Note: This letter originally appeared as an e-mail sent to the Hopkins community on February 1, 2023.
Dear Johns Hopkins University Students, Faculty, Postdocs, and Staff,
As we wrote to you last week, the National Labor Relations Board held a union representation election on Jan. 30 and 31, in which PhD student workers at Johns Hopkins University voted on whether Teachers and Researchers United–United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (TRU-UE) would become their exclusive representative for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The election took place on Jan. 30 and 31 across three Johns Hopkins campuses, and the vote count concluded today, Feb. 1. By a count of 2053 to 67, the majority of PhD students who voted in the election cast their ballots in favor of union representation. Approximately 3,200 student workers across JHU’s 65 PhD programs will be represented by TRU-UE in collective bargaining with the university.
We look forward to working together with TRU-UE to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement over the coming weeks and months. As the birthplace of doctoral education in America, we recognize this as an opportunity to ensure JHU continues to build on its legacy of not only providing world-class doctoral education and training but developing innovative new approaches to supporting our PhD students in achieving personal and professional success.
Sincerely,
Sunil Kumar
Provost
Nancy Kass
Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education