WHOI Grad Student Union

According to an outside consulting firm hired by #WHOI, ~16%~ of students have BEEN HOMELESS. We work at the best oceanographic institution in the world and SIXTEEN PERCENT OF US HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO ACTUALLY FIND HOMES

The @WHOIGradUnion held a rally last month to pressure their employer to include fellows in their contract language. The union has been focused on ensuring that all grad workers, regardless of their funding source, are treated equally under their employment terms.

Today was our second contract negotiation session with @WHOI admin. Disappointingly, WHOI did not provide our Union any counter proposals this session. Despite overwhelming evidence, WHOI also continues to insist fellows do not work here.

In response to the University of Minnesota's decision to stop bargaining with GLU-UE Local 1105, we need YOUR help to put pressure upon the university to return to the bargaining table. Templates for phone calls and email templates can be found at bit.ly/glu-scripts

Take a look back in time with this work from a union worker!

Bargaining Committee member @KJEHickman being amazing- as always!

More amazing work from an amazing grad worker! Go check it out!

WHOI Grad Worker, @soFISHtication, has had such a great run on Sci Show! Go check it out!!!

About to walk into our first contract negotiation with @WHOI admin. We're looking forward to a good faith discussion on how to improve the life of all graduate workers at this institution!!! ✊

🚨We want to say congratulations to @rupostdocunion! With this election, NYC gains another postdoc union and our collective power keeps growing! Welcome to the @uaw and @UAWRegion9A family!🎉🎉#WhenWeFightWeWin

Strong evidence showing that getting a PhD is extremely bad for your mental health. A new paper uses Swedish medical records and matches them to the full population of PhD students for which the authors could get gender and birth year data from 2006 to 2017. After some exclusion criteria, they end up with a sample size of 20,085 individuals. The paper compares PhD students to those who have masters degrees and don't start a PhD program. Before starting a PhD program, people who stop at a masters and those who go on to seek a PhD have similar rates of psychiatric medication use and hospitalization. A few years into a PhD program, however, 40% more individuals are on psychiatric medications, before the number falls off as people leave or finish their studies. You see the same pattern with psychiatric hospitalizations. PhD students are up to 150-175% more likely to be hospitalized after starting a program! These are incredible numbers, too massive to be the result of chance or a flaw in the methodology. This is comparing the same people over time. If you're considering a PhD program, and the terrible job prospects and waste of time aren't enough, here's yet another reason to stay away.

Announcing the ✨officially recognized✨ WHOI Graduate Student Union! After many years of dedicated organizing, the WHOI Graduate Workers have finally received official recognition and can now begin contract negotiations for our very first contract with @WHOI!

Unions representing over one million workers released a statement today in support of campus protesters at colleges and universities across the country. Read the full statement: ueunion.org/press-release/…

"It’s necessary to take a step back and acknowledge that any ambitious strategy for unionizing millions will entail lots of losses along the way... Winning big and winning at scale require taking many more risks and relying less on staff." laborpolitics.com/p/to-win-big-l…

The only thing that cures homelessness is housing.

A union member's work given awesome recognition!

@vanessainstem A union member!

@WHOIGradUnion omg love it! who made it?

Peep our new logo 👀👀👀🤩🤩🤩

After two weeks on the picket line, UE Local 261-GOLD members at Dartmouth College hit another bargaining milestone last Thursday when they won their demand for free employer-sponsored dental coverage.

Today student-workers at UC Santa Cruz, members of @uaw_4811, are going on strike. They're walking out to demand that administrators negotiate with demonstrators, stop violently repressing student protests, and provide amnesty for protesters who were punished.

The workers will win. Say it back.