MIT Graduate Union Holds 'Last-Chance' Practice Picket Thursday After 92.5 Percent Strike Vote

MIT's Graduate Student Union plans a "last-chance" practice picket on Thursday, Oct. 29, after members voted overwhelmingly to authorize the union's first-ever strike, The Tech reported. Out of 1,708 ballots, 92.5 percent voted yes, the student newspaper reported on Oct. 23.

The union has said a strike will not begin before the practice picket. According to an email from the UE Local 256 Bargaining and Grievance Committee cited by The Tech, the delay is meant to let graduate students "accordingly prepare for striking" and to give MIT a "last-chance opportunity to bring a fair agreement." During a strike, graduate workers and fellows would be expected to stop all work and "not cross the picket line," The Tech reported. If a strike begins, it would end after a contract ratification vote.

After six months and 15 bargaining sessions, seven contract articles have reached tentative agreement, The Tech reported, listing Articles 5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 19 and 25. The central issues remain unresolved: union shop, a three-year contract, wages, healthcare and protections for international workers.

The vote opened Monday, Oct. 19, after a meeting in Room 10-250, and closed the following Thursday. A yes vote signals dissatisfaction with MIT's current offer, readiness to escalate and bargaining leverage, according to the committee's email.

Undergraduates are organizing too. A coalition called Students on Strike has circulated a petition urging students not to attend classes "to the greatest extent possible" if the graduate union or SEIU 32BJ, the union representing MIT facilities workers, goes on strike. More than 600 undergraduates had signed as of The Tech's report.

MIT's labor tensions extend beyond graduate students. The Tech also reported on Oct. 24 that the MIT Police Association protested a proposed contract with no raise.

The MIT vote comes as graduate workers at Harvard began their second strike of the year on Tuesday, according to The Harvard Crimson.

What remains unknown: MIT's response to the strike vote, whether Thursday's practice picket will be followed by an open-ended strike, and how classes and research would be affected.