After more than two years of bargaining, the University of Maine Graduate Workers Union has reached a tentative agreement with the university system.
The agreement includes an increase in stipends, contributions from the university for health insurance, protections for immigrant workers and a one-time bonus if it is ratified within 60 days.
Peter Howe is a member of the union's bargaining committee, and a Ph.D. student in forest resources.
"We really see these, these wins in this tentative agreement as a direct result of our relentless organizing and solidarity for years," he said. "This only came about because hundreds of grad workers continued to show up and work tirelessly."
In a joint statement, University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and Chancellor Dannel Malloy said the agreement is responsive to the needs of roughly 900 graduate workers and reflects the increasingly constrained fiscal resources of the university system.
The graduate students will vote to ratify the agreement this week. If approved, it will then go to the university system Board of Trustees.
"So many people gave so much for years to arrive at this tentative agreement, including many graduate workers who would never see the benefits of this contract," Howe said. "But as a union so many, so many people understood that this was about more than just us."
