Tufts Library Workers Vote 41-5 to Unionize as MIT's Graduate and Facilities Unions Say They Are Preparing to Strike

Library workers at Tufts University voted 41-5 on Wednesday to form a union, choosing Service Employees International Union Local 888 as their collective bargaining representative, the Tufts Daily reported. The election, overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, drew about 71% of eligible library staff across Tufts campuses, according to the student newspaper.

A rally was held in front of Ballou Hall on Monday ahead of the vote, drawing library workers, students and community members. Nearly 400 members of the Tufts community have signed the union's support petition, which launched a month ago, said William Hansberry, a senior external organizer with SEIU 888, according to the Tufts Daily.

"The issues that library workers face are not dissimilar to the same issues that other workers on campus face, students face, in terms of needing and wanting the dignity and respect that any student or worker should get from a university," Hansberry said. "The only way that any one group is going to win that dignity and respect is if we're all able to come together."

No bargaining has taken place yet. A Tisch Library employee who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation told the newspaper that pay is a primary concern. "It's expensive to live in the Boston area, and so to not have any cost-of-living adjustment when we are having our salaries looked at every year is something that makes it feel like this is not a place to work at," the employee said. "It's not a sustainable job to have because it doesn't cover for the rising costs of healthcare and everything else."

The employee also cited limited opportunities for advancement and disparities between job titles. Despite holding a master's degree in library science, the employee said, they cannot apply for a promotion because their position is not technically titled "librarian." "The opportunities for promotions are not equal across job titles, and that is regardless of your actual qualifications or your job duties," they said.

The Tufts Labor Coalition, a student group, has supported the campaign by tabling, gathering petition signatures and promoting events. "It is our job as students to rally behind their fight for a just working environment because we are actively benefiting from all of the work that they're doing," said Ella Harris Perin, a senior on the coalition's logistics team.

In Cambridge, two MIT unions say they are preparing to strike together if they cannot reach contracts with the university. In an opinion piece published by Cambridge Day, Jim Bradford, an MIT electrician and chief steward for SEIU 32BJ, which represents MIT facilities workers, and Lauren Chua, a graduate researcher and president of the MIT Graduate Student Union, UE Local 256, wrote that their unions have been organizing together for nearly a year.

The two union leaders wrote that MIT has more than 200 buildings and that its fire protection team has just six fire technicians while the HVAC department has 17 vacancies. They wrote that preventive maintenance that once happened annually has sometimes been pushed to every two or three years, that MIT recently announced an 11% increase in health insurance premiums for 32BJ members, and that the university's wage offers have fallen short.

For graduate workers, they wrote, base annual pay for many doctoral researchers is around $51,000, some spend more than half their income on rent, and MIT has raised rents in university housing faster than graduate pay. International students make up roughly 40% of the graduate bargaining unit, and the union is seeking protections for them as well as a security agreement to preserve the union, according to the op-ed. Those are the unions' characterizations; the op-ed does not include a response from MIT.

"MIT is using uncertainty as an excuse to ask the people who help these institutions function to accept less," they wrote, referring to uncertainty over federal research funding, while acknowledging that "universities face real challenges as federal policies change." They wrote that Teamsters Local 25 has pledged not to cross their picket lines and that hundreds of undergraduates have pledged not to attend class if a strike happens. If the unions strike, they wrote, "classes and laboratory operations may cease."

"Neither of us wants to see MIT disrupted," Bradford and Chua wrote. "However, both unions are preparing to strike if that's what it takes."