DGSU rallies across campus and in Allen Building for ‘livable wages,’ ‘improved working conditions’

After a year of continuous negotiations with University administration, Duke Graduate Students Union hosted a rally on Tuesday to demand that Duke give graduate students fair contracts, improve working conditions and pay all its employees livable wages.

The rally took place one day after Labor Day — a national holiday that celebrates workers’ rights — and included graduate students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, local unionized workers from the United Southern Service Workers and UE Local 150, and members of the Duke Faculty Union.

DGSU became the first recognized graduate student union at a private university in the South after obtaining National Labor Relations Board recognition in August 2023 and currently stands as one of the largest unions in North Carolina. Now as the exclusive bargaining body for the University’s graduate students, the union has engaged in negotiations with administration over the past year, but members recently expressed being left "disappointed.’’

Duke administration did not respond to The Chronicle's request for comment on their position in the ongoing negotiations with DGSU.

“[University administration] views us as interchangeable cogs that can be slotted in whenever and wherever is most convenient to them and not to us,” said Clay Capra, a third-year doctoral student in history and the co-chair of DGSU, in a speech during the rally. “I really hope that Duke admin[istration] is listening and will meet us at the table to continue to bargain and debate on this issue.”

A main demand that DGSU has brought to Duke administration is its “pay petition,” which would increase graduate students’ stipends from $40,000 to $54,484.10 — the living wage plus 10% for savings, per the MIT calculator. Duke reportedly pre-committed to the $40,000 stipend minimum before bargaining began, which sparked disappointment from the union when administration gave its counter-proposal.

The graduate students received an initial stipend increase after receiving union recognition from NLRB, which some members said helped alleviate some financial hardship. Still, DGSU continues to demand that Duke offer graduate students a “competitive” stipend — over $50,000.

“I was definitely struggling more when the stipend wasn’t increased,” said RP Pornmongkolsuk, a graduate student in the School of Medicine and co-secretary of DGSU. 

Later on in the rally, the protesters marched into the Allen Building where they draped a handmade scroll listing the names of over 1,000 people who signed onto the pay petition over the staircase. They also delivered the petition to President Vincent Price’s office to represent the protesters’ call for graduate workers to receive a living wage.

The students gathered at the Chapel steps at noon before marching to the Bryan Center Plaza. The protesters repeated the chants: “Hey Duke, you’re no good, pay your workers like you should,” “when we fight, we win” and “Hey Duke, your pay is ass — every year you buy new grass!” The demonstrators also held painted posters and banners that said: “40K? 50K!,” “Living Wage or We Rage” and “Grad workers have families.”

Speakers from each group in attendance spoke on issues related to fair pay and working conditions, addressing Duke directly while voicing their solidarity with workers across the state. 

In his speech, Capra noted that in fall 2023, he was moved from his work assignment twice and expected to grade papers for a course he has only attended once. He also claimed to have been given a TA work assignment scheduled at the same time as a course he was enrolled in as a student.

“I really think this shows how empty rhetoric around [graduate students] not being workers is,” Capra said. “If we were students first and everything else a distant second, it would not be possible for us to be assigned a work assignment at the same time as a course we were already taking.”

These concerns extend to international students, who despite comprising 40% of Duke's graduate students, report facing difficulties obtaining visas and covering out-of-pocket legal expenses related to their immigration status. 

"Sometimes they don't even know what type of visa we need to work at Duke," said Daria Kozhanova, a member of the DGSU’s international student committee.

She also raised concerns about discrimination from supervisors faced by international students, as well as an “inability to travel home, even for several years.”

Pornmongkolsuk added that attending conferences, such as those abroad, are “almost required” for doctoral students to be able to learn from experts and researchers in their field of study. In order to obtain a visa to attend a conference, students are required to pay associated visa fees, which he said are not accounted for in their stipends.

In a speech by Nahshon Blount, a housekeeper for Duke intermittently for four years and a member of USSW, he said that Duke workers, including housekeeping staff members, should be paid a minimum $25 per hour to account for the rising cost of living in Durham. He said he is currently paid $18 per hour.

He also spoke about getting limited breaks while working hours that consist of manual labor.

“If you ever sit down and they catch you sitting down, you’re terminated,” Blount said. “... I can speak for all workers of Duke in saying that we are not treated fairly … If we don’t show up, they can’t get their work done.”

Duke administration did not respond to The Chronicle’s request for comment on allegations about poor working conditions made by graduate students and other Duke employees present at the rally.

Following the demonstration at the Allen Building, protesters marched back to BC Plaza to continue with the speeches.

The final group of speakers extended the rally’s message beyond Duke to parallel union efforts taking place at UNC and N.C. State.

One speaker from N.C. State, who identified himself through his first name Bob, acknowledged current efforts and grievances of various local unions, including a worker strike at AT&T and a petition to hold N.C. State’s administration “accountable” for PCB contamination detected in the university’s Poe Hall. Participants were encouraged to support and volunteer for labor union-related organizing efforts.

Pornmongkolsuk characterized Duke as “dragging their feet” throughout the bargaining process, which prompted DGSU and others to mobilize to show University administration that “it’s not just the people in the bargaining room [paying attention], but everyone at Duke [and] non-Duke workers.”

The event concluded with a performance of Dolly Parton's “9 to 5,” reinforcing the call for improved working conditions.

“I really think it's important that we all come together and try and make this a better working place for everybody,” Capra said of the collaborative union effort. “It's about solidarity. It's about working together.”