April 20 bargaining update

April 20, 2023

MIT’s bargaining team met with the GSU’s bargaining team for a 19th time on Thursday, April 20. The session was productive on many fronts, marking the first significant movement from the GSU on their salary increase proposal since MIT shared its response to the GSU’s economic proposals on March 22. Both parties also continued to discuss non-economic proposals and are making progress toward agreements on many of the outstanding issues.

The GSU presented an economic counterproposal featuring a 16-23% salary increase, down from the 31-38% increase they initially proposed. While a significant move, it continues to be well above MIT’s competitive offer of a 4% pay raise in the first year of a new contract on top of the nearly 9% increase provided last year.

The parties also discussed other economic articles and made headway toward a comprehensive leave and benefits package for the graduate students, including expanding policies relating to medical leave, family leaves, bereavement, vacation, and holidays. In addition, the parties reached a tentative agreement on pay and leaves policies for military service and jury duty, and are nearing consensus on grants for international students as well as childcare grants.

Both parties reached agreement in principle on many outstanding non-economic provisions, including articles on employment discipline and discharge policies as well as on workload, and are nearing agreement on international employee rights.

We look forward to making continued progress at the sessions scheduled for April 24, April 28 and May 4.