In the nearly thirty years since Teaching and Research Assistants won union representation through TUGSA, the number of other graduate worker positions has increased exponentially. Today, hundreds of Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and others perform vital work across campus, yet they do so without the union rights and protections granted not only to their TA/RA graduate peers, but nearly every other Temple employee, including faculty, department staff, custodians and facilities personnel, librarians, undergraduate resident assistants and peer mentors, and many others.

As a result of their non-union status, Academic Interns and Graduate Externs are denied the legally mandated raises, benefits, protections from mistreatment, and formal representation guaranteed to their coworkers and colleagues. In comparison to TAs and RAs, many Academic Interns and Graduate Externs are paid lower wages, incur greater health insurance costs, receive no tuition remission, or some combination thereof.

Temple cannot function without its graduate workers, regardless of our job title. Designing productions, teaching courses, assisting student athletes, leading labs and recitations, training music students, conducting research, preparing art studios, grading assignments – we perform the labor that keeps this university running.

TAs and RAs have a union because they are recognized as workers. Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and other graduate employees are workers too, doing the same kind of labor, but without the rights and protections they deserve. It’s time for that to change. 

The first step toward fairness is getting informed and signing a union authorization card. If you haven’t already been in contact with a TUGSA organizer, please email union@tugsa.org today.

Rights and Representation for All

Frequently Asked Questions

Union Overview

  • A union is a group of workers who come together to protect their rights, advocate for fair treatment, and improve their working conditions. It is also a legally recognized organization that represents employees in collective bargaining – the formal process where workers and employers negotiate over pay, benefits, policies, and other job-related matters. In the U.S., the right to form a union and collectively bargain is protected by law. Under Pennsylvania’s Public Employees Relation Act (PERA), workers are also legally protected from retaliation for organizing or supporting a union. In addition to bargaining, unions also ensure worker rights are protected on the job and any issues faced by members are resolved fairly and promptly.

    Unions have existed in higher education for decades, allowing faculty, staff, and graduate employees to secure better pay, fair treatment, stronger job protections, and a real say in the decisions that affect their work. In previous contract negotiations, TUGSA, our graduate student union, has won significant raises, eliminated unfair pay tiers, secured full healthcare coverage, established procedures for resolving overwork and other issues, and more.

  • The Temple University Graduate Students’ Association (TUGSA) is the labor union representing Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, and Graduate Assistants at Temple. We are run entirely by and for graduate workers at Temple, as current masters and doctoral students are in charge of all union-related activities. Since our founding in 1997, we have successfully bargained six contracts with university administration that have resulted in significant improvements to our pay, benefits, and working conditions.

    Before TUGSA was formed, grads at Temple made an average of just $11,000 a year. They had no healthcare benefits, no protections against harassment or overwork, no guaranteed tuition remission, and no protection from unfair dismissals. Today, our current union contract guarantees 100% healthcare coverage, full tuition remission, and $27,000 a year for grads with a 20-hour per week, nine-month appointment ($36,000 for twelve-month appointments) for the 2025-2026 academic year. These gains were the result of coming together and negotiating a union contract that reflects our needs. 

    In addition to securing improvements, TUGSA ensures our contract is upheld consistently, and that no grad worker is left on their own when problems come up – whether that means addressing issues with healthcare coverage, ensuring grads are paid for extra hours of work,.or correcting mistakes on appointment letters. In one recent case, TUGSA helped grad workers secure over $160,000 in retroactive wages, tuition remission, and healthcare costs after discovering they had been misclassified and excluded from union protections. TUGSA also strengthens the graduate community by sharing important information and updates, holding orientations for first-year grads, hosting social events, and creating opportunities for grads to connect across departments.

    TUGSA is also affiliated with national organizations that advocate for higher education and workers’ rights, like the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO, and Higher Ed Labor United. 

  • Having a union gives us the right to collective bargaining, a legally-protected process where workers and their employer negotiate over pay, healthcare, working conditions, leave, and various other issues pertaining to their jobs. 

    For TUGSA, this involves meeting and exchanging proposals with upper administration to agree on contract terms for a given period. TUGSA members formulate and argue these proposals, attend bargaining sessions, and ultimately accept or reject the contract through a vote. This results in what’s known as a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). While a single person’s concerns can easily go unaddressed, collective bargaining ensures our voices are heard and respected.

    Without a CBA, upper administration could make unilateral changes to our pay, benefits, and workload, and we would have no protections from overwork, harassment, underpayment, or mistreatment. Joining together across the workplace through a union gives us a say in our jobs and ensures our rights are protected. Throughout TUGSA’s nearly thirty year history, TAs and RAs have won 100% healthcare coverage, full tuition remission, expanded parental leave, equalization of pay across departments, and most recently, 30-40% raises in our contract covering 2022-2026. Of the eleven unions on campus, we are the only one that receives full healthcare coverage and any amount of coverage for dependents.

    Every year, TUGSA works to make sure numerous issues are addressed and corrected, and that those affected are made whole.

Union Representation

  • TAs and RAs have a union because they are recognized as workers – Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and other graduate employees are workers, too, doing the same kind of labor, but without the rights and protections they deserve.

    Of course, being a graduate student is central to why most of us are at Temple in the first place. But we are also, at the same time, employees of Temple. We are hired to perform work assignments that allow the courses, departments, labs, offices, music and theater programs , and sports teams that make up this university to function. If our work wasn’t needed, they wouldn’t hire us! 

    Regardless of our status as graduate students, we are employees as well. This means that like so many other employees at Temple, we have the legally protected right to join together as a union to advocate for our needs and ensure that our interests are protected.

  • You may have been referred to as a TA or RA in conversations with coworkers and supervisors, but what matters is the job title listed on your appointment letter. “Academic Intern,” “Graduate Extern,” “Graduate Assistant,” “Graduate Student Worker,” “Teaching Assistant,” and “Research Assistant” are all distinct job titles with specific responsibilities and implications. Though your actual job duties may overlap at times with those of a TA or RA, your appointment letter reflects your real job title – and, for the time being, whether or not you have union rights as a Temple employee. Right now, only current, full-time graduate students employed as a research and/or teaching assistant have union representation.

    (If your job sounds a lot like TA/RA work but your job title is something else, please email us at union@tugsa.org right away!) 

  • No. Many Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and other graduate workers are paid significantly less than the TAs and RAs working under the TUGSA contract. Most don’t receive full healthcare coverage and/or tuition remission benefits, and none have guaranteed raises, benefits, workplace protections, or legal recourse when it comes to issues of overwork and harassment. Even those currently receiving the same benefits as grads represented by TUGSA are working without a union contract – upper administration could at any time choose to cut those benefits, and is under no obligation to match any future gains won by TUGSA through collective bargaining. Only those in the TUGSA bargaining unit have the guarantees provided by a union contract. 

  • A “bargaining unit” is the term for the group of workers a union represents. TUGSA’s current bargaining unit primarily consists of Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants. Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and many other graduate student workers not working as TAs or RAs are not yet represented by TUGSA. This bargaining unit expansion campaign aims to extend the benefits of union membership to all graduate workers at Temple University. 

  • When TUGSA was founded nearly thirty years ago, appointment letters with job titles such as “Academic Intern,” “Graduate Extern,” or “Graduate Student Worker” were virtually nonexistent. In the years since TAs and RAs won union representation, the number of these positions has increased exponentially. Today, hundreds of grads work under these job titles without the union representation afforded to the vast majority of employees here at Temple. 

  • Your daily interactions with your supervisors should not change during or after bargaining. TUGSA negotiates with Temple’s upper administration, not supervisors or advisors. Currently, without a union, any change to your working conditions is dependent on the priorities of those with far greater power over these issues than individual departments or schools. While you may have a good relationship with your supervisor, this has no bearing on the raises (or lack thereof) that you will receive in subsequent appointment letters, nor does it mean you will receive compensation, benefits, or working conditions equivalent to the TUGSA contract. Even if the faculty in your department believe in providing you with fair compensation and working conditions, upper administration can and does impose policies which prevent them from actually doing so. Additionally, a union will allow graduate workers who do experience a hostile work environment a legal avenue to advocate for themselves in order to receive fair treatment from their supervisors.

  • The jurisdiction of the GSAs, ISSS, Graduate Schools, and the Title IX and DRS offices does not cover most of the issues that graduate workers face regarding their working conditions. For example, none of these offices would handle issues related to workload, pay, healthcare, or sick leave. TUGSA, on the other hand, has the means and legal authority to address all of these issues with supervisors and upper administration, and to seek prompt and proper remedies for problems affecting graduate workers. GSAs, ISSS, and the Graduate School can choose to offer recommendations to upper administration, but have no legal sway or responsibility. The union provides the necessary legal basis through which to enact changes to university policies and correct the issues that affect members. 


    Furthermore, here at Temple, TAs and RAs, faculty and department staff, custodians, police and security guards, librarians, and nurses already have union representation themselves. If the vast majority of employees who work at Temple have the right to collectively bargain with their employer, you should too.

  • Yes! Temple is a very unionized workplace – there are currently eleven different unions on campus. In fact, basically every Temple employee you come in contact with on a day-to-day basis has a union ensuring they’re treated fairly on the job. In addition to TAs and RAs, this includes: all faculty from tenured professors to adjunct instructors, department administrators and staff, nurses and techs on main campus and at the hospital, custodians and facilities personnel, librarians and library staff, the police and security guards, truck drivers, and building managers. Union representation is already the norm at Temple – undergraduate resident assistants and peer mentors are currently in the process of unionizing as well. 

    If everyone else has a union, you should too! 

International Students

  • Yes! Your right to engage in union activity is protected under U.S. federal law and Pennsylvania state law, regardless of national origin or type of visa. As an international graduate worker, you have the same legal rights as graduate workers who are citizens, including the right to sign a union authorization card, talk with your coworkers about unionization, attend union meetings, distribute union materials, get involved in union campaigns, and run for union leadership. 40% of the TAs and RAs represented by TUGSA are international students – in fact, international students have held various leadership positions in the union throughout its history, including as TUGSA President in three of the last four years! 

  • Unionization gives graduate workers the legal right to negotiate directly with the university over the terms and conditions of their employment. For international grad workers, that means having the power to address the specific challenges of their position — including higher student fees, greater employment restrictions, and a lack of meaningful support from administration through the immigration process. — through enforceable contract language that applies across departments. During TUGSA’s last contract negotiations, union members won bereavement leave with additional days for international travel, which was a direct result of recognizing and prioritizing the needs of international grads. For our negotiations again this fall, ‘Dignity for International Students’ is again one of the five pillars of the bargaining platform. This includes demands for full remission of international student fees, reimbursement for SEVIS and visa costs, and guaranteed vacation time during summer break. A union makes it possible to win protections that reflect the full range of grad worker experiences, including those of international students.

Signing a Card

  • A union authorization card is a document employees sign to show that they want union representation. Signing a card is the first step needed to form or, in this case, become part of a union and earn the right to collectively bargain. When enough Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and other graduate workers sign hardcopy authorization cards, an election will be held to decide whether or not to gain union representation with TUGSA. Signing a card shows that you believe you and your colleagues – like so many others at Temple – deserve the rights, benefits, and guarantees that come with union representation.

  • All graduate workers at Temple with a job title other than “Teaching Assistant” or “Research Assistant” on their appointment letter/assignment form can sign an authorization for representation card. This includes, but is not limited to, Graduate Externs, Academic Interns,other graduate student workers, and those with split appointments (e.g., those working 10 hours as a Teaching Assistant and 10 hours as an Academic Intern). Keep in mind, some departments may refer to Graduate Externs and Academic Interns as TAs or RAs even when they are not classified as such by the university – check your appointment letter to confirm your job title if you are unsure. If you do not have an appointment letter, you can definitely sign a union authorization card!! 

    For reference, this is what an assignment form (sent with your appointment letter) looks like. Make sure to email union@tugsa.org if you have questions about whether you’re eligible to sign.

  • Having a union is the only way to legally guarantee that you receive the same pay, healthcare, tuition remission, leave, and protections as TUGSA members. All TUGSA-represented grads with a nine-month, twenty-hour per week appointment receive a minimum pay of $27,000 for the 2025-2026 academic year, or a minimum of $36,000 for a twelve-month appointment. We also receive full tuition remission and 100% healthcare coverage.

    Many Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and other graduate student workers receive lower pay and/or lack the tuition, healthcare, and other benefits enjoyed by TUGSA members. And, even if you are currently receiving the same benefits as grads represented by TUGSA, Temple administration is not required to continue offering those benefits, nor is it obligated to match any future gains to the contract won by TUGSA through collective bargaining.In recent years, the average pay and benefits for Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and others has not kept up with compensation rates in the TUGSA contract, a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Additionally, these graduate workers lack legal recourse when it comes to issues of overwork, harassment, delayed assignments, etc.

    In addition to giving you pay raises, better benefits, and protections from overwork and mistreatment, gaining union representation through TUGSA will strengthen TUGSA’s collective bargaining, resulting in greater wins at the negotiations table for all graduate workers. Signing an authorization card is the first step to gaining union representation, achieving parity with the TUGSA contract, and improving working conditions for all graduate employees. 

  • No. Signing an authorization card is a legally protected action – it is illegal for anyone to threaten, discriminate against, intimidate, discipline, or otherwise retaliate against you, formally or informally, for signing a card or taking part in union activities or events. It is also a violation of state law for a supervisor to even ask if you have signed a union authorization card, participated in any union-related activities, or had any conversations with coworkers about unionizing. Information regarding who signed a card will only be available to TUGSA and the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the body that enforces state labor laws and oversees union elections for state employees. 

  • Membership dues are how a union pays for legal costs, office space, supplies, events, and staff support. We can only protect our healthcare, win pay increases, and improve our working conditions because people pay dues. 

    You will not pay dues as a result of signing a card. Only those who are represented by TUGSA pay dues, meaning Academic Interns, Graduate Externs, and other grad workers will only pay dues when they're granted union representation. Once you are represented by TUGSA, you would then sign a separate membership form to become a full dues paying member of TUGSA. 

    At just 1.65% of pay, one can see that dues are an extremely tiny amount in comparison to our benefits and yearly wage increases. For example, just a couple of years ago, the pay for a graduate TA/RA was about $19,000 for a nine-month appointment and $25,000 for a twelve-month appointment. After our lengthy negotiations in Spring 2022, those pay rates rose to what is now $27,000 (nine-month) and $36,000 (twelve-month). On top of that, we receive free healthcare coverage worth around $500 each month, a benefit that no other group of employees on campus receives. 

    A union makes it possible to win raises, improve benefits, and protect our rights in the workplace, and dues make it possible to have a union.

  • Yes. Cards will be submitted to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, which will then approve and oversee an election. Participants will then vote on whether or not to have union representation going forward. The date and format of the election will depend on a number of different factors, which are unknown for the time being, but everyone will have the opportunity to take part. A majority of participants must vote “yes” in this election to win union representation. 

  • Absolutely not. As a state-affiliated university, Temple is required to submit annual reports about its finances. These documents show that the university has plenty of money. Most notably, the university has reported over $326 million in operating surpluses since 2018, including a $24 million surplus for fiscal year 2024. Its nearly-billion dollar endowment has increased by almost $160 million since 2022. Temple also reported a 30% increase in first-year enrollment for the 2024-2025 academic year. There are already eleven unions on campus, and the university has remained profitable while having a mostly unionized workforce. These unions have existed at Temple for decades, and, as the numbers above make clear, this has not led to Temple going bankrupt. Your joining of TUGSA will not do so either.

  • No, signing a union card doesn’t mean committing to a strike. Strikes are uncommon, and no one takes the decision lightly. If a strike were ever considered, the decision would only be made after significant discussion involving all TUGSA members and ultimately decided through a vote open to everyone in the union, including you.

  • Yes! Once you’ve signed a card, you’re encouraged to attend TUGSA events and take part in union activities – it’s important to stay informed and engaged, and your voice as an Academic Intern or Graduate Extern is greatly needed!