• Academic Student Employee Bargaining Survey 2026

    Academic Student Employee Bargaining Survey 2026

  • Academic Student Employees (ASEs) will begin bargaining for a new contract in February 2027. It’s essential for all ASEs to participate in the contract campaign in order to have the power to win, and that begins with sharing our bargaining priorities.

  • Personal Information

    Your individual responses will not be shared outside of the Bargaining Committee without your consent.

  • Your Bargaining Priorities

    Select your top 6 priorities by clicking the plus sign next to each priority. Then, select a priority and reorder it to reflect your ranking, with #1 being the most important to you. On the next page you'll be asked follow-up questions based on your top 3 priorities. If you have any issues with the options loading, please try a different internet browser.

  • Tell us more about your top 3 bargaining priorities.

    For each item, please rank how important it is to you. Many of these are things we're excited to organize around and fight to win in our next contract. Others are existing protections we’ve already won through collective action, and we need to keep organizing together to defend what we have while fighting for more.
    • Healthcare start 

    • Healthcare

      Maintain and improve current healthcare coverage, premiums, and eligibility
    • Maintain $0 healthcare premiums and current coverage levels
    • Improve coverage for vision care
    • Improve coverage for dental/orthodontic care
    • Improve coverage for gender-affirming care
    • Improve coverage for mental healthcare
    • Improve coverage for dependents
    • Reduce premium costs for dependents
    • Improve coverage outside Washington State
    • Expand coverage eligibility to hourly ASEs
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to healthcare in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • anti-discrim start 

    • Anti-Discrimination & Harassment

      Strengthen protections against discriminatory and abusive workplace behavior, and improve remedy processes defined in our contract
    • Expand anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training requirements for supervisors
    • Enumerate comprehensive lists of inappropriate behavior for supervisors in our contract
    • Enumerate remedies and solutions for cases of discrimination and harassment in our contract
    • Guarantee access to a new workspace where the ASE feels safe in cases of harassment
    • Expand reporting options for discrimination and harassment
    • Improve timeline and procedures for resolving grievances
    • Increase recruitment, retention, & support for BIPOC ASEs
    • Increase recruitment, retention, & support for queer and trans ASEs
    • Increase recruitment, retention, & support for disabled ASEs
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to anti-discrimination and harassment in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • funding start 

    • Graduate Student Funding

      Strengthen funding notification requirements and establish centralized funding support for changing advisors or research groups
    • Funding guarantees for graduate ASEs who are switching advisors
    • Improved clarity and guidelines in processes for switching labs or advisors
    • Improved protections against harassment or retaliation when switching advisors
    • Requirements for departments to regularly notify ASEs about funding availability
    • Implementation of transparency requirements about funding sources for RA-ships
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to graduate student funding in our next contract.
    • end 
    • international start 

    • International Worker Protections

      Reduce inequities faced by international workers and expand international student support
    • Expand available leave benefits for visa and immigration issues
    • Establish a legal support fund for international workers
    • Establish financial support for visa processing fees
    • Expand anti-discrimination protections for international and undocumented workers
    • Strengthen contract language around re-appointment guarantees if visa status is disrupted
    • Establish procedure for ASEs to continue their appointment remotely if forced to leave the US and guaranteed re-employment upon return
    • Establish a tuition support fund for international student workers who lose ASE appointments and tuition waivers due to immigration issues, but want to continue their degree programs
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to international worker protections in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • health and safety start 

    • Health & Safety

      Improve workplace health and safety protections
    • Require that every ASE have consistent access to a personal, safely inhabitable workspace
    • Establish a formal process for reporting breaches in safety standards, including intruders
    • Establish standards allowing ASEs to work remotely when guaranteed workplace temperature and air quality standards are exceeded
    • Establish standards allowing ASEs to work remotely when risk of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases is elevated
    • Guarantee provision of ergonomic working equipment
    • Require timely responses and proper maintenance when there is an issue that threatens the safety or usability of an ASE’s workspace
    • Mandate upgrades to make campus buildings safe to work in according to the standards required by UW’s decarbonization plan including central cooling and improved air filtration
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to health and safety in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • equal pay start 

    • Pay Equity

      Make pay more equitable across salaried ASE, hourly ASE, and fellowship positions
    • Ensure pay equity for salaried ASEs across departments
    • Ensure pay equity between ASEs supported by a fellowship and teaching/research assistantships
    • Ensure pay equity between hourly ASEs and salaried ASEs
    • Extend applicability of contract articles to all graduate students funded by fellowships
    • Extend applicability of contract articles to hourly ASEs
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to pay equity in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • raises start 

    • Wages

      Guarantee large annual raises which exceed inflation
    • Establish large annual raises for all ASEs that meet or exceed inflation
    • Ensure cost-of-living wage adjustments based on Seattle-area inflation rates
    • Expand opportunities for work-related travel funding
    • Ensure timely reimbursements for work-related expenses
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to wages in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • job security start 

    • Job Security

      Strengthen appointment security, including guaranteed hours and summer funding guarantees
    • Guarantee a fixed # of hours throughout a quarter for hourly ASEs
    • Guarantee summer appointments available to salaried ASEs
    • Guarantee 9 month long academic year contracts for salaried ASE appointments
    • Guarantee funding support to finish an ASE appointment during times of funding uncertainty
    • Increase length of guaranteed funding to match departments’ average time-to-degree
    • Guarantee bridge appointments when grants are cancelled for political reasons
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to job security in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • fees start 

    • Fees

      Abolish mandatory student fees
    • Waive campus tuition fees for all ASEs (e.g. building fees, IMA fees, etc.)
    • Waive course-specific fees for ASEs taking courses required for their degree (lab fees, studio fees, etc.)
    • Waive key fees or other required fees for ASEs to access their workspaces
    • Expand fee waivers and tuition waivers for hourly ASEs
    • Establish a process guaranteeing union input on future modifications of fee structures
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to fees in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • transit start 

    • Transportation

      Maintain and expand transit support, including year-round UPASS and parking resources
    • Expand access to transportation resources (e.g. disability parking lot and guaranteed bike storage)
    • Subsidize access to bike storage resources
    • Subsidize access to parking
    • Expand summer UPASS for hourly ASEs under same eligibility as salaried ASEs
    • Expand summer UPASS access to ASEs who are employed for the previous 3 quarters
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to transportation in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • caregiving start 

    • Caregiver Support

      Improve support for ASEs with dependents and family/medical leave
    • Expand access to childcare reimbursement
    • Increase the amount of money provided by childcare reimbursement
    • Expand the eligibility of qualifying childcare expenses for reimbursement
    • Guarantee access to on-campus childcare
    • Guarantee reappointment for ASEs after taking family or medical leave
    • Expand eligibility for family or medical leave, including to fellowship recipients
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to caregiver support in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 
    • classroom start 

    • Working Conditions

      Enhance overwork protections and restrict how UW can use AI in relation to ASEs
    • Establish maximum student to instructor ratios for TA sections
    • Guarantee that a human TA must review grading and feedback
    • Require supervisors to review and sign off on workload and job description
    • Codify specific language differentiating Research Assistant responsibilities from personal research to prevent overwork
    • Establish paid trainings about teaching or research with AI use
    • Guarantee ASE-produced work cannot be used to train AI
    • Establish contractual protections against workplace surveillance technology, such as activity tracking and screen monitoring
    • It takes a supermajority of members participating together to win real improvements to classroom conditions in our next contract. Can you help?
    • end 

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