Penn graduate workers reach historic tentative agreement with university, averting strike

Source: WHYY

Union organizers say the contract will transform their quality of life. Efforts to unionize graduate students started more than 20 years ago.

By Alan Yu, Emily Scolnick February 18, 2026

The graduate student union at the University of Pennsylvania reached a tentative contract agreement with the university late Monday night, narrowly averting a strike after more than a year of negotiations.

Graduate Employees Together — University of Pennsylvania and Penn administrators reached the agreement hours before the union’s Feb. 17 strike deadline. Had the union — which represents over 3,500 workers on campus — called the strike, its members would have indefinitely ceased their duties as teaching and research assistants, which include grading, holding recitations and office hours, and conducting research activities.

The tentative contract increases the minimum annual stipend by 22% to $49,000 and includes protections against discrimination and harassment, better vision and dental coverage, and funds to support international graduate students who need to travel to renew their visas.

Union organizers say the contract will not just benefit current and future graduate student workers at the university, but also set a precedent for future negotiations for groups like the postdoctoral researchers who voted to unionize last year and have begun bargaining with the university for their first contract.


A University of Pennsylvania sign is seen in Philadelphia, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Read more: https://whyy.org/articles/penn-graduate-workers-union-tentative-agreement/