8-May-2026 Bargaining Update 5
Dear Grad Workers, We asked you to show up to fight for your raise, and the response we saw blew us away. By our count,…
28-Apr-2026 Bargaining Update 4
Dear Grad Workers, Our next bargaining session is on May 7th, just over a week away. Our previous bargaining session made clear that NMSU isn’t…
23-Apr-2026 Bargaining Update 3
Dear Grad Workers,Our first bargaining session with the university concluded at 5pm yesterday. We presented our first proposal: an annual cost of living adjustment to…
December 31
After a semester-long struggle of bargaining with NMSU and their team of lawyers, we have reached an agreement.
In short, we won 6 credits of tuition coverage which cannot be impacted by any other funding sources, and a 2% raise for all graduate students. We’re proud of these accomplishments! We must note, however, that there were many other requests and needs of NMSU graduate students that were outright denied by the University. This contract is a positive step, but still lacks genuine support of NMSU grad workers in numerous ways.
Union Members! Respond NOW to set our goals for the next round of bargaining
July 11
Happy summer fellow grad workers!
Hope everyone is staying cool amidst this long hot spell.
This summer, our Union is working to prepare for our Fall semester bargaining with the University, when we will be negotiating an ENTIRE new contract! In bargaining, we sit across the table from NMSU administrators and lawyers and attempt to reach an agreement about how to better working conditions for graduate workers across the NMSU campus. Bargaining is a powerful tool, but it also must be focused and efficient if we want to see tangible change.
One way to boost our focus and efficiency at the table is through the development of clear and concise proposals, where we address issues that we face as grad workers and propose ways to remedy those issues. Our bargaining team has already begun strategizing about items to include in those proposals to the University, but WE NEED YOUR HELP!
When we head to the bargaining table in September, we want to make sure that we are asking for what you want! Better pay? Absolutely. Full tuition coverage? Yes!
There are many other items, though, that may be specific to your workplace and conditions as a graduate worker at NMSU. Maybe there is a department-specific policy that affects your employment or you would benefit from paid family leave, for example. These are the things we want to hear about!
So… where can you tell us about those things? In our bargaining survey! We ask all Union Members to fill out this survey so we can formulate our primary goals for the bargaining table with NMSU this upcoming Fall semester. Your input is of paramount importance!!!
CLICK HERE to submit the graduate students needs that are most important to you…
Once you’ve finished the survey, please share it with your coworkers! The more responses we have, the better we can hone our bargaining language and strategy.
Remember, NMSU works because we do!
-Your 2024 bargaining team
March 17
NMSU GWU (UE-1498) is preparing for Fall 2024 bargaining! We are looking for new bargaining committee representatives, executive board members and stewards. Nominate yourself for one of the positions here! Sign a card today to build our membership & increase our collective power at the bargaining table. Keep updated by following our instagram!
In solidarity,
Lindley Hornsby, Political Action Chair
November 7
Dear fellow grad workers,
Today, we fought hard at the bargaining table to secure a raise. In the end, we reached a tentative agreement with the University for a 6% raise! This will go into effect the first full pay period of the Spring 2024 semester for all Graduate and Teaching Assistants. Due to fiscal year allocations that are beyond our control, raises for Research Assistants will be effective later in the spring semester, and at the very latest, July 2024.
Every tentative agreement must be approved by the membership! Ratification of this new article to our current contract will become available through Microsoft Forms from 12:00 AM on November 9th until 11:59 PM on November 12th. Look out for an email with a link to vote. As a reminder, only card signing members can vote. To ensure your voice is heard, sign a card here!
Voting on the tuition coverage article is also still open until 11:59 PM on November 12th. Click here to vote if you have signed a card!
This is a big win on the heels of the increase in tuition coverage, and we are excited to approach the end of the semester with big financial increases coming just two months from now. But the fight is not over! More raises will come. Full tuition coverage is on the horizon. To secure these, and to win more money for international student health insurance coverage and other benefits, we must continue to organize! Here are some upcoming ways to do just that and other important notes:
- NOVEMBER GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
- Thursday, 11/9 at 5 PM in Breland 182
- Come share your thoughts about the raise and learn how you can help win more! Dinner will be provided.
- RSVP here!
- STEWARDS TRAINING
- Stewards are union members who know the contract and can help workers with issues at the department level! A strong steward structure is critical to our ability to file grievances with the University when grad workers are mistreated.
- Only one of the two above trainings is necessary.
- Lost time will be retroactively paid out for those that attend.
- Sunday, 11/12 and Tuesday, 11/14 from 11 AM – 3 PM in O’Donnell 104.
- Sign-up here!
There is more work to be done, but we are getting there. Come celebrate the win with us on Thursday and tell your coworkers. We hope to see you!
In solidarity,
Your bargaining team for 11/7
Hannah Sun, Alexander Allison, and Riley Schaner
October 24
- We won $1600 of tuition at the bargaining table.
- To ratify the article, sign a card to be a voting member!
- Voting will be open from 12:00 AM on November 6th until 11:59 PM on November 12th via Google Forms. Be on the lookout for a link.
- Stewards training will be happening sometime between 11/10-11/13. Sign up here!
- Please fill out this compensation survey to help inform our next bargaining session.
- Our next General Membership Meeting will be on Thursday, November 9th at 5 PM, location TBD.
The union works when we have solidarity and when the members push for change. We are extremely optimistic about this win and we believe there are more wins to come.
In solidarity,
Your bargaining team for 10/24,
Hannah Sun, Alexander Allison, Riley Schaner, Regan Cadena
June 23
Bargaining with NMSU over increased tuition coverage resumed today in what proved to be the lengthiest bargaining session this spring. It was once again NMSU’s turn to provide a counter-proposal, and they once again failed to address the union’s concerns adequately in any way. Despite multiple proposals from our bargaining team to address absolute trainwreck of last semester’s tuition disbursement adequately the University created last spring, NMSU’s counter made no movement towards a compromise and it is clear they care only about lining administrators pockets rather than improving the lives of the graduate workers that run this university. Their proposals, generously, gave marginal progress towards resolving a single issue on the table (changes included: changing font styles and the time delivered in their headers).
We delivered multiple, creative, and extensive proposals to show our dedication to make the lives of graduate workers better, but the level of incompetence displayed by the university is more than just the bargaining team can handle alone. We need all hands on deck to brainstorm and enact strategies to fight to end grad worker poverty. Please join us this Tuesday, June 27th, at 5pm on Zoom for a special Organizing Committee meeting to discuss summer and fall actions.
In Solidarity,
Your Bargaining Team
David Aviles-Rodriguez, Trevor Karpinski, Hannah Sun, Regan Cadena, Julia Olson, and Riley Schaner
June 13
We were back at the bargaining table with NMSU today to continue negotiations for increased tuition coverage. It was the university’s turn to provide a counter-proposal to our proposal which we introduced during the initial bargaining session last month, which requested increases in the number of credits covered and set specific timelines for when tuition refunds would be delivered.
After almost a month to come up with a response, NMSU’s counter proposal unfortunately failed to address any of our proposed items, even logistical items that don’t cost money. They did not even come prepared with information we had requested over a month ago.
The university wants to remain at the bare-minimum coverage agreed upon in the current bargaining contract and make no moves to improve the conditions for graduate workers at NMSU. Despite a significant amount of money being appropriated by the state for graduate worker tuition at this year’s legislative session, NMSU feels that the money they will save in tuition reimbursements could be better used to fill unrelated holes in their budget. When we asked where they planned to allocate tuition scholarship monies that will now be covered by new legislative funds they vaguely stated that “buildings needed repairs” as if NMSU does not already receive monies specifically for building maintenance and improvements.
We remain firm in our current proposal for increased tuition coverage and developing specific guidelines for disbursement of funds. Bargaining will resume next week, and we hope that NMSU will be able to provide an actual, adequate counter-proposal.
If you haven’t already, you can sign on to our letter to Provost Shoho asking him to respect our grievance process. If you have any extra time this summer and want to help the union out, check out our Action List for some ideas of how you can help sustain the grad worker movement at NMSU, or join our slack channel for the most recent updates on organizing, bargaining and actions.
March 30
On March 30th, 2023 we submitted our request to formally re-open tuition negotiations to expand tuition coverage for graduate workers. We spent the winter lobbying our legislators and now NMSU is scheduled to receive a $25 million increase in Instruction and General funds that could be applied to tuition and a new statewide fund for graduate scholarships.
December 2022: We have ratified our first contract with the administration! This is a first step in the right direction. We are still fighting for tuition coverage and reasonable health insurance for all New Mexico State University graduate students and we FINALLY have got some momentum in bringing about fair negotiations with NMSU.
Read the summary of the contract here and view the full contract here.
September 30
- Today we proposed full tuition coverage for every graduate worker, a 10% salary increase, coverage of the international health insurance fee, and paid leave.
- Grad workers took our work to Hadley Hall today to remind Chancellor Arvizu that NMSU works because we do – check it out on twitter here
- We can win tuition and a fair contract this semester – if we show NMSU we are united and we expect them to settle our contract by December 9th.
- We need every grad worker to sign their name to our December 9th deadline petition here: https://nmsugrads.ueunion.org/dec9th/
The bargaining committee spent the morning working on securing appointment letters that are provided to graduate employees two weeks before the start of an assistantship and include a job description. We also signed a tentative agreement on protections from unjust discipline. In the afternoon we presented a full set of economic proposals leading with full tuition coverage.
Graduate workers from across the university have fought incredibly hard over the last two years. Finally, tuition coverage and fair pay for graduate workers at NMSU is within reach.
Negotiations will continue October 17th and we are determined to do everything in our power to win a contract that lifts our coworkers out of poverty and ensures no one has to pay to work. We need your help in showing NMSU they have no choice but to do the right thing and settle a fair contract with full tuition coverage this semester. Sign the deadline petition here.
September 13
- The good news: NMSU actually showed up to the bargaining table this week and delivered some overdue counter proposals.
- The bad news: their proposals continue to be underwhelming, insulting, and degrading. They have shown little motivation to move on key points of emphasis for graduate workers.
- Wondering who’s running the university and why they’re so committed to forcing us to pay tuition? So are we.
Two months after we proposed that graduate workers receive Appointment letters before starting their assistantships (including basic information such as job title, salary, supervisor, and work duties) the University finally made a counter proposal. We were pleased to see that the University understood the importance of receiving an appointment letter in advance of the start of a position, but disappointed by their reluctance to include any description of duties. When pressed by our bargaining team on why they didn’t want to include any description of job duties the University compared graduate assistants to interns, described the assistantship as a “learning experience”, and asserted that these were not “regular jobs”. These arguments didn’t work on the labor board for the last 2 years and they don’t impress us – we know how much real work graduate workers do to make this University function every single day.
The University proposed Union Rights that fail to meet the minimum requirements of the law (something of a trend for them). These rights fell well below the standard of other universities. They weren’t so conservative when it came to bargaining on Management’s Rights, proposing generous terms for themselves. The takeaway: The University proposed more rights for themselves and less for the Union. Of course we did not agree to this.
On September 15th the regents will be meeting at 9am in the Educational Services Building. These are the same regents who recently approved $15 million for a new locker room when it would only take $2.9 million to cover tuition for all graduate workers. NMSU’s bargaining committee answers directly to the Regents. It is critical that the regents understand that graduate workers will not tolerate canceled negotiating sessions, flimsy proposals, and another semester without tuition coverage. Negotiations will continue on September 30th, when we hope to resume discussion of economic proposals.
August 17
Highlights:
- We made significant progress on the grievance process and discipline protections
- The university has continued to refuse to solve the tuition crisis and sign the tuition MOU
- The Univeristy is still arguing that discrimination protections should not be enforceable
- We hit over 250 signatures emails to the chancellor. Send one here!
- Signed up new graduate workers at the orientation
- Confronted the chancellor today at his office hours: Sign the MOU Dr. Arvizu!
- Union members met with the governor today!
At bargaining today, the university moved in our direction for a more efficient grievance process. They removed some language that would needlessly extend the length of time that the process would take and agreed to several key elements of our proposal. We also made progress towards a fair agreement on discipline and discharge to protect our members from unfair treatment and terminations.
The university continued to hold the stance that basic non-discrimination grievances should not be enforceable within the contract. This means students who have experienced discrimination would continue to need to go through the months long process. They also continued to avoid signing the MOU, an offer that will solve the tuition crisis at any time they choose. This is unacceptable.
We’ve been busy signing up new members and spreading the word about bargaining. Just this week we’ve been out talking to new grad workers at move in day, attending grad student orientation, meeting with the governor on campus, and sending emails to the chancellor encouraging him to commit to tuition coverage.
Join us at 5pm on August 26th for a welcome back party at Preciado Park. Sign the RSVP here. The first 50 grads will get a free union T-shirt!
August 10
Please click this link to send an email to Chancellor Arvizu urging him to bargain in good faith and secure tuition coverage (the link includes a pre-written message to submit or replace with your own and takes less than 30 seconds!)
This morning’s bargaining session began with NMSU’s bargaining team agreeing to proceed with the discussion on language. At the last meeting the University submitted a flimsy proposal that would have covered $770 of tuition. Since they weren’t ready to bargain in good faith on tuition we moved forward with non-economic issues.
We made an agreement on two major non-economic proposals. These are great stepping stones to protecting our rights and building momentum towards economic issues. The agreements were on Union Recognition and International Student Labor Management.
We fulfilled one major goal in the disciplinary section by getting Just Cause into the contract! Just Cause is a legal term which includes protections from indiscriminate actions like being fired without justification. Concerningly, the university refused any language to allow workers who are being discriminated against to be protected under the grievance process, despite this being standard across New Mexico. Graduate workers need to be protected against discrimination and the university is fighting this clear cut issue.
The meeting closed with the Bargaining committee giving the university a Memorandum of Understanding on tuition. This allows the university to solve the tuition crisis at any time they choose. They can pull the release valve at any time they choose.
The Bargaining committee is working hard to make sure that we get a good contract for us all. You can support us by getting involved!
Let’s do this because NMSU works because we do. Our next bargaining session will be Wednesday, August 17th.
July 26
Before negotiations began this morning, we were honored to be joined by the Faculty Senate Chair, Dr. Gaylene Fasenko. Dr. Fasenko shared a statement of support signed by over 130 faculty members encouraging the University to negotiate with us in good faith to secure tuition and a fair contract.
The University bargaining team did not take this message. Instead, they chose to bring a proposal that trivialized the severe financial crisis graduate workers are facing. The University proposed the creation of a “scholarship fund” that would provide $770 per semester to graduate workers who are employed for at least 20 hours a week. This works out to about 51$ per week when the average graduate worker pays between 6,000$ and 8,000$ each year for tuition. Additionally, any scholarship, grant, or other funding will count against this, for example receiving a 500$ scholarship will result in only 270$, while a 1000$ scholarship will result in nothing.
In anticipation of the tuition proposal the University promised to give us, 30 members of the Organizing Committee joined the Union bargaining team to review the University’s “offer”. The University refused to hear these members out. They slammed the door in our faces and shut themselves in a conference room instead of listening to their employees.
The union busting lawyer that NMSU employs for 195$ per hour (!) doesn’t spend their time in Las Cruces while we aren’t bargaining. To get our message across we need to make it clear to the university administrators that we need good faith proposals at our next bargaining session which is Wednesday, August 10th.
July 11
At 8:30 this morning, before our negotiations began, 30 graduate workers delivered copies of our tuition petition (with 553 signatures!) to every member of the NMSU admin bargaining team calling for an urgent solution to the tuition crisis. Check it out on instagram here.
NMSU responded to the petition delivery by finally acknowledging the urgency of tuition coverage but then had the audacity to suggest that in exchange for the possibility of a tuition waiver the graduate union would forego negotiations on any other issue until next year. Our negotiating committee took several hours attempting to clarify the univeristy’s verbal suggestion (the University did not make this in a written proposal and did not yet include any numbers) because it is difficult to imagine that graduate workers would vote for a contract that doesnt include basic protections from harassment, discrimination, and overwork, union rights, and a grievance process (not to mention continued negotiations for wages and health insurance). As we know, the negotiating process is not final until the union members ratify the tentative agreements the bargaining committee has reached. Implying that we should sacrifice all of the other issues graduate workers are facing in exchange for tuition waivers (something our colleagues at peer institutions have enjoyed for years) is contrary to the spirit of negotiating.
It is disappointing that NMSU’s negotiating team seemed to have forgotten how negotiations work, but our committee remained adamant that we need tuition coverage, workplace protections, and further negotiations on wages and health insurance. We ended the day with the University commiting to bring a written tuition proposal to our next negotiating session on Tuesday, July 26th at 9am.
July 1
Our first negotiation session started on a bit of a contentious note with the University initially resisting a discussion on the tuition crisis. However, after a brief intermission, we moved steadily forward. The bargaining team remained resolute despite the university trying to derail the tuition discussion. We provided countless examples of the hardship that lack of coverage puts on our colleagues, and they seemed to realize that the tuition crisis was not going to be ignored.
Please continue to provide your own experiences with the ongoing problems facing grad workers.
Next, our committee presented proposals that covered several important non-economic issues that we need addressed. Among them, were recognition of our organization in university policy, transparent employee contracts and offer letters, protections from overwork, and international student protections and non-discrimination agreements.
We were able to conclude our meeting on an optimistic note for the tuition proposal. The University agreed to discuss tuition with the regents before our next negotiating session.
In summary, the bargaining committee strongly represented the student body’s concerns about tuition, as well as non-economic concerns. The committee feels that the strongly delivered statements of our fellow graduate students bolsters our tuition proposal. In particular, the committee emphasized the urgency of the tuition coverage. As one bargaining committee member put it, “urgent problems require urgent solutions.”
Our next negotiating session will be on July 11th with new meeting times scheduled for July 26th, August 10th, August 17th, and September 1st.
If you haven’t done so already, please sign the petition online now! You can access the petition here: www.nmsugrad.ueunion.org/petition