Brown University Graduate Students Reach Union Contract

A union of graduate student workers at Brown University reached a tentative bargaining agreement with administrators, a first for an Ivy League university amid a growing push by unions to mount an end-run around the National Labor Relations Board.

The agreement includes stipend increases for the first year, a yearlong appointment extension due to the Covid-19 pandemic for more advanced graduate students, reimbursement for Covid-19 testing and related medical costs, and a new system to adjudicate sexual harassment claims outside of Title IX, the union said in a statement.

The tentative agreement was reached entirely outside of the NLRB process, ...