The University of New Mexico’s graduate student workers’ union rallied outside of the administration building Tuesday. The United Graduate Workers are calling for raises that include research assistants and for the university’s bargaining committee to treat their union with respect.
Union member Wilber Dominguez is a research assistant in the physics department. He said he makes less than $2,000 a month and is concerned about affording rent as his lease is set to expire. He recently got SNAP benefits, or “food stamps,” to help make ends meet.
“So, these are a lot of concerns that I, as a graduate worker, should not be thinking about,” he said. “I should be worried about my research, about outputting good results.”
According to the university’s Basic Needs Survey, 55% of UNM graduate students on Albuquerque’s main campus receive some kind of food assistance. Additionally, 61% are housing insecure.
Research assistants were left out of the last two rounds of raises the union negotiated. Dominguez pointed out that’s despite the fact that UNM is the state’s only R1 institution, a classification for universities with “very high research activity.”
“A lot of what makes UNM UNM, and a strong R1 institution, is research assistants,” he said.
United Graduate Workers member Max Pagano is a teacher’s assistant who makes about $1,600 a month teaching Latin.
“I just want to make sure that I can keep doing that and that more people can do that after me,” they said.
For that to happen, Pagano said graduate student workers need to make a living wage. According to the MIT living wage calculator, that’s about $41,600 in Albuquerque. UNM graduate workers make about half of that on average, according to the union.
Pagano said the union is also calling on the administration to negotiate with the group respectfully.
“Right now, a really big goal is to get an offer that feels like we’re being taken seriously,” they said.
While a spokesperson for the university declined to comment on the details of the active negotiation, the union said its current offer is 4% raises with the option to exclude research assistants. Pagano said that has not changed since the union announced the rally, but they hope the demonstration will create some movement.
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