The Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC), the organization that represents Georgetown University resident assistants (RAs) in collective bargaining negotiations, finished two rounds of negotiations with university officials Oct. 21 and Oct. 30.
GRAC and the university tentatively agreed on two additional articles regarding health and safety and emergency and natural disasters, while continuing to negotiate the length of training, job descriptions and placement. These negotiations represented the third and fourth meetings between GRAC and the university, following the RAs’ formal vote to unionize April 16, accepting representation from Local 153 of the Office of Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).
With the completion of four bargaining rounds, RAs and the university have tentatively agreed on nine of their proposed contract’s 22 total articles while discussing, but not agreeing to an additional three.
Sam Lovell (CAS ’25), an RA in Copley Hall and the interim chairperson of GRAC, said negotiations in this bargaining session were particularly productive in exchanging language.
“This meeting, in particular, was really productive in the sense that the university and the union engaged in an iterative process where we handed back and forth language a couple of times on counter proposals,” Lovell told The Hoya.
Izzy Wagener (SFS ’26), an RA in Kennedy Hall and the interim vice chairperson of GRAC, said GRAC has seen continued progress in negotiations.
“I think it seems like the university does seem open to actually making some real progress on the articles, and I know that was something we were concerned about going into it,” Wagener told The Hoya. “I think we have been making steady progress, so that’s good to see.”
A tentatively agreed article titled “Health and Safety” provides specific provisions to protect RAs, including forbidding Residential Living employees from asking RAs to clean public spaces. Additionally, the “Emergency and Natural Disasters” agreement outlines procedures for disaster situations and prevents RAs from working more than 10 hours in a 24-hour period.
Lovell said he has been impressed with how RAs continue to remain engaged in the lengthy process, especially as RAs do not get paid to negotiate.
“These meetings tend to last a while, and I think it’s important to recall that RAs aren’t paid for their time at these meetings,” Lovell said. “The university is paid for their time, and so there’s a lot of imbalances that students, when they’re engaging in this process, confront, and that’s one of them. It’s admirable to see students make the time.”
Ulises Olea Tapia (SFS ’25), an RA in Village A and GRAC’s interim bargaining lead, said GRAC is prepared to discuss all aspects of the proposed contract and hopes to hasten the bargaining process.
“We would appreciate seeing a quicker turnaround for the university with counter-proposals,” Olea Tapia told The Hoya. “We would also appreciate quicker sessions, but generally speaking, we believe it went well.”
Wagener said she hopes to make progress on negotiations regarding RA’s placement in dormitories, as GRAC has already advocated for fair placement processes in previous bargaining sessions. Currently, RAs can rank where they would like to be placed, but Residential Living employees make the final decision on RAs’ placement.
“I’m definitely hoping to get a response on our placement article,” Wagener said. “That’s something we’ve traded language back and forth on and we definitely made some compromises. So I’m hoping to see that they’d also be willing to make some compromises.”
Olea Tapia said placement, on which a tentative agreement has not been reached, is important to RAs.
“Placement is where we are really pushing the administration, mainly because the administration really wants to continue with the status quo as it is,” Oleo Tapia said. “We believe that the process of placement as it is is not an equitable process, and we think that it can really be improved upon.”
A university spokesperson said that the university will work to increase transparency surrounding the placement process, adding that the university is committed to working with RAs and listening to RA input.
“Though the University disputes this misperception, it looks forward to clarifying its housing assignment process for RAs, which is designed to best meet the needs of each of its residential living communities while taking RA preference into consideration,” a university spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Residential Living will continue to explore options to enhance this process while considering community needs, RA skills and competencies, and RA preferences. The placement process is guided by the department’s and university’s values.”
Lovell said he is excited to negotiate payment provisions for RAs.
“We’re eager to wrap up these non-economic proposals and get into perhaps the meat and potatoes, if you will,” Lovell said. “I think pay is a big issue that has been on RAs’minds and it’s what we are planning to address in the final and the last bit of our negotiations.”
Lovell said he was encouraged by the university’s willingness to negotiate, adding that GRAC will continue to advocate for change.
“Although we still have some distance on some of these proposals, we are very narrowly coming to an area of consensus and it’s within vision,” Lovell said. “It seems like the university is willing to entertain some reform, although I think we definitely have to stay steadfast and hold them through that commitment because things do have to change and that’s why we did it in the first place.”
GRAC and the university will resume negotiations in November.