MIT Graduate Union Authorizes Its First Strike With 92.5 Percent of the Vote; Police and Facilities Workers Are Also Without Contracts

Members of MIT's Graduate Student Union voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, with 92.5 percent of 1,708 ballots cast in favor, The Tech reported Friday. It is the union's first strike authorization vote. The union has said a strike will not begin before a "last-chance practice picket" on Thursday, Oct. 29.

The vote opened at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, after a meeting in Room 10-250, according to the student newspaper, and closed Thursday evening. During a strike, graduate workers and fellows would be expected to stop all work and "not cross the picket line." An email from the UE 256 Bargaining and Grievance Committee, quoted by The Tech, said a yes vote shows dissatisfaction with MIT's current offer, readiness to escalate and negotiating leverage. The committee said the practice picket would let graduate students "accordingly prepare for striking" and give MIT a "last-chance opportunity to bring a fair agreement." If a strike happens, it would end after a contract ratification vote.

After six months of bargaining and 15 sessions with MIT, seven articles of the contract, numbered 5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 19 and 25, have reached tentative agreement, The Tech reported. The majority of articles remain unresolved or have been closed. The central issues for the union are a union shop, a three-year contract, wages, health care and protections for international workers, and those remain at a standstill with the Institute, according to the paper. The Tech did not report MIT's response to the vote.

Undergraduates are organizing in support. A coalition called Students on Strike is circulating a petition urging students not to attend classes "to the greatest extent possible" if the graduate union or SEIU 32BJ, the union for MIT facilities workers, goes on strike. More than 600 undergraduates had signed as of publication.

The facilities workers have their own dispute. According to The Tech's Oct. 8 report, Chapter 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents MIT's custodians, mechanics, electricians and other facilities workers, has been working without a contract since the prior one expired on June 30, and launched a petition amid negotiations. The details of the bargaining positions were not in the report reviewed.

The MIT Police Association is in a third dispute. On Oct. 23, the first day of MIT's Family Weekend, the association stationed a billboard truck in front of Lobby 7 and handed out flyers at the crosswalk, The Tech reported Saturday. The truck displayed the salaries and raises of executives, including President Sally Kornbluth, Executive Vice President and Treasurer Glen Shor and police chief John DiFava. The flyers said MIT has offered a three-year contract with a zero percent raise in the first year and no guarantees on adjustments in the next two. They cited an 11 percent increase in health care costs by 2027 and a 16 percent average raise for MIT executives since 2024.

Melissa Sullivan, a media consultant for the association, told The Tech the officers have been working without a contract since July and remain understaffed. She said the truck would circle campus on Massachusetts Avenue until 4 p.m. Saturday. The association notified the university 48 hours ahead, in line with MIT rules, the paper said. The numbers on health care and executive raises come from the union's flyers, not from MIT, and the paper did not independently verify them.

MIT's finances are the backdrop. In a story Oct. 22, The Tech reported that MIT's endowment grew 6.7 percent in fiscal 2026 to $29.2 billion, excluding pledges, according to the Report of the Treasurer released Oct. 2, and described the growth as coming amid financial pressures. The school was also ranked first among national universities in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report list, announced Sept. 22, according to the paper.

For students, the date to watch is Thursday. The practice picket is intended as a rehearsal, and The Tech reports that a strike would not begin until after it. What MIT will offer before then, and whether the facilities workers or police take their own action, were not known as of Monday.