The University of Minnesota and its Graduate Labor Union (GLU) reached a tentative contract agreement on Friday with proposed changes to benefit GLU members. 

GLU members will be voting from Dec. 2 to 6 to ratify the University’s proposed contract which includes a minimum hourly pay raise, protections from harassment in the workplace, fee subsidies to offset the cost of semester fees and time off for personal days.  

GLU has been in bargaining negotiations with the University since September 2023, with negotiations suspended in October due to a Maintenance of Status Quo order issued by the Bureau of Mediation Services. 

The order was issued the day after the University filed a petition with BMS to determine whether or not fellows should be included in the contract negotiations. 

Once bargaining resumed after several negotiation sessions, bargaining members reached a tentative agreement with the University, which will be voted on by GLU members next week. 

Members will vote on the ratification of the contract next week, bargaining committee member Sam Boland said. If members vote to reject the contract, they will authorize a strike. 

Boland said striking is still a possibility, but committee members realize it is not something all of GLU wants. 

With the threat of the strike, Boland said the bargaining committee was able to push the University to give GLU an offer they believe a majority of their members will ratify.  

“There’s a lot of fear about retaliation from advisors or from the University and particularly amongst graduate international students,” Boland said. “We realize that there’s not a huge appetite for a strike right now, and that’s not something that we want to force all of our members to have to make that decision.” 

Boland said he knows not all GLU members will be pleased with this contract, and he does not expect ratification of the contract to pass with “flying colors.” He said it is important that GLU members understand what is at stake and make the best decision for themselves in voting. 

“We really just want as many people to vote as possible, because this needs to be a decision that is made by the majority of our unit,” Boland said. 

Although the contract is not what some members had envisioned, Boland hopes members consider the progress the bargaining unit and GLU have made, although he encourages members to vote any way they want so they feel represented.  

“We knew that this contract didn’t have all of the things that we were expecting it to have but ultimately we have to consider the will of the membership and the huge amount of progress that we’ve made,” Boland said.