Despite Winning Pay Raise, IU Grad Workers Face Precarity

This past spring semester, IGWC-UE fought hard for a cost of living adjustment.

By not keeping with the cost of living, the university has effectively given its workers a pay cut. After historic organizing in 2022, in which we won a pay raise for graduate students, we’ve still seen our effective earnings fall dramatically as the cost of living increased with inflated prices.

Over the last year, Bloomington’s median rent for a single bedroom unit jumped from $803 in 2022 all the way to $1,025 in 2023—a 28% increase! Today, the cost of living is $33,572, which doubles if you have a child. After over 1,200 workers demanded the university respond to our petition for a cost of living adjustment, the Provost initially ignored the petition, then refused to give us a raise, saying that workers simply didn’t understand “the context.”

This Fall, we’re coming back stronger and more organized in order to demonstrate that we deserve a living wage. During the Summer, we’re having weekly meetings every Monday at 2pm to help lay the groundwork for a successful semester.