Note: This letter originally appeared as an e-mail sent to the Hopkins community on Monday April 1, 2024.
Dear Johns Hopkins University students, faculty, post-docs, and staff,
As has been previously shared with this community, following last year’s union election, PhD students at Johns Hopkins are represented by Teachers and Researchers United—United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Local 197 (TRU-UE Local 197). Since last May, representatives from JHU and the union have been working to negotiate the details of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). We are pleased to report that after more than 40 bargaining sessions, bargaining teams for the university and the union reached agreement on Friday, March 29, 2024. The proposed three-year CBA will now go to all TRU-UE bargaining unit members for a ratification vote.
The 29 articles that comprise the proposed CBA address a broad range of important topics such as minimum stipend levels, years of guaranteed funding, union and management rights, discipline, grievance and arbitration procedures, and health and safety provisions.
Importantly, the proposed CBA offers enhanced pay and benefits that raise the minimum stipend to $47,000 per year beginning this July. Stipend increases are more than 40% on average across the bargaining unit and more than 50% in some departments. The agreement also includes guaranteed increases of more than 6% in the second year of the contract to $50,000 and then a 4% increase in the third year of the contract. Among other benefit enhancements, the proposed CBA also includes paid health benefits for children and some spouses.
We believe that if ratified, this first contract between JHU and TRU-UE Local 197 will strengthen PhD education at JHU.
PhD students will receive a separate communication with more specific details about the proposed CBA, which will now go to a ratification vote administered by the union. PhD students represented by TRU-UE Local 197 are eligible to vote.
Sincerely,
Ray Jayawardhana
Provost
Sabine Stanley
Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education