UW student employees win big pay boost, improved benefits in tentative deal

After a one-day strike, 6,000 University of Washington teaching and research assistants have reached a tentative new labor agreement with school officials.

Their union, the United Auto Workers Local 4121, announced the new contract last night. It includes a 36% increase in the base academic student employee salary over the life of the contract and hourly wage increases of 8% in the first year, then 5% each of the following two years.

The agreement also includes improved health-care coverage, increased child-care reimbursement, and a new provision that gives workers paid leave time for immigration appointments and hearings, as well as the right to be reappointed in the event an employee loses their work authorization.

The union represents graduate and undergraduate student employees who do research, grade papers, tutor students, and teach classes across the university.

The strike is on hold while union members vote to ratify the contract by Friday evening.

The union had been negotiating with the university since February, but had hit a sticking point over wage increases. Union officials say most academic student employees make less than $40,000 per year and struggle to make ends meet in an increasingly expensive city like Seattle.

Thousands of student academic employees walked off the job Tuesday morning, and many of them rallied in UW's Red Square that afternoon.

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