By Max Tendler
After two years of strikes and 32 negotiation sessions with University administration, Duke Graduate Student Union has ratified its first contract—the first agreement for unionized graduate students in the South.
DGSU members voted August 18 through 30 on a tentative agreement that Duke approved in July. The result was resounding: 99% of members voted in favor, according to the union’s Instagram.
The contract will raise members’ base annual stipend, or how much money the University compensates graduate students every year, from $40,000 to $42,500.
The contract will remain in effect until March 2028, after which point the union may either renegotiate with the University or extend the contract for another year. The extra-year clause functions like emergency insurance, allowing the union extra time in case the National Labor Relations Board overturns its 2016 ruling classifying graduate students as employees with a right to unionize.
Here are some of the contract’s main benefits for graduate students:
• Stipend raises will increase at the same rate as raises for regular-rank faculty.
• 9-week parental leave
• Protection of undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students
• Up to $10,000 in childcare subsidies for each academic year.
• Continued health care coverage
• Increased parking availability
• Appointment work cannot exceed 19.9 hours per week.
The contract carves out some insurance for the University, too. In the case of a “Force Majeure Event”—a financial emergency that prevents Duke from continuing normal operations—the University can temporarily break the contract’s terms, and DGSU members would not be allowed to strike.
Duke’s current strategic realignment, which includes several cost-cutting initiatives, does not necessarily qualify as “Force Majeure” in its current state. The University must notify the union “immediately” once such an event is initiated, and DGSU then has the right to an expedited negotiating period to “come up with alternative solutions to any cuts.”
DGSU claims the “Force Majeure” clause is highly uncommon, citing Emory University’s graduate union as the only other to receive such a provision during bargaining.
“Force Majeure is a direct reaction by the University to the current presidential administration’s attacks on higher education,” DGSU leaders wrote on the union’s website, adding that the clause “will not be continued” in the next contract.
DGSU did not respond to The Chronicle’s request for comment on the contract’s ratification.
Max Tendler is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.
Source: dukechronicle.com, September 1, 2025