[All-postdocs] Announcing WHOI Grad Union

[Chloe Smith]

Hello WHOI Community Members,

As you may have heard, a supermajority of graduate student-workers at WHOI have signed their union cards showing support for forming a WHOI Graduate Student Union. As a result, we have requested that the administration formally recognizes our union and our desire to collectively bargain for better research and working conditions.

In 2021, the MIT graduate students formed a union (MIT GSU) with overwhelming support from the WHOI students. Unfortunately, because many WHOI graduate students are not paid at MIT, we were excluded by the MIT administration from being covered by the MIT GSU’s future contract. Our joint status between MIT and WHOI is a very valuable academic opportunity for us. However, that same joint status was used against us here to deny us the protections and benefits we still hope to gain through our own union contract.

The MIT GSU is currently bargaining on issues including stipend increases to keep up with inflation, childcare subsidies, protection from harassment and discrimination, affordable housing, support for international students, and much more. These improvements are needed at WHOI as well so that we can be the best researchers and scientists we came here to be.

The idea of a grad student union is not a new one. As of 2022, there are 42 graduate student union contracts across the country, stretching to 1969, when the first grad union was recognized. This list includes the major oceanographic institutions (UCSD/Scripps and the University of Washington). WHOI should not be falling behind our peers.

WHOI students have already made it clear that we support unionization. We want to stress that we are not unionizing because of negative tensions between students and the faculty/admin. Rather, we want to form a collective unit that ensures that we are provided with a safe and comfortable work environment that allows us to do exceptional science alongside our WHOI community members. We hope that you will stand with us in these efforts.

Please contact the WHOI Student Union Representatives* listed below with any questions.

Thank you,

WHOI Student Union Reps
*Zoe Aarons (zaarons at whoi.edu<mailto:zaarons at whoi.edu>)
*Emily Burdige (emily.burdige at whoi.edu<mailto:emily.burdige at whoi.edu>)
*Maia Cohen  (maia.cohen at whoi.edu<mailto:maia.cohen at whoi.edu>)
*Noah Germolus (ngermolus at whoi.edu<mailto:ngermolus at whoi.edu>)
*Jacob Partida (jpartida at whoi.edu<mailto:jpartida at whoi.edu>)
*Chloe Smith (chloe.smith at whoi.edu<mailto:chloe.smith at whoi.edu>)
*Logan Tegler (ltegler at whoi.edu<mailto:ltegler at whoi.edu>)

Chloe Smith | she/her
MIT-WHOI Joint Program PhD Student
Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry




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