unions are structures that showcase how critical it is to have places that advocate for fairness and inclusivity. They ensure that our needs are heard, that we are treated equitably, and that we have the resources to thrive in both our teaching and our research, allowing us to give our best to the university and to the students that we serve.

We need a system were grad workers can advocate for our interests, a way to protect our jobs, and develop a sense of security.

As a professional looking to move into the entertainment/performance industry I am hyper aware of how essential organized labor is to protecting workers from exploitation. The regulations regarding work expectations and hours from assistantships have been written ambiguously and allow for dramatic variations both across and within departments that create an imbalance in workload and expectations for workers. Currently students have no real recourse for addressing these issues without exposing themselves- a union would allow for structured institutional support to address issues regarding hours, pay, benefits and expectations.

As postdoctoral opportunities and a successful academic career in astrophysics or science are disproportionately dependent on one’s publication record, my colleagues and I have all felt the immense pressure to dedicate substantially more time to research than is expected or contracted by our graduate assistantships (GAs). Since UNLV did not achieve nor maintain its top-tier Carnegie R1 Classification without the often overlooked and undervalued teams of graduate students across departments and over the past couple of decades, it is obvious why we have the largest stake in determining our working conditions. Growing up in Las Vegas since the 1990s, I have witnessed firsthand the city’s remarkable economic growth and diversification but also the rise of inflation and income inequality. Thus, GA stipends must sufficiently increase and keep up with the mounting cost of living and to compete with other institutions if UNLV intends to maintain its R1 status by attracting top-tier graduate students.

Although I am new to the graduate student experience, I wish to help in the process of forming a union as a way of supporting my fellow grad students who have been here longer than I have. I strongly believe that everyone, regardless of their place of employment, should have a definite say in the details of their contract. We must be able to negotiate with our employers so that we may have not only the best working environment possible, but also pay and benefits that accurately reflect the work we are performing.

My name is Andre, as an international PhD Student in the Neuroscience program, I’m focusing on expanding the current knowledge on exercise and physical fitness for children with neurodevelopmental disability. Holding a GA position gives me some level of financial support, but with increasing cost of living, alternatives to make these GAs more appropriate to this current strains, is something relevant. With that in mind, being organized as student workers under a representative organization such as an Union would give us more voice to achieve this goal.

I am a graduate student assistant in Theatre Arts at UNLV. My works includes supporting the theatre department productions and eventually teaching. My contributions to productions range from being an electrician, a lighting designer, or a programmer. Forming a union will allow us to have a more equitable space with protections so we can produce our best work.

As the city of Las Vegas changes around the University, the Graduate Colleges should adapt to the ever-changing environment as well. I want the next generation of graduate students to have better working conditions, practices, and benefits. Through organizing a union and as an organized majority, I believe we will have a better representation as both students and workers.

I believe in the inherent value that a community, through the structure of a union, can have. As a first generation low income college graduate, I understand the importance of community and how it can reduce inequality simply through shared information. A union offers protection, solidarity, and knowledge that will protect myself and fellow workers.

I am graduate teaching assistant in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology at UNR. My research focuses around lizard ecology in current and future warming climates. I support unionization to create a more equitable, professional and fair working environment for graduate student workers from the US and abroad (like myself!).

I’m a graduate student studying Creative Writing in Nonfiction at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As creatives, writers typically struggle to make ends meet as it is. However, even with financial support from the university, the demand of GAs for hours on campus complicates our ability to maintain side-gigs and freelance work. Contractually, we aren’t allowed more than 10 outside hours of work, still leaving a pay gap larger than is manageable. Union representation would help us negotiate to close that pay gap and allow a healthier work-life balance.

Universities like to treat graduate students as students or as employees as it suits them. This leads to exploitation and lack of support in key areas. We deserve to have protections as workers, in addition to living wages and benefits. The University of Nevada would not be able to function without graduate students teaching classes and labs, and our ability to bargain should reflect this.

I don’t have a confirmed GAship for my whole PhD so I need search every year for a position, and being a international student it always give me anxiety and stress for the coming year. Forming a union will help us in representing Graduate Assistant issues that affect campus life, diversity, GAship issue and wellbeing.

I am pursuing my Doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy. As an International Graduate Assistant at UNLV, I’ve discovered that my position lacks job security, as the university relies on unenforceable letters instead of contracts. As an international student, my options are even more limited, making it nearly impossible to maintain financial stability while pursuing my degree. This uncertainty (combined with a lack of summer income and restrictions on where I can work) creates significant stress to an already demanding academic and work life. A union would give us the power to negotiate for stable contracts, fair pay, and better working conditions. It would provide student workers with the security we need to focus on our studies and support the university more effectively. By coming together, we can create a more equitable and supportive environment for everyone, strengthening the entire institution.

GAs want to make positive changes on campus – we have the intention, we just need the power. Unionizing will give us a voice and a collective seat at the table.

When I began my graduate career at UNLV, I had the belief that the university would fully support my efforts and the work I produced. Now, I see that UNLV and other universities across the nation seek to exploit the graduate student workers promoting the university’s image by encouraging us to work incredibly long hours for little to no pay Through unionization, we as graduate workers can stand up for our rights and create a better life for ourselves. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, nobody else will.

I’ve always worked through my undergradute and conducted research. I was fortunate to make enough money to support myself here in Reno with the money I made between my three jobs. I now work one job, have a degree, and work more than 40 hours but I make less than what I did take-home during undergrad. I am lucky enough to have a partner who also works full-time, but if we were to break up I would be thrown into homelessness. I have no independent financial stability.

As we are adults who dedicate the vast majority of our waking hours in a week to our studies & work, I believe that graduate student workers deserve to earn a living wage. It sometimes feels as though we are placed in an oversimplified category of “student workers”. Grad students should be able to attain financial independence as we work towards our professional goals. I also feel that this time should be an opportunity for us to build up savings & other resources in preparation for post-grad school professional life – instead of barely being able to add to a savings account & then likely having to dip into that near the end of a month anyways.