Shouts of “Exploitation ain’t the way,” “Out of the classrooms, into the streets” and “USC, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side” resounded at locations across University Park Campus and Health Science Campus Thursday, supported intermittently by honks of passing cars. 

Organizers said more than 500 graduate student workers picketed through the morning and afternoon in a “last chance picket” amid bargaining between their union — the Graduate Student Worker Organizing Committee — and the University.

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The workers demonstrated at Jefferson Boulevard, Exposition Boulevard and Vermont Avenue at UPC urging the USC administration to agree to a series of demands on wages, non-discrimination and the creation of a union shop. Picketers held signs that read “Last chance or lights out,” “Lights camera strike,” “Title IX is not enough” and “Fair contract now.”

Thursday’s action followed a strike authorization vote that passed overwhelmingly in late October, in which 95% of voting GSWs supported giving the 15-member GSWOC bargaining team the authority to call a strike at any time. GSWOC has been bargaining with the University since April following the workers’ unionization in February. 

Eighteen bargaining sessions have concluded, resulting in 21 tentative agreements. Among them is a childcare subsidy that would provide $1,800 semesterly stipends to GSWs with dependents under the age of six, with an annual cap of $400,000. 

The remaining 11 agreements that haven’t yet been reached are some of the most contentious, including the economic package — in which GSWs have proposed a $43,000 minimum annual stipend for 20-hour weeks, a 20% increase from the current $35,700, along with subsequent 7% annual increases. The workers are also asking for a $4,000 wage supplement this year. 

USC’s Oct. 31 economic proposal offered GSWs a 2.5% raise for the 2024-2025 academic year. The proposed minimum salary for academic year 2025-2026 is $37,515 and $38,641 for 2026-2027.

Rose Nguyen, a second-year doctoral student studying literature and creative writing who attended the picket, said the GSWs showed up to demonstrate their “mass labor power” and apply pressure on the USC administration to bargain in good faith. 

“So far, they have not really been meeting us halfway,” Nguyen said. “We’re hoping that today can be an action that pressures them to come back to the bargaining table, make some more concessions and, if they don’t, then let them know that we are prepared to walk.”

One of those concessions is the creation of a union shop — to require all union members to pay dues and non-members to pay an agency fee. Anna Haynie, a sixth-year doctoral student studying physics, said such a measure would be crucial for enforcing a contract. 

“That especially means that it’s really easy for new incoming graduate students to become dues-paying members of the union and to understand what their rights are and what they are entitled to,” said Haynie, a member of the bargaining team.

A GSW strike — which Jackie Johnson, a fifth-year doctoral candidate studying cinema and media studies on the bargaining team, said would be “a last resort” — would mean a number of graduate teaching assistants walking off the job within several weeks of the semester’s end. 

The University is preparing for a potential strike, said Andrew McConnell Stott, vice provost for academic programs and dean of the Graduate School. Stott led a webinar for faculty Thursday to discuss options for grading and final exams in the case of a strike, including automating grading and opting for in-class presentations in lieu of final papers. 

“We’re making sure that even though we don’t want a strike to happen — and it’s by no means inevitable — if it does happen, we’re prepared and we can provide our community with the continuity of education they expect,” Stott said, adding that the goal is to ensure the grading burden is “not quite so extreme” on any one instructor.

If TAs strike, Stott said the University is considering hiring graders or taking on volunteers — adjunct or part-time faculty members, or master’s or professional students who’ve previously taken the class — to help grade.

GSWOC also proposed the establishment of an independent harassment and discrimination grievance procedure enforceable under the contract, with “clear, reasonable timelines.” This process would serve as an alternative to the University’s Title IX reporting process. 

“Title IX tends to be extremely slow. People sometimes graduate before their claims are ever heard,” Haynie said. “We are looking for a streamlined procedure to get graduate students out of bad situations as soon as possible.”

The current Title IX structure at USC took time to establish, Stott said, and invokes best practices in reporting. 

“We feel we have an extremely robust policy that protects everybody at USC irrespective of what program they’re in or what their role is at the University,” Stott said. “What the union is proposing is to put in place a parallel process … which in turn can lead to all kinds of potential issues with liability, different outcomes, different processes, delay in resolution.”

GSWOC and USC will meet again Monday to continue bargaining.