The Academic Student Employee bargaining unit includes several types of student researcher positions, including GSR-Trainee, and GSR-Fellow. Article 1B (GSR Recognition) of our contract defines these positions, and those definitions determine whether or not a PhD student performing research is included in the bargaining unit. 

A Fellow or Trainee should be appointed as a GSR when their funding requires performing research or other service for the University, and when they perform research under the direction and control of a faculty member or Principal Investigator (PI). “Direction and control” has to do with whether your PI or supervisor provides some level of guidance, input, or oversight to the research you are funded to perform. 

Most Fellows and Trainees meet these criteria. A Fellow or Trainee should only be excluded when they “receive funding, including financial aid awards, to pursue a course of study with no or de minimis service expectation imposed by the University, and whose receipt of these funds does not require the performance of service at the direction and control of the University.”

In 2023, the University violated our contract by excluding some Trainees and Fellows from the bargaining unit. After UAW members enforced our rights through our contract’s grievance process, University management backed down and agreed to a settlement in Fall 2025 that brought thousands of Trainees and Fellows into our union. This settlement was included in our 2026 contract as the GSR Recognition Side Letter.

In the Side Letter, the University agreed, for a long list of training grants and fellowships that had been in dispute, that whenever PhD students meet the definitions of GSR-Trainees and GSR-Fellows in Article 1B of our contract they will be included in the bargaining unit. To help clarify cases where there had been disagreement, the Side Letter states that the University will consider whether the Trainee or Fellow has “a formal research obligation to a PI’s sponsored research project (whether named on the grant or not)...” This criterion will result in many previously misclassified Fellows and Trainees being correctly included in the bargaining unit, but it does not define a GSR-Fellow or GSR-Trainee. The University ultimately agreed that “whether an individual is in the unit is determined by Article 01B – GSR Recognition of the parties’ Collective Bargaining Agreement.”

UC management on each campus has begun individually assessing whether Trainees and Fellows meet the criteria to be a part of the bargaining unit, including people who were previously in the unit and whose job duties have not changed. In these assessments, the University is only looking at whether there is a “formal research obligation” to a PI’s “sponsored” (i.e. grant-funded) project, rather than applying the definitions of GSR-Trainee and GSR-Fellow in the GSR Recognition article of our contract.

The University has been asking PIs whether the Trainee(s) or Fellow(s) they supervise are performing research related to the PI’s sponsored project. These surveys have been short and confusing, resulting in many PIs giving information that is inaccurate or isn’t complete. Even a PI’s correct responses do not determine whether someone should be included in the bargaining unit. Most cases of Fellows or Trainees being excluded are the result of a PI’s responses to these survey questions. 

In some cases, a department or campus have “assessed” that everyone funded on a particular training grant or fellowship does not meet the criteria to be a GSR, instead of making individual assessments of each Trainee or Fellow’s job duties. In other cases, no assessment was performed, because the University incorrectly claims that a fellowship or training grant does not appear on the list in the GSR Recognition Side Letter and therefore cannot be in the bargaining unit.

In some (but not all) cases, UC management has emailed Fellows and Trainees a notice that they are not being appointed as GSRs. This email may say something like: “your student research arrangement does not meet the contractual definitions at this time, and therefore you will not be receiving a new GSR appointment.” If you receive an email about this, fill out the issue reporting form and a peer union rep will be in touch.

In other cases, Fellows and Trainees have received no notice of their exclusion. If you are on a fellowship or training grant and do not receive an appointment notice, most likely you have not been appointed as a GSR-Fellow or GSR-Trainee. Check with your department administrator to see if your appointment is simply delayed; regardless, if you are unsure about your current employment status, fill out the issue reporting form and a peer union rep will reach out.

No. GSRs have the right to appointment security, meaning that appointments cannot be taken away once they are offered and accepted. If you have been notified you will not be appointed as a GSR after you accepted or started your appointment, fill out the issue reporting form and a peer union rep will reach out.

Healthcare. All UC students are required to hold either UCSHIP or an equivalent health plan. UCSHIP fees are remitted for GSRs, including GSR-Fellows and GSR-Trainees. If a Fellow or Trainee is not appointed as a GSR, the fellowship or training grant may still provide a stipend or remission of student health fees, but this is cannot be enforced through our union contract.

Pay. Our contract requires that Fellows and Trainees in the bargaining unit are paid the appropriate GSR step based on their experience and campus/department pay practice. If you were previously appointed as a GSR-Fellow or GSR-Trainee and your stipend was lower than the appropriate GSR step, you likely received a “supplement” to bring you up to the correct salary. Without a GSR-Fellow or GSR-Trainee appointment, management could still choose to provide this supplemental pay, but might choose not to. 

If your stipend was greater than the appropriate GSR step for your department and experience level, you may not receive a pay cut, but you will lose the rights, protections, and benefits guaranteed to GSRs under our contract.

Experience Accrual. Quarters or semesters spent without a GSR appointment do not count toward the time requirements to advance up the GSR pay steps. Some departments do not use the contractual minimum salary step progressions, and instead have set their own scales and progression sequences (for example, pre and post candidacy steps).  If your department pays above the minimum required steps based on GSR experience, it is possible you will not be affected. 

Other rights and benefits. The rights and protections of the contract do not apply to individuals without a GSR or Academic Student Employee (ASE, typically Teaching Assistant or Associate Instructor) appointment. While you may be guaranteed certain benefits as terms of your fellowship or training grant, the contractual protections around PTO, sick leave, childcare, health benefits, fee remission, wages, etc. do not apply. More importantly, even if a fellowship or training grant otherwise provides a right or benefit, if you are not appointed as a GSR, there exists no mechanism to enforce that right or benefit.

Not necessarily. The University must assess your job duties for each new potential appointment, and you should be included in the bargaining unit whenever you meet the definition of a GSR-Trainee or GSR-Fellow in our contract. If the University continues incorrectly excluding Trainees and Fellows, workers will come together through our union to defend our rights as we have each time in the past.

No. All graduate students are eligible for Union membership and all Union members have a right to participate in Union activities. GSRs’ power to enforce our rights comes from union membership and participation, so join the majority of your coworkers as a union member here.

In our contract, the University agreed that campuses will pay these supplemental funds. Although it is possible that University management will instead place this responsibility on individual PI’s, your right to be included in the bargaining unit does not depend on your PI’s funding availability.

Our Union has filed a statewide grievance regarding these misclassifications. The aim of this grievance is to place everyone who meets the definition of a GSR-Fellow or GSR-Trainee in the bargaining unit. Additionally, Trainees and Fellows are working together to ensure our union has the power to compel UC management to do the right thing, including by making sure all coworkers are signed up as union members to show the University we are united and will stand together to enforce our rights.

The grievance process is a way of resolving disputes with the University that is enshrined in our contract. Grievances are filed internal to the university and are received by UC Labor Relations, and are distinct from other university complaint channels (e.g. the Title IX office or Office of Equity and Equal Protection) and external legal channels (e.g. filing a lawsuit). At the end of the grievance process, rather than the University being the final decision-maker, our Union can appeal to an neutral, external arbitrator who has the power to award remedies and order the University to take remedial actions.