FAQs

The University and the Union began the collective bargaining process for a first contract on Sept. 27, 2023. As we go through the negotiations process, we are committed to a spirit of transparency, partnership and progress, and we will approach bargaining according to these guiding principles. Syracuse University has created this website that we will update with information on the progress of negotiations on the key issues that will form the framework for a first contract with SGEU-SEIU Local 200United.

Yes. Employers and unions are required by federal law to bargain collectively over “wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” Both the University and the Union representatives can propose provisions for the contract. Neither the University or the Union is obligated to agree to a particular proposal or provision from the other side, but we are both are required to bargain in good faith.

Negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, and particularly a first contract, can take time. At most other private universities, more than a year elapsed between the time the union was formally recognized or certified by the NLRB and a first contract was reached. Syracuse University is committed to working with the Union in good faith to reach a fair contract.

The Union is the exclusive bargaining representative of all graduate students in the bargaining unit. This means that the University cannot negotiate with any other body or organization on matters regarding wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment for those in the unit.

No, the graduate student union includes only those graduate students who are in the bargaining unit, described below, as agreed to in the election agreement between the University and the Union.

SGEU includes approximately 1,100 Ph.D. and master’s students who serve as teaching assistants, research assistants or graduate administrative assistants across 10 schools and colleges. These students are highly valued members of the Syracuse community and contribute meaningfully to the University’s academic strength.

The bargaining unit of qualifying graduate students includes:

• All University Ph.D. students who are: (i) matriculated in a doctoral degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, School of Education, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, or College of Engineering and Computer Science; (ii) awarded a stipend and a condition of receiving the stipend is the performance of research, instructional, or other specialty services that are related to the student’s academic program as duly appointed Teaching Assistants (“TA”), Research Assistants (“RA”), or Graduate Administrative Assistants through the Graduate School (collectively “Ph.D. Academic Graduate Assistants”).
• All University master’s students who are: (i) matriculated in a master’s degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Education, School of Architecture, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, or College of Engineering and Computer Science; (ii) awarded a stipend and a condition of receiving the stipend is the performance of that in certain semesters these master’s students will provide research, instructional, or other specialty services that are related to the student’s academic program as duly appointed Teaching Assistants (“TA”), Research Assistants (“RA”), or Graduate Administrative Assistants through the Graduate School (collectively “master's Academic Graduate Assistants.”).
• Ph.D. and master’s Academic Graduate Assistants (collectively, “Graduate Assistants”) will be included in the unit only during those semesters in which the student is a duly appointed Graduate Assistant holding at least a 10-hour per week appointment.

Excluded from the bargaining unit are: fellows; Ph.D. students receiving an institutional training grant from external funding agencies; students who are compensated on an hourly basis; all undergraduate students; all other faculty; supervisors, managerial employees, office clerical employees, confidential employees and all other employees.