By Donald Gilpin

In two days of elections held last week, May 13 and 14, Princeton University graduate students voted against joining the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) by 652 votes to 391, a 63-37 percent split with more than 73 percent of the 1,523 eligible voters turning out. The previous week the University’s postdoctoral researchers voted by a margin of 484 to 89 to join a union with the United Auto Workers (UAW).

On April 12 Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU), looking “to improve working conditions for everyone,” filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Established in 2016, PGSU claimed to have widespread support and a “strong majority” of graduate students who had signed union cards.

University officials had expressed concerns about the establishment of a graduate student union, but seemed committed to supporting the election and had provided an abundance of information to make sure students were well informed on the pros and cons of unionization.

An opposition group, Princeton University Graduate Students Against UE, argued that UE was not a good choice for Princeton University because of high mandatory union dues and divisive politics. The group also argued, according to its website, that Princeton salaries and benefits were relatively strong and that PGSU had not been communicating with graduate students in good faith and had failed to win informed consensus.

“At Princeton, graduate student voices matter and we appreciate the concerns raised by students during the campaign,” said Graduate School Dean Rodney Priestley, as quoted in a May 15 University press release. “We look forward to finding opportunities to continue strengthening our partnership with students to enhance the student experience and advance Princeton graduate education, guided by our unaltered commitments to Princeton’s research and teaching mission and the success and well-being of all Princeton graduate students.”

On the evening following the election, the Graduate School sent out a message to its students thanking “everyone who has thoughtfully considered unionization, participated in the discussion over the past 15 months, and turned out to vote your convictions this week.” The message concludes, “As we have said throughout this campaign, the Graduate School will always support you.”

Princeton University is the only Ivy League school that does not have a graduate student union.

The post-doctoral researchers’ May 8 and 9 vote was the culmination of a campaign over the past several months in which 65 percent of Princeton postdocs had signed union cards.

“We won! We have our union!” states the post-docs’ union website. “We join a growing national movement of researchers and other academics forming unions with the UAW to improve our lives and our work. UAW postdoctoral researchers and graduate student workers across the country have made a difference advocating for science research funding, fair visa and immigration policies, and better working conditions in all academic institutions.”

In a May 9 email to postdocs and associate research scholars, Princeton University Dean of the Faculty Gene Andrew Jarrett reported the election results and stated that once the results were official “we will move forward in good faith to engage constructively with the union to support all postdocs and associate research scholars at Princeton. This milestone marks the beginning of a new chapter for all of us. By working collaboratively, we seek to create positive outcomes that benefit everyone in our community.”