Penn grad student workers vote to unionize after 2 decades of advocacy

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After more than two decades of advocacy, graduate student workers at the University of Pennsylvania have voted to unionize.

The Graduate Employees Together University of Pennsylvania, also known as Get-UP, announced Friday that just over 1,900 of the 3,700 eligible voters turned out last week, with 95% voting in favor of joining the United Auto Workers union, which represents several other graduate student unions at colleges across the country.

“The data are pretty clear. I’m a scientist and I can say that we Penn grads are united in wanting a say in our working conditions,” said Penn graduate student worker Luella Allen-Waller at an event in March in support of on-campus graduate workers unionizing.

At the time, graduate student workers accused the university of “ union-busting” tactics , such as delaying the election to join UAW.

With support from elected officials and unions across the city, a vote to unionize was expected to take place on April 16 and 17, but got pushed to May 1 and 2.

Now, negotiations can begin on a contract, but the timeline could be long, as it took more than two years for workers at Penn Museum to agree on one.

In a statement to KYW, Penn said it looks forward to negotiating with UAW representatives on a contract for its graduate workers to advance “a dynamic and supportive academic environment.”

“Most of all, unions belong at Penn because we, the workers, say that they do,” Allen-Waller said.