gradaute student union

The Members of the United Graduate Workers have spent years protesting for better pay and treatment by the University of New Mexico. After months of intense bargaining, all their hard work has paid off; the union approved its first collective bargaining agreement with the university on Friday, December 16, 2022.

Ahead of a final bargaining meeting later this week, members of the United Graduate Workers of the University of New Mexico held a rally on campus for the inclusion of research assistants within the union.

Last month, KUNM reported on the continuing fight by graduate students at the University of New Mexico to include a non-discrimination in the union contract currently under negotiation. Yesterday, graduate student workers showed up on the first day of the semester to protest what they say is mistreatment and low-pay; and remind the administration how crucial they are to the university.

After a years-long organizing effort, graduate students at the University of New Mexico have scored a big victory. The New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board certified a card count last week showing a majority of the school’s 1,547 graduate workers favor collective bargaining.

Graduate Students do a large portion of the teaching and related work at the University of New Mexico. Reporter Austin Fisher, with Source New Mexico, told KUNM that UNM’s 1,500 graduate assistants work with as many as 15,000 undergrads each semester, assisting professors, running labs, and even teaching the same courses full-time instructors teach.