Posts tagged international students
Penn graduate student workers could strike next month
January 14, 2026 // Penn, the largest employer in Philadelphia, has seen a wave of student-worker organizing in recent years, including resident assistants, graduate students, postdocs and research associates, as well as training physicians in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The region has also seen a couple other university strikes in recent years. In 2023 graduate workers at Temple University walked off the job for 42 days amid contract negotiations, and in a separate action at Rutgers University, educators, researchers, and clinicians went on strike for a week.
Penn State Graduate Students Vote in Favor of Union
November 14, 2025 // University administrators have said that they believe graduate students are primarily students, and that the do not need a union to have their concerns heard.
Under Trump, Student Labor Organizers Face New Challenges
August 7, 2025 // Anticipating a rollback of recent NLRB precedent, some unions have withdrawn petitions for recognition, looking for other paths to continue their work.
NU graduate union sounding alarm on funding cuts for advanced student workers
August 5, 2024 // Kennedy said some advanced student workers are now left vulnerable because of the “really late” notification. In particular, she said advanced international students could face visa expiration and be forced to leave the country without funding, as they are required to demonstrate they can pay for all expenses in order to extend their visas past the standard five years. She said some are facing expirations within the next three weeks. One such advanced international student, who asked to remain anonymous because of their uncertain visa status, told the RoundTable that they were assured they’d receive Advanced Student Quarters funds for their next year of work but was asked to justify their funding request in mid-May, something that hadn’t been asked in years prior.
U-M graduate student workers on strike, seeking better pay and benefits
March 30, 2023 // In addition to higher wages, the union's demands include "an affordable and accessible childcare subsidy, access to gender affirming care, an emergency fund for international students and transitional funding for survivors of sexual harassment," said GEO Contract Committee Chair Amir Fleischmann. "A strike violates GEO’s own agreement with the university," according to the release. "The current contract includes language specifying that the union agrees not to strike while the contract is in effect."