Underpaid, Overworked, and Essential: Graduate Labor Organizing

Graduate students—including those in entomology—are severely underpaid, almost always falling far below the local living wage (Kirchner and Petzoldt 2022, Woolston 2022). One study found that 17% of respondents experienced food insecurity as graduate students (Hammad and Leung 2024). Another study found that over 30% of graduate students experienced concern about affording rent and food (Laframboise et al. 2023). Even when universities increase stipends, they often do not keep up with inflation (Langin 2022). “Cost of living adjustments” that do not meet increases in inflation, healthcare costs, and fees are essentially pay cuts. Most universities employ graduate students at a maximum appointment of 20 hours per week, meaning they theoretically work only 20 hours a week, but the reality is that most graduate students work more than 40 hours a week. These appointments simply do not reflect the actual work graduate students put in (Lenharo 2023). In addition, graduate students are often financially stressed and rent-burdened, which impacts productivity (Fisman and Luca 2018). Further, low wages disproportionately affect BIPOC graduate student workers (Hansen-White 2023, GEO 2023, Laframboise et al. 2023). As universities and state legislatures across the country dismantle DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts (Gretzinger et al. 2024), low wages continue to be a barrier to members of marginalized communities and international students. So how do graduate student workers respond? Many, unfortunately, drop out; the dropout rate is 36–51% for those pursuing a Ph.D. (Bair and Haworth 2004, Young et al. 2019). Others never enroll. Many persist by accruing debt (NCSES 2023), relying on familial support, taking multiple jobs, and struggling to make ends meet. Many also organize to address these issues (Marijolovic et al. 2023); 38% of graduate workers belong to a union (Sainato 2024). Workers in unions consistently earn more than workers who are not (Peck 2022, Milkman and van der Naald 2023); this holds true for graduate workers, too (Rogers et al. 2013). Pan (2024) provides an excellent history of graduate worker unions. Organizing is a powerful tool for the rights of graduate students, faculty, staff, and other entomologists within academia, government, non-profit, and industry. Academic worker unions can boast several recent wins across the nation, such as increases to graduate student stipends at the University of California system (Jaime and Li 2023), Harvard University (Maclean and Tomasi 2023), and Boston University (Sobey 2024) and the reduction of superfluous fees at the University System of Georgia (Kalaji 2022). Graduate students at Washington State University won a new contract just hours into their strike (Gruben 2024). Workers can collectively address other workplace issues, too, such as closing the gender wage and representation gaps (Sun et al. 2021) prevalent in entomology (Walker 2018, 2023; Hartshorn et al. 2024). Labor unions can also address affordable health care, parental leave, childcare, job security, abusive workplace environments, federal funding cuts, international student visa revocations, and countless other issues. In the last round of negotiations at the University of California, workers in UAW 4811 negotiated eight weeks of paid parental leave, childcare reimbursements, and protections from harassment and bullying. If someone has a workplace issue, others are certainly experiencing it, too. The revitalization of labor organizing goes beyond academia. Indeed, labor unions in the U.S. have had their highest approval rating since 1965 (McCarthy 2022). For this article, we have primarily focused on graduate student workers in the U.S. and Canada, but we are simply part of a global effort of all workers. Solidarity is the name of the game. Graduate students are workers. We play critical roles in our labs, research programs, departments, universities, and societies. However, administrators often conflate and obfuscate these roles of worker and student, using whichever definition fits their needs at the moment. The injustice lies in that we are workers when the university needs instructors and researchers and students when it is time to compensate us fairly. So what can you do? When you have a workplace issue, talk to your coworkers about it and organize. Join your local union! Even if your state does not allow collective bargaining, joining (and forming) a union is always legal. This is true for faculty, students, and staff. A collective voice speaks louder than a single voice. Advocate on behalf of your graduate student workers. Be sympathetic to the financial (and other) struggles faced by your graduate students. Discuss your wages openly. Visit the living wage calculator (https://livingwage.mit.edu/) and determine whether your organization’s lowest wage meets your local cost of living. A vote for a union is a vote for a better life. Whether addressing skyrocketing rents and costs of living or supporting working parents, international workers, or workers with disabilities, a better world is possible when workers have a democratic say in their workplace. Thomas N. Sheehan is pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Georgia. He studies drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity in the imperiled longleaf pine ecosystem. He is a proud member of CWA local 3821. Marshall A. Nakatani is pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of California–Davis, studying circadian rhythm in honey bees. He is a proud member of UAW local 4811.

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