Our Mission

Since April 2022, with support of our parent union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), we have organized ourselves into a union: the Fordham Graduate Student Workers (FGSW). FGSW is part of CWA’s Local 1104.

Through our union, we will ensure fair, safe, and humane working conditions so that we can effectively educate students and do our part to realize Fordham’s Jesuit mission.

We have been bargaining our first contract since the fall of 2022. Our priorities at the bargaining table are the same as when we first founded the union:

To create formal grievance structures that ensure effective protection and recourse against harassment, overwork, and other workplace issues.
To raise our pay, which is currently between $15,000 and $20,000 below a living wage in NYC.
To secure affordable health insurance that includes dental and vision coverage.
To ensure reasonable accommodations and paid leave for those of us who are parents and caretakers and establish a fund to subsidize childcare.
To enhance legal protection and financial support for international graduate student employees.
To extend funding for graduate employees, who have worked many extra hours under difficult conditions to keep the university functioning through the ongoing pandemic.
To eliminate student fees and ensure that existing fees are faithfully used to fund graduate student programs.