In October 2021, a handful of Dartmouth College graduate students gathered in a living room and set out to do something none of them had ever done before — form a labor union. By April 2023, the Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth (GOLD) had overcome unprecedented unionbusting tactics to win recognition as a UE local representing 800 graduate teachers and researchers. On May Day of 2024, GOLD-UE went on strike for a fair contract.

Dartmouth is nestled in the Upper Valley, a region located in the rural, forested area on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire. The formation of our union, and many of our contract demands, arose from a universally felt issue in our community - an oppressively high cost of living rivaling that of some of the most expensive U.S. cities. The inadequate wages and benefits offered by the College created barriers to higher education for graduate workers from working class backgrounds, workers with children or dependent family members, workers with disabilities or chronic health conditions, and international workers. Throughout our first contract campaign, we fought for all Dartmouth grad workers to be able to live where we work. After 8 months of contract negotiations, we had secured an approximately 17 percent raise, a cost of living adjustment tied to national inflation, improved healthcare, support for international workers, and protections against discrimination and unjust discipline. However, demands such as childcare support, paid medical leave, and dental insurance were still far from settled. Graduate workers decided it was time to use our most powerful tool: strike power.

On May 1, 2024, the first day of our strike, we received solidarity from and participated in joint actions with workers and students from beyond our ranks. That morning, unionized undergraduate dining workers at Dartmouth refused to cross our picket line, effectively shutting down multiple campus dining options. That evening, a coalition of student and worker organizations, including GOLD-UE, organized a ‘Labor for Liberation Rally’ to protest Dartmouth’s investment in the genocide of the Palestinian people. Shortly after a small group of student activists set up tents, a phalanx of armored riot police marched onto the green where the protest was held, and hundreds of protestors formed a circle to protect the encampment. A standoff ensued for hours, during which thousands more gathered to watch as the police, at Dartmouth administration’s behest, arrested 90 protestors, including students, faculty, staff, journalists, and local community members. Five GOLD-UE members were among those arrested.

Mobilizing Around More than Contract Demands

Our strike became a central factor in mobilizing graduate workers around more than just our contract demands. The GOLD Palestine Caucus formed shortly after the strike began, and organized for further action on issues related to Palestine and the May 1 arrests. Our weekly general body meetings served as a central forum for political and strategic discussions around union action related to Palestine. Local organizations, such as the Upper Valley Democratic Socialists of America and other Palestine solidarity groups, staffed and funded our strike kitchen, feeding workers three meals every day. Many GOLD-UE organizers view the political development of our organization throughout the strike as one of our campaign’s greatest successes, perhaps even more important than the contract fight alone.

Another important factor of our strike was our commitment to building an institution of democratic decision making. Every Monday, members were encouraged to attend a general body meeting in which we discussed the state of the strike and held a vote on whether to continue striking or to accept the offer that was on the table. These meetings also served as a venue for strategic discussion. Each week, members brought forward, discussed, and voted on resolutions covering topics from bargaining strategy, to voting mechanisms, to union action for Palestine. Members were also encouraged to attend bargaining sessions and to participate fully during caucus discussions in which the rank and file worked with the bargaining committee to make decisions during negotiations. These democratic practices fostered rank-and-file engagement and gave our members true ownership of the strike.

Organizing Against Retaliation

One of the biggest fights our union had during the strike was the fight against retaliation. While it is illegal under the NLRA to fire workers for participating in protected strike activity, Dartmouth decided once again to use dirty legal tactics to intimidate our members for exercising their right to strike. While graduate student workers are legally recognized as Dartmouth College employees, our employment assignments, including teaching and research assistant positions, are recorded as “credits” in the same system that records our academic classes. Dartmouth stated that while they can’t “fire” workers for striking, they have jurisdiction over “academic” standing. Therefore, according to the Dartmouth administration, striking workers could be denied academic credit and thus removed from their program, and by proxy, their employment. Through this transparently illegal threat, they tried to scare us into backing down. We didn’t.

As threats rolled in, groups of workers organized to confront their department’s administration, making it clear that retaliation would not be tolerated. When an international graduate worker in Mathematics was directly threatened with removal from the program, which would have resulted in removal from the U.S., her coworkers organized nearly every grad worker in the department to sign a letter to the administration stating that such an attack on one is an attack on all. A majority of Math department grad workers took the letter and marched on the boss. In response, the threat of retaliation was revoked, and there were no further threats from that department for the remainder of the strike. Other departments, such as Physics and Astronomy, similarly confronted their departmental administration and directly asserted power in order to protect the right to strike. Now, after the strike, we have ensured that not a single striking worker has been removed from their program. Through organizing direct action against the boss, our members were able to protect each other and defeat this pathetic intimidation tactic.

Workers continued striking through May and into June, staying out for a total of 59 days. Despite major contract wins leading up to and early on in the strike, such as annual cost of living adjustments and full dental insurance coverage, GOLD-UE members voted to stay on the picket line for our most vulnerable members. In the end, we finally won two months of paid medical leave, a sizable support fund to reimburse childcare costs, and partial coverage for dependents joining our healthcare plans. There is still more to fight for and more to win, but our strike secured a contract that immensely improves the lives of Dartmouth graduate workers. In addition to the contract wins, the very act of struggle has developed our union into an organization that can fight and win. Going into this strike, most of our members had never had an opportunity to experience wielding collective power. Working together, we gained invaluable insight into how we can wield our power effectively and democratically. We are gearing up for more fights ahead, with no time to lose, and we have never felt stronger.