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Dear Guarini community,
I write to provide an update on our April 25 bargaining session with GOLD-UE.
Since August 2023, Dartmouth has listened to graduate students' concerns, as expressed by GOLD-UE, and offered solutions that we hoped would reach the widest number of graduate students possible while balancing the needs of our broader community of staff and faculty.
We entered the April 25 bargaining session with strong and fair proposals on issues that the union identified as important to its membership. We were hopeful this would help us make substantive progress toward our shared goal of finalizing the contract by the end of the spring term. These proposals are competitive with our peer institutions who have recently signed contracts with their graduate student unions.
On April 25, we hoped for counter proposals from GOLD-UE on many of the remaining articles and for solid and continued progress toward an agreement. After many bargaining sessions where we discussed the leaves of absence provision, we finally reached a tentative agreement on it. Unfortunately, there were no other tentative agreements reached, and we are disappointed that our momentum seems to have slowed.
Below is an update on the April 25 bargaining session. In this session, we continued our discussions on many articles with a focus on funds for dependent care and international students, compensation, and medical and dental benefits for students and dependents.
Dartmouth recognizes that child care access and affordability are a concern for students, faculty, and staff alike. We also recognize that not all graduate students have dependents. To help meet diverse student needs, Dartmouth had proposed a Graduate Student Employee Relief Fund in addition to an enhanced child care subsidy. This proposed fund would be accessible to all members of GOLD-UE who could use this fund to help defray expenses, such as:
At the April 25 session, GOLD-UE rejected the idea of a broad-purpose fund and countered with a proposal to divide the fund into two smaller funds. The first fund is limited to child care at the Dartmouth College Child Care Center (DCCCC). GOLD-UE members whose dependents are not enrolled at DCCCC would be unable to access these funds.
GOLD-UE proposed a second, smaller fund limited for international students. This fund could be used solely for the purpose of required visa fees and/or air travel overseas for visa processing and renewal. This second fund would be in addition to the one-time $1,200 payment for international students to assist with fees and costs associated with their international status. The one-time payment is in line with what other institutions have agreed to with their graduate student unions.
Discussion continued on the stipend proposal, but no progress was made. On April 11, Dartmouth made a strong offer to increase first-year stipends by 17.5% to $47,000, which is well within the range of the stipends paid by our peer institutions to their graduate students who teach and perform research. GOLD-UE has made no movement toward an agreement, and the union continues to ask Dartmouth to increase our compensation without making any change in the amount of stipend that they had proposed.
Discussion continued on dental and vision benefits. The health and wellbeing of our students is of utmost importance. Dartmouth already pays 100% of the DSGHP premium for stipend-supported employees. On April 25, Dartmouth proposed it would also pay 25% of the premium for eligible and enrolled dependents of stipend-supported employees. GOLD-UE made no movement towards an agreement on this proposal, re-proposing their demand that Dartmouth should pay 100% of the dependent premium.
We also shared with GOLD-UE our plans to add a dental plan, at no additional cost, for all students in AY 2024-2025. Currently, all students can access a dental saving plan through BASIX Student Health Discount Program. As a savings plan, there are no benefit limits, exclusions or claims submitted. Students pay the provider discounted rates directly, and their dependents may access these discounts as well. (See Dartmouth Student Group Health Plan, page 33.)
Discussions continued about the medical and parental leave available to graduate students, in the context of GOLD-UE's proposal for short term disability. No agreement was reached.
We recognize that a successful union contract will balance the needs of our entire community, including faculty, staff, and students. To maintain open dialogue with faculty, particularly those affected by the negotiations, Dartmouth recently held a Zoom call with CGS faculty and program chairs to provide an update and discuss their concerns. Thank you to the many faculty who attended and actively engaged on these issues.
We understand that first year contracts typically take 12-18 months to complete, but Dartmouth has taken seriously GOLD-UE's expressed desire to reach an agreement by the end of the spring term. In an effort to help GOLD-UE members achieve this goal, we have made significant movements in our proposals and remain deeply committed to reaching a mutually beneficial agreement with GOLD-UE by the end of the spring term. We are hopeful that we will have a more productive session on May 10.
I will provide additional updates following subsequent meetings. An overview and FAQs about graduate unions, negotiations, Dartmouth's economic proposal, and a potential strike are available on the provost's website.
Sincerely,
David Kotz
Provost