TRU Wins

Humanities and Social Sciences wins back 6th year funding!

March 13, 2025

In August of 2024 shortly after agreeing in our CBA to expand 6th year funding opportunities, JHU denied 6th and 7th year H/SS grad workers funding that had already been promised to them. After being told that they would be paid at the union rate, these workers were suddenly facing down the possibility of being completely without income for the next year. In less than 24 hours of hearing this news, H/SS workers successfully organized an emergency picket that led to Johns Hopkins offering one academic year (2024-5) of funding for all sixth years in the affected departments. This was an important organizing win that pushed the administration to move on the issue despite their repeated claims that they could not do anything to support these workers. Since then, the CBA-created Sixth Year Funding Committee continued meeting with JHU administration to address the ongoing question of sixth year funding for workers in the Humanities and Social Sciences and in March, reached an agreement with JHU to secure additional funding for all 6th year graduate workers in KSAS Humanities and Social Sciences until the expiration of our CBA in 2027, at which time we will be able to bargain with the university again over guaranteed funding. A supermajority of 4th and 5th year KSAS humanities and social sciences graduate workers voted in support of the agreement which the whole division helped fight for.

Read more about this win in the UE News, and read the full agreement here.

Sabine vs The Machine

June 20, 2024

UPDATE: As of Monday, June 17th, TRU-UE has reached a settlement with the University administration ensuring full-time appointments including full funding at $47,000 for all 6th year graduate workers in KSAS with full-time residency status for AY 2024-25!

Last week, multiple departments stated they would require graduate workers to work an additional 20 hours per week on top of your full-time teaching, research, and dissertation duties. This blatant breach of contract was met with a class action grievance which held its hearing this Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at the School of Public Health. Over 120 members joined the hearing and made their voices heard, demanded fair contract implementation, and showed Hopkins that our work, is work! 

See what we are fighting for:

Sociology

• Previous guaranteed funding is being revoked for all 6+ year graduate workers

Population, family, and reproductive health

• Graduate workers are being required to work an additional 20 hours per week on top of their full-time commitments

SChool of medicine

• Graduate workers are being told they will not be paid for thesis-related work
• Graduate workers are being asked to take on additional projects on top of their full-time work in order to be paid

Other departments applying the same misimplementations of your contract:

• Economic
• Political Science
• School of Nursing
• Environmental Health and Engineering
• Epidemiology
• Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
• Cellular and Molecular Medicine

1. The implementation of an 8-week parental leave policy (with full tuition and stipend benefits), so we wouldn’t have to choose between our careers and our families. 
2. Improvements to the university healthcare plan, including universal vision and dental coverage and reducing the yearly out-of-pocket maximum.
3. 100% coverage of Urgent Care expenses, with a waived deductible. We shouldn’t have to hesitate to get the emergency care we need!
4. The creation of the Provost’s Advisory Team on Healthcare (PATH), giving grads a greater say in our health benefits.
5. $5 million in COVID-19 relief for PhD students. This came in the form of 100 travel and research awards averaging about $5000, and 200-300 dissertation completion awards that include tuition, health insurance, and stipend for one semester.