This story was originally published by Seacoastonline. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Hundreds of graduate student workers at the University of New Hampshire are one step closer to fully unionizing, a multi-year effort expected to conclude in March with the election of union officers.
UNH Graduate Employees United – UAW, representing approximately 700 graduate student workers, announced Monday it filed with the New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board to hold a union election. Almost 75% of graduate student workers in Durham signed union authorization cards in support of the process, the union revealed.
Upon its ratification, the graduate student union will officially be a chapter of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.
“We wanted to come together and at least get ourselves a seat at the table to negotiate with the university,” said forestry PhD student Jed Siebert, who works as a research assistant after serving as a teaching assistant while earning his master’s degree in Durham.
