UCW Grads at UTK win major stipend increases!

Knoxville, TN - After a two-year campaign by the United Campus Workers (UCW), on Tuesday, August 5, Provost John Zomchick announced major increases to minimum stipends for graduate workers across the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This announcement marks a huge win for graduate workers in UCW, Tennessee’s higher education union, who started their campaign to raise graduate stipends in March 2023.

UCW’s campaign for higher graduate worker pay has resulted in multiple stipend increases since its start in Spring 2023. Prior to UCW’s campaign for higher stipends,  minimum graduate stipends were $14,400/year for 9-month employees and $18,000/year for 12-month employees, which left many of the university’s graduate workers in an economically precarious situation. UCW’s fight for higher stipends has since resulted in an increase in stipends every August since August 2023. In August 2023, 9-month grad workers’ stipends were raised to $19,401 and 12-month grad workers’ stipends were raised to $25,868. In August 2024, stipends were increased again, this time to $21,522 for 9-month graduate workers and $28,696 for 12-month graduate workers.

Due to persistent organizing by UCW members, this August 2025, graduate stipends are increasing to $26,496 for 9-month graduate workers and $35,328 for 12-month graduate workers. This marks over $10,000 dollars in raises for graduate workers over the course of two years and since the start of UCW’s campaign.

Beth Holden, a graduate worker in Sociology, and Graduate Workers Organizing Committee (GWOC) Co-Chair, said “These consistent wins for grad workers at UTK are life changing for so many across campus, including myself. I’ve never felt more committed to this work than I do now. It’s mind blowing what coming together and organizing for change can do. When we fight together, we win together!” 

Led predominantly by UCW members in GWOC with the support of other UCW members across campus, grad workers at UTK have fought for these wins by circulating petitions, speaking at Board of Trustee meetings, and regularly meeting with Chancellor Donde Plowman during her open office hours. 

Caleb Gore, a graduate worker in Geography, and GWOC Co-Chair spoke to these campaign tactics, “Our committee and broader membership has remained persistent throughout this fight since I became a UCW member in Fall 2022. We have continuously showed up to Chancellor Donde Plowman’s office hours, distributed petitions, described the precarious situation of grad workers at the Board of Trustees Meetings, and have made our voice heard across this campus. These tactics, along with our continued presence and advocacy on campus, have ensured that we can fight for improved wages not only for our grad workers, but for every job class at UT-Knoxville. We know these raises will make a meaningful difference for grad workers, but we have to continue this work until every worker at UTK is paid a living wage.”