See more Daily Free Press coverage of the BUGWU strike here.
Boston University Provost’s Office sent an email Tuesday morning to undergraduate students informing them that the Boston University Graduate Workers Union, or BUGWU, has voted to authorize a strike.
BUGWU released the results of the vote on March 12, with 90% in favor of authorizing a strike, according to the union’s website.
The email, signed by interim provost Kenneth Lutchen, stated that the Graduate Workers Union notified the university that a strike may begin on March 25, although the union’s website states the exact starting date will be determined in a general body meeting on Wednesday.
Lutchen wrote, in the event a strike happens and depending on each teaching assistant or teaching fellow’s decision to participate, the university “may need to make adjustments to teaching staff and courses,” and that the university will make every effort to “ensure [students] education proceeds smoothly.”
He also wrote the university is committed to reaching an agreement with the graduate workers and has continued negotiations.
BUGWU has expressed frustration with the university’s bargaining tactics, stating that after 10 months of negotiations, they have received nothing but “time-wasting tactics [and] insulting counteroffers,” according to a post on the union’s Instagram. The union has previously argued that the university has shown little interest in addressing the concerns of graduate students regarding their living and working conditions in Boston.
UPDATE: As of March 20, the Boston University Graduate Workers Union is set to strike on Monday, March 25.
