Tampa, FL – On November 4, Graduate Assistants United (GAU) negotiated with the University of South Florida (USF) Board of Trustees over the union’s pending contract. GAU’s stipend proposal was made on July 17. However, after months of stalling, the USF negotiations team returned with a measly 2% increase in their counterproposal.

For PhD graduate workers, this 2% increase would be about an extra $432 per year while for master’s graduate workers, this would be an extra $306 per year. This equates to less than $40 extra a month, which, with rising inflation, does little to help these workers. Around 80% of graduate assistants at USF are at the minimum stipend, meaning they need to work a second or even third job to make ends meet. If this 2% increase were put into effect, this would put graduate assistants at USF below the poverty line.

International graduate assistants mentioned concerns about stipends, as many of them dependent upon VISA status, can only work on campus and many cannot afford to travel home during the university’s slow months.

Additionally, the topic of fee relief was discussed at this session. As said by the GAU team, “Graduate assistants pay an average of $800 in fees to work which is taken out of their stipends.” It had been proposed that USF take $250 off in fees to aid graduate assistants. In response, USF said they “cannot agree to fee relief.”

USF GAU President Tessa Barber said, “With record enrollment, record research funding and record donations, a proposed 2% increase is frankly an insult and disservice to all graduate students.”

The University of South Florida was recently accepted into the AAU or Association of American Universities. One of the main stipulations for being invited to the AAU has to do with the research a university is producing. GAU’s stipend proposal was based on 10% below the median stipend for fellow graduate assistants at AAU universities.

The main articles of the contract that are still being negotiated relate to finances and protections for international students.

The next bargaining session is pending as the USF Board of Trustees must meet to agree to another counterproposal for the stipends.

#TampaFL #FL #Labor #GraduateStudents #GAU

Tampa, FL – On July 10, the Graduate Assistants United (GAU) negotiated with the University of South Florida (USF) Board of Trustees over their union’s contract. It was their seventh round of meetings with university representatives. Protection of international students continues to be a major issue for union members.

During recent negotiations, the two sides reached tentative agreements on nine articles of their Collective Bargaining Agreement, most notably, a nondiscrimination article that would secure gender identity, sexual orientation and immigration status as protected from discrimination.

The University of South Florida campus has become dangerous for immigrant students and staff after the USF Police Department signed onto the 287(g) task force model, directly collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That means campus police will support ICE efforts to carry out detentions and deportations of immigrants, including graduate assistants who teach in university classrooms.

Through their continuing negotiations with the University, GAU has fought for and won protections for immigrants in their new union contract, highlighting that international students make up a significant portion of the student body at USF.

In addition, union negotiators reached an agreement with the USF representatives that their online system to file Title IX complaints will be changed so that users can select multiple protected classes.

GAU also proposed a 25th article that would ensure that graduate assistants are paid on time, receive itemized pay stubs, and set up a system for emergency payments. There were 47 cases of pay issues from graduate assistants reported to GAU in 2025. GAU received reports of graduate students going without pay for as long as three weeks, causing them to miss rent, as well as reports of HR not replying to emails from union members.

GAU Membership Chair Morgan Amick said “This article represents a systemic issue that must be addressed.”

Last month on June 20, GAU and USF reached a tentative agreement on three out of the 24 articles in the union contract. This includes leave of absence and other absence issues, better grievance procedure and arbitration language, reducing and waiving fees for graduate assistants.

In previous talks, representatives of the USF bargaining team were disrespectful of both GAU and the audience’s time by showing up late to bargaining. They also prolonged caucuses past the maximum caucus time and attempted to speak over GAU representatives.

The next bargaining session will be on July 17 at 1 p.m.

#TampaFL #FL #Labor #GraduateStudents

Tampa, FL – On Friday May 16, the University of South Florida (USF) and the Graduate Assistants United (GAU) had their second round of negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. Media and supporters from Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society were in the audience as the GAU team bargained and argued against USF’s counterproposals and as they introduced their own.

The negotiations started on April 25, and continued this session with Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the 24-article collective bargaining agreement. GAU aimed to make wording in these articles clearer, so USF no longer gets away with not providing offer letters on time to graduate assistants. They are also working to have graduate assistants paid on time, as USF often delays the first two-week paycheck at the beginning of the semester because of their paperwork not being filed in time.

Article 4 is about the Employee Evaluation File, a singular file which would show graduate assistants’ evaluations and comments throughout their employment. USF has chosen not to continue graduate assistants’ employment before without explaining their reason, and so GAU wants to avoid situations where there is no clarity as to why their contracts are not renewed. They have also fought to have USF pay for any necessary redactions to these files, as USF claims it is a burden on them even though it is a needed security measure.

Speaking on the importance of the negotiation, GAU president and member of the bargaining team Tessa Barber said, “Typically there is that employer-employee dichotomy, that power structure there, but bargaining levels the playing field to improve our conditions not just for ourselves but for anyone who comes after us.”

Barber stated, “We hope to gain improvements for our working conditions, greater protections for employees both in and out of the workplace, in terms of any engagement in extracurricular activities. And especially considering the volatile political climate at the moment, strengthen protections for all employees, particularly vulnerable communities who may be impacted by political decisions going on right now.”

The next bargaining session is scheduled for May 30 at 1 p.m. in the Patel Center of the USF Tampa campus, and GAU expects to have the bargaining agreement done by late July.

#TampaFL #FL #Labor #GAU #GraduateStudents