As the cost of living rises across the country, New Mexico State University’s Graduate Workers United (GWU) rallied at Zuhl Library on May 7 to demand the university administration to give its graduate workforce higher wages.
After negotiations fell through in an earlier bargaining session on April 22, GWU organized another sit-in. GWU members and supporters held signs outside of Zuhl Library before walking into the building. The union’s bargaining team, which included union president Caedmon Ragland and treasurer Anna Conly, were briefly locked out of the Library Administration office before being let in to negotiate.
According to Ragland, the university originally offered a 2% wage increase during the April 22 bargaining, which would not break even with the 5% increase Las Cruces is currently experiencing. After the April 22 session, the university lowered their offer to a 1% raise.
“They said what if we keep everything exactly how it is […] and that 2% raise you got last time you bargained, what if this time we give you a 1% raise?” Ragland said. “If you take into account inflation, a 1% raise is essentially an over 2% pay cut. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not interested in that yet. And that’s why we’re all here to show that we agree we deserve better.”
As a member of the bargaining team, Ragland could not share the exact numbers being negotiated amidst bargaining. However, Ragland said the rates NMSU offered will put graduate workers below a living wage.
“When we’re bargaining, our goal is always to make being a graduate worker here at NMSU possible for everyone,” Ragland said.
Additionally, Ragland said the current wage raises, if not tied to inflation in the Las Cruces area, will especially put international graduate workers in a vulnerable spot and unable to contribute to the Aggie community. According to Ragland, international workers make up half of NMSU’s graduate workforce.
“They are stuck to the 20 hours they’re allowed to work on campus,” Ragland said. “They can’t get any other on-campus jobs, and most of the time they cannot get any employment off-campus at all. So, that amount of money is what they have, full stop. NMSU’s value proposition is that international workers come here and go into debt to make this university function. We don’t think that’s acceptable. We know that it’s not possible to get us to a living wage right now, but what we’re facing at the bargaining table is that NMSU is not even trying.”
After several hours of negotiation, talks ended at 5 p.m. with NMSU offering a 2% wage raise instead of 1%.
After several requests from The Round Up, NMSU admin has declined to comment on the bargaining efforts as of May 23.
