SGWU-UE  Bargaining Economics Platform

In this vote, our Bargaining Language Platform was ratified by majority vote by our membership on May 16, 2024. Members were able to cast their vote between April 25, 2024 through May 16, 2024.

The text of the platform is below:

Our economic proposals:

1. Include an immediate and substantial pay raise for all graduate workers.
2. Require Stanford to pay us fair wages that account for the high cost of living in Palo Alto, increases in University-owned housing costs, and inflation.

Require equitable treatment for all graduate workers by:

• Securing immediate and substantial pay raises for all graduate workers.
• Enforcing wage protection against future inflation and rent increases.
• Requiring Stanford administration to cover the costs of pay raises to protect PI budgets and grants.
• Guaranteeing 6 full years of funding for all PhD graduate workers. This requires Stanford to expand and fully implement its existing but unfulfilled 5 year funding promise to match a realistic time frame for completing a PhD.
• Ensuring all departments cover the Vaden “Health Fee” to leave more money in your pocket.
• Reimbursing visa fees to alleviate financial burdens on international graduate workers.
• Providing Technology Grants for all PhD graduate workers to ensure we can perform our cutting-edge research.

Ensure equitable and affordable housing through:

• Accounting for the cost of Stanford housing by increasing stipends so housing isn’t an unreasonable amount of our expenses.
• Guaranteeing the availability of affordable housing for all graduate workers.
• Securing union representation on committees related to graduate worker housing to help avoid unilateral changes from R&DE.
• Ensuring that housing for graduate workers is safe, clean, and well-maintained to provide an adequate environment for our work and daily living.
• Providing financial relocation assistance for incoming graduate workers to defray the costs of moving, whether local, out of state, or international, into one of the highest cost of living areas in the world.
• Making provisional housing available for graduate workers who must be on campus before their first quarter to avoid the complication of finding a short-term rental in the expensive Bay Area housing market.
• Eliminating fees for terminating a housing contract when employment circumstances change to make it easier when transitioning away from Stanford.

Expand access to healthcare by:

• Requiring the University to fully cover Cardinal Care premiums for graduate workers, partners, and dependents so you and your family can be secure.
• Reducing out-of-pocket costs on Cardinal Care for medical care, prescriptions, and equipment.
• Providing full coverage for all dental and vision services.
• Ensuring full coverage for all mental health provider visits to make up for the limited coverage and availability of Stanford CAPS.
• Providing coverage for infertility services, fertility preservation, lactation equipment, and contraception to support graduate workers who choose to grow their family now or later.
• Providing coverage for gender affirmation services and procedures to support queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming graduate workers.
• Guaranteeing two quarters of paid leave after pregnancy, childbirth, and adoption for birthing and non-birthing parents to ensure graduate workers can recover and bond with new children.
• Guaranteeing housing and medical benefits to workers taking a medical leave up to four quarters to ensure stability for workers.

Provide aid and stability for all graduate workers by:

• Establishing minimum (no maximum) paid time off (PTO) for vacation, illness, jury duty, bereavement, and more.
• Enhancing food security via more frequent food pantries with broad dietary options.
• Protecting access to cash advances and payroll deduction plan options to ensure you have access to money when you need it.
• Moving the payroll schedule earlier to match our work schedules and stop the month-long delays in pay for Fall quarter
• Granting access to a voluntary retirement plan with prior employment rollovers and loan options to help us prepare for our futures.
• Requiring the University to provide clear explanations of how a typical graduate worker’s taxes should be handled, and to warn graduate workers if they have quarterly estimated tax obligations.
• Requiring the University to subsidize free tax advice programs for graduate workers.
• Requiring the University to either make purchases (for travel, equipment, etc.) or, if a graduate worker chooses to make the purchase, reimburse you within two weeks.

Protect graduate workers and their families by:

• Increased subsidies to make on-campus childcare affordable.
• Reimbursement for late pickup or overtime penalties when your work keeps you past normal childcare pickup hours.
• Grants for graduate workers with dependents who need different childcare during business travel.
• Access to affordable back-up dependent care options.
• Providing access to affordable elder care services.
• Providing paid time off (PTO) for enrolling dependents in school or addressing school emergencies.

Secure access to sustainable transit benefits, including:

• Access to the Caltrain GoPass, VTA Smartpass, and other unlimited-ride transit passes.
• A tax-free subsidy for commuting expenses, such as BART, Muni, and parking.
• Improved Marguerite Shuttle service for getting around & off campus, timed to match Caltrain arrival and departure.
• Reasonably priced on-campus parking options.
• Travel reimbursements including flights and cars as well as alternative transportation like public transit and bicycles.