Education

Tufts RAs authorize a strike beginning on move-in day

RAs say they deserve to be paid a stipend for their work, in addition to free room and board.

An academic building surrounded by trees and bushes, with a bench in the foreground
Tufts University's campus in Medford, Mass. is pictured in 2020. Tufts undergraduate resident assistants are prepared to strike beginning on freshman move-in day if the university doesn't agree to pay them a stipend. David L Ryan/Globe Staff

By Chloe Courtney Bohl

3 minutes to read

Undergraduate resident assistants at Tufts are prepared to go on strike Tuesday unless the university agrees to pay them a stipend. 

The RAs, who voted last year to unionize, have been negotiating a new contract with Tufts since February. The Tufts Daily originally reported that the university has offered to cover their meal costs in addition to their housing, which is already free.

But that proposal falls short of RAs’ demand for a stipend, which they say is the fairest way to compensate them for the work they do — everything from rescuing locked-out students and filing maintenance requests to responding to emergencies in the dorms.

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The union voted last week to authorize the strike if the two sides don’t reach an agreement by Tuesday — which would mean picketing during freshman move-in. 

“We don’t want to have to take this step, we don’t want [residents] to feel like they’re not supported,” Anisha Uppal-Sullivan, an RA and member of the union’s bargaining committee, told the Tufts Daily. “But we’re doing this so that we can do our jobs better, and because we do deserve to get paid for the work that we do.”

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Meanwhile, OPEIU Local 153, the local affiliate of the 100,000-member Office and Professional Employees International Union that represents Tufts RAs, has accused Tufts of violating federal labor law by threatening the RAs during collective bargaining — an allegation the university denies.

What do Tufts RAs want?

RAs told the Tufts Daily they are looking for a “modest” stipend in the range of a few thousand dollars.

“Really our demand right now is to just hear from them what they would propose paying us in a stipend,” Davis Whittingham, an RA and member of the bargaining committee, told the Daily. “We’re not asking for the sun, the moon and the stars, so to speak.”

For its part, Tufts contends that its offer of room and board “both aligns with our values as an institution and is in line with industry standards across higher education,” university spokesperson Kalimah Redd Knight told the student newspaper.

Several other private, medium-sized universities pay their resident assistants stipends, including Johns Hopkins, where RAs receive a $5,100 stipend plus room and board, Wesleyan, where RAs (who along with other undergraduate student workers unionized in spring 2022) are paid between $7,828.62 and $9,787.68. Others, like Georgetown, cover only room and board for RAs, as Tufts is proposing to do. Still others offer hourly or monthly pay, or no compensation at all beyond housing costs.

RAs accuse Tufts of unfair labor practices

Last week, Tufts sent an email to the university community providing updates on multiple ongoing campus collective bargaining efforts, including with the RAs.

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“As we continue our negotiations with each of these bargaining units, the units may conduct various communications strategies to promote their positions. This is an expected and acceptable part of the process,” administrators wrote in the email.

“We anticipate everyone involved will respect our community values and one another’s right to enjoy the new semester without disruption,” the continued. “While we support the units’ engagement with our campus, any actions or activities that create a hostile campus environment, endanger public safety, or violate our Student Code of Conduct will be addressed by the appropriate members of our staff.”

The RAs’ union said this message constituted a threat — in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, which protects workers from threats and coercion during collective bargaining — and filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces the relevant labor laws. That charge could take weeks to review.

Tufts says it did not break the law, and has been a willing and responsive participant throughout contract negotiations. 

“The University denies any allegations that it has violated the National Labor Relations Act and will respond to any charges that may be filed with the Board,” Redd Knight told The Tufts Daily. “The university, from the beginning of this process, has been diligent in meeting with, following up with, and engaging in collective bargaining in good faith.”

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Red Knight added that Tufts has offered to meet with RAs on Thursday (after their Tuesday deadline). RAs call this a delay tactic; Tufts says they need more time to review RAs’ demands.

Tufts is prepared for the possibility of a strike, Redd Knight said, and will have staff on hand Tuesday to fill in for the RAs who would normally be on duty to help with move-in.

Editor’s note: Boston.com co-op Chloe Courtney Bohl is a student at Tufts and has covered the RA issue for the Tufts Daily.

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