Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal • 2 023 Economic Forecast 25 508.459.8000 | FletcherTilton.com WORCESTER | FRAMINGHAM | BOSTON | CAPE COD | PROVIDENCE CELEBRATING OF PROVIDING EXCELLENCE IN LEGAL SERVICES THROUGHOUT WORCESTER COUNTY 200 200years years • I N T E G R I T Y • LE AD E R S H I P • E X C E L L E N C E Since 1822 New UMass Chan $325M research building reaches construction milestone A new 350,000-square-foot research and education building at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester reached a construction milestone on Aug. 22, when the building's highest steel beam was put in place 184 feet above the facility's slab foundation. e nine-story building is located at campus center and is expected to provide research space for more than 70 principal investigators, as well as add educational and conference spaces, UMass Chan said on Aug. 22. When the school announced the plans to build the facility in 2020, the construction cost was estimated at $325 million. e next construction phase will be roof installation, as well as the exterior curtain wall system of glass and steel panels, the medical school said, with the goal of beginning interior work by winter. e building is set to open in 2024. Student workers at WPI and Clark unionize On Aug. 25, move-in day for incoming students at Clark University in Worcester, students and parents were greeted by demonstrators holding signs and chanting at the main entrance to the university. e demonstrators were with the Clark University Graduate Workers United, a union seeking better wages, stipends, and health insurance coverage for the low-paying positions oen considered halfway between students and professional workers. "We want parents to understand the economic reality that the workers who are teaching their children face," said William Westgard-Cruice, a PhD student in Clark's geography department. e Clark graduate student union is part of a nationwide effort made possible by the President Joe Biden Administration's decision to allow graduate students at private universities to unionize. A similar effort is underway at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and both follow the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations certification in March 2021 giving doctors in training at UMass Medical School the ability to collectively bargain. In unionizing, the graduate students are seeking better working conditions for roles oen considered more apprenticeships than jobs and are fighting against long-held attitudes and political winds, keeping wages low. Graduate student workers who are unionizing are generally teaching assistants and/or research assistants. ey perform work such as teaching undergraduate classes and performing research under a principal investigator. Graduate students at Clark University started organizing in December 2020 and voted in March to form CUGWU with the support of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 170 of Worcester. e union negotiated for higher pay and for 100% of their members' health insurance to be covered by the school. At Clark, the graduate student stipends can range from $15,000 to $24,000 depending on the job and whether the worker is a teaching assistant or research assistant, according to Westgard-Cruice and Lauren Ashley Bradford, a doctoral student in the university's department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. is pay is significantly below the $46,480 in annual salary a renter needs to afford a fair-market, one-bedroom apartment in Worcester, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2022 Out of Reach report. Because of the high cost of living, combined with low pay, graduate student unionization is a diversity, equity, and inclusion issue, said Bradford. People who come from privileged backgrounds might have access to outside sources of income, like family, while they complete their education, whereas people without access to outside funding may not choose to pursue advanced education because of the financial hardship. Across town at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, graduate students are experiencing similar difficulties, and are similarly sought to organize, said Sabine Hahn, a fih- year PhD student in the biology and biotechnology department. e WPI Graduate Worker Union, which is supported by the United Auto Workers, voted in favor of full unionization in November. A rendering of the $325-million research facility now under construction at UMass Chan PHOTO/COURTESY OF UMASS CHAN MEDICAL SCHOOL W

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