Graduate students from UNR and UNLV have formed a union and are seeking formal recognition from the higher education system so they can collectively bargain to address workplace harassment and discrimination, lack of job security and low pay.

The Nevada Graduate Student Worker Union (NGSW-UAW) sent a letter Jan. 16 to Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) interim Chancellor Patty Charlton, UNLV President Keith Whitfield and UNR President Brian Sandoval seeking immediate recognition and to “work with the union to enshrine a fair and enforceable collective bargaining framework for [graduate assistants] like the framework that NSHE classified employees currently possess.”

Here’s a look at their goals and the challenges they face.

Why do graduate assistants want to unionize?

Clay Renshaw, a Ph.D. student in the chemistry department, is one of the students spearheading the unionization effort. Renshaw estimates that in his four years as a graduate student, he has taught about 400 students in a wide variety of labs ranging from general chemistry to organic chemistry and advanced physical chemistry. 

“[Graduate assistants] are teaching full course sections as the instructor, yet getting paid a [teaching assistant] wage,” Renshaw said. “It doesn’t keep up with the cost of living.”

Currently, the lowest pay grade a graduate assistant can receive is a monthly stipend of $850 to work 10-hour weeks. If they are working 20-hour weeks, then the lowest they’re paid is $1,700, which averages out to about $21 an hour. Andrew G., a faculty member at UNR who provided just his first name to avoid professional repercussions, said he was paid the same amount students are being paid today when he was a student. 

“I graduated with my Ph.D. in 2015 and they have not increased this in 10 years. It’s just unliveable,” Andrew said.

Most graduate students say they work 40 hours a week even though they are paid for no more than half of that time, teaching labs, meeting one on one with students who need extra help, grading assignments and researching for their projects.

What’s the process to unionize?

The NGSW-UAW is organizing as part of the United Auto Workers (UAW) because the UAW has a successful history of establishing graduate assistant unions nationwide. 

Union organizers ramped up their efforts during fall 2024, encouraging all graduate assistants to sign a union authorization card to indicate they wanted to unionize with UAW. About 67 percent of graduate students signed the cards, exceeding the supermajority needed to allow the union to form. 

Now that the union has formed, representatives have been reaching out to NSHE and presidents at UNR and UNLV, asking for collective bargaining rights. Renshaw said NSHE and UNR failed to respond but Whitfield had a meeting with the union in Las Vegas. However, the response was “pretty disappointing” and they were “evading any responsibility.” Charlton responded saying they have no power to bring in extra funds to pay graduate students more.

Renshaw argued that NSHE could “easily” recognize the union and expand the current collective bargaining framework it has for more than 3,000 classified staff members to include graduate students. The student union organizers drafted the collective bargaining language to give to NSHE, and Renshaw contends the regents don’t need outside approval to accept that. 

When asked why NSHE hasn’t recognized the graduate assistant union yet, public information officer Elizabeth Callahan told The Nevada Independent via email, “Currently, neither the Chancellor nor the NSHE presidents have the authority to formally recognize or negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with graduate assistants and addressing concerns such as pay and benefits would require additional funding from the state legislature to ensure the necessary financial resources.”

Kent Ervin, past president of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, said the Board of Regents has authority to recognize bargaining rights with the union, but would just have to modify the NSHE handbook since they are the ones in charge of it. 

“If your own employer … writes the rules through their own regulations for collective bargaining and interprets those rules, it’s not an even playing field,” Ervin said.

Asked for comment, Board of Regents Chairwoman Amy Carvalho directed a reporter to Callahan. 

How might the Legislature get involved?

If NSHE doesn’t agree to recognize the union, then union organizers plan to go through the Legislature to pass a bill that would enforce collective bargaining rights and force NSHE to negotiate with graduate assistants. 

Assemblywoman Natha Anderson (D-Reno) is spearheading a bill to carry out that plan. During the 2023 legislative session, AB224 proposed giving “unclassified professional employees” the right to collectively bargain with NSHE. Efforts to pass the bill were led by Assemblywoman Sarah Peters (D-Reno) and Ervin. 

Despite it passing, Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed the bill, stating that “the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education already has the ability to collectively bargain, and in fact has multiple executed collective bargaining agreements currently.”

Anderson is bringing a similar bill back to the table this upcoming legislative session along with faculty alliance. AB224’s language authorizes collective bargaining for “professional employees,” which could include graduate assistants. The new language hasn’t been written for the 2025 legislative session but Anderson says it will be “very similar.”  

In the letter the union delivered to NSHE and university presidents, 12 Nevada state senators and all 36 Democratic Assembly members signed on to support bringing a bill to the Legislature. Sen. James Ohrenschall (D-Las Vegas) was the only Democrat to not sign on and has not responded to a request for comment. 

Graduate student workers disagree with the chancellor’s statement that collective bargaining and addressing financial concerns can’t happen until the Legislature acts. 

What other issues are at stake?

Graduate students said that although pay is an issue, it isn’t the first one they want addressed. 

“Many [graduate assistants] face harassment and discrimination every day in toxic work environments,” Renshaw said. “They’re in fear of retaliation, which is one of the main reasons that forming a union could help them.” 

The NGSW-UAW is hoping to prevent retaliation by providing protections and creating an independent route for grievances because the Title IX office has “historically just not been effective in that.” 

Keely Rodriguez, a graduate assistant in the chemistry department, said that 1 in 4 graduate student workers have experienced or witnessed discrimination and harassment. Rodriguez said she experienced it herself when her supervisor drove her while intoxicated, and “put [me] and others in some dangerous situations.” 

Rodriguez did not report this situation out of fear of retaliation and “there have been other graduate workers in the same lab who approached administration about similar unfair/dangerous/irresponsible behavior on the part of this adviser and they did not see any changes.”

Despite students eventually bringing their concerns to the administration anonymously, the adviser still achieved tenure and the students felt their concerns were not taken seriously, Rodriguez said, adding that this outcome likely will dissuade anyone from reporting similar situations in the future.

Renshaw did emphasize the need for fair compensation, noting that classified employees receive cost of living adjustments, but graduate workers don’t. 

“We are essential to the university, to their mission and to keeping the students instructed and keeping the research going,” Renshaw said, crediting graduate assistants for helping the school achieve the Carnegie R1 status that indicates high research activity. “We should be treated with that respect and get the compensation we deserve.”