ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For weeks, UNM graduate students have been in negotiations with the UNM administration.

“Without us, there is no UNM, so we should be one of the loudest voices here,” said Jason Santos, Philosophy Department steward. “This is what our union fights for, we want to see a more Democratic university.”

The union was unable to come to an agreement with the administration in December of 2023. Now they’re getting the biggest wage increase since they started the United Graduate Workers of UNM a few years ago.

“That includes a 30% raise to the minimums for project assistants, a 12% raise for graduate assistants, a 6% raise for research assistants, and a 4.5% raise for teaching assistants,” said Rikki Farrell, a Linguistics Department steward.

Those minimums are also being met with a 4.5% raise across the board for everyone. It’s a historic win, especially for project assistants who are among the lowest-paid graduate workers at UNM.

“We pride ourselves on the research we do here at UNM so it’s really disappointing to see admin want to leave them out,” Farrell said. “We have been able to win stronger language on their inclusion.”

“This is one of the largest contracts that we have been able to win and this has also been one of our strongest years in terms of organizing,” Santos said.

The raises will go into effect in the fall of 2024, but the work is far from over. The union is strategizing to negotiate full contracts in the spring of 2025. That’s when they will address contract terms, including health care benefits, parking passes, and broadening the scope of their benefits as a university employee.