Members of the Stanford Graduate Workers Union (SGWU) ratified a tentative bargaining agreement with the University with 86% approval, union leadership announced Friday morning.
Union members were required to sign new membership cards to vote on the agreement. The contract passed with 1,482 in favor and 250 against for a total of 1,732 votes. In comparison, 2,317 union members voted on SGWU’s strike authorization ballot earlier this month.
The ratification vote, which opened on Saturday and closed on Thursday, is the final step in implementing the new contract, which will go into effect immediately and expire in August 2027. The agreement comes after a year of negotiations between the University and SGWU and an averted strike.
“Today’s ratification marks the culmination of over a year of bargaining, and marks a historic victory for all of the graduate workers of Stanford University,” the bargaining committee wrote in an email to members. “We are part of a movement that is actively transforming higher education by raising the standards of academic workplaces.”
As a next step, the union looks to establish a constitutional committee and an interim grievance committee. The constitutional committee will draft the governing document of the union. The interim grievance committee will consist of the elected bargaining committee and volunteers who will support union members filing grievances, prior to the election of formal leadership.
At Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting, University President Jon Levin ’94 said, “our hope is that the agreement can set a foundation for a long-term relationship that is productive and respectful.”
The contract will grant graduate workers a pay raise of 4.75% on average and an increase of 6.78% in the minimum stipend in its first year. The stipend will increase by 4.25% next year and by 3.75% in 2026. The University also guaranteed 12 months of funding for the first five years of Ph.D. students’ degrees.
Additionally, the University published its housing rates for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years, and vowed not to allow the increase in on-campus housing prices to exceed the increase in graduate workers’ wages.
The contract included a section protecting union members from workplace harassment and discrimination. Under the agreement, graduate workers filing Title IX complaints may request the presence of a union member in investigative interviews and as a representative in initial meetings with the Title IX coordinator or a designee.
The contract was met with opposition from some SGWU members, who argue that the exclusion of research fellows from anti-discrimination and anti-harassment sections of the contract warrants a return to the bargaining table. Additionally, opponents of the agreement stated that the wage increases it outlines are not sufficient to counteract the inflated prices of on-campus housing.
Negotiations began between SGWU and the University on Nov. 2, 2023 in an effort to come to a tentative agreement on a non-economic contract. SGWU then ratified its economic platform in May 2024 amidst continued bargaining efforts. These negotiations persisted throughout the summer.
Graduate workers rallied and signed strike pledges on Oct. 2 after a statement by the University asserted that SGWU’s proposed wage increases in Sept. 27 and Oct. 1 bargaining sessions were “unreasonable.” On Nov. 6, union members passed a strike authorization measure and rejected the University’s Oct. 28 contract.
On Nov. 8, the SGWU bargaining committee vowed to strike on Nov. 12 if the University did not show “serious movement” regarding key bargaining issues such as wage increases, nondiscrimination, benefits and guaranteed funding. After returning to the bargaining table on Nov. 11, the bargaining committee called off the strike and opened voting to union members later that week.