GLO's Financial Proposal: Fair Pay for All
On February 23, GLO presented its comprehensive financial proposal to Brown. This was a package built from six months of listening, research, and comparison with peer institutions. The message was simple: Brown can afford to pay grad workers fairly, and right now, it doesn't.
The Case: Grads Are Falling Behind
GLO's bargaining committee opened with the numbers behind the proposal. Over the past six months, GLO talked to more than 300 graduate workers and found that 70% of survey responses flagged pay or healthcare as a major concern. Stipend increases over the last three years have barely kept pace with inflation, forcing grad workers into impossible trade-offs: rent or groceries, savings or emergencies, family or financial stability.
Brown's own website claims Providence is "surprisingly affordable." GLO's research says otherwise, citing a Redfin analysis ranking Providence as the least affordable rental market in the country. Median rent jumped 12.6% in 2024 and another 5.8% in 2025. A renter now needs to earn $77,000 a year just to afford a one-bedroom near campus. Grad workers' own words drove the point home: rent "takes up at least half my salary” when ‘normal’ is landlords hiking a one-bedroom from $1,250 to $1,600 in a single year.
GLO laid out a full living-wage breakdown for Providence—spanning rent, healthcare, transportation, food, childcare, and taxes—totaling nearly $61,000/year for a single adult, and over $88,000/year for a parent with one child.
The Ask: Stipends, Healthcare, Childcare, Retirement
Built on that foundation, GLO's initial Article VIII proposal calls for:
12% stipend increase in Year 1 (raising the base to $58,462), tapering to 11% and 10% in subsequent years
Hourly minimum raised to $30/hour, matching what Brown already pays in roles like the Writing Center
First-year fellowship payment doubled, from $1,750 to $3,500, paid two months before the fall semester begins, addressing the financial strain new students face before their first paycheck
100% premium coverage for health, dental, and vision for grad workers, partners, and dependents, plus a $100/year increase to the Health Care Assistance Payment and a guarantee that Brown will negotiate with the union before making material changes to coverage
Childcare subsidies raised to $9,000/year (ages 0–6) and $6,000/year (ages 7–18), with eligibility extended to support kids up to 18, bringing Brown closer to what Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and Cornell already offer their grad parents
Access to Brown's 403(b) retirement plan, with up to an 8% match, being the same plan already offered to Brown faculty and staff, and one a growing list of peers (Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgetown, UC, UW, Yale) already extend to grad workers
GLO framed retirement access as one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost interventions on the table: years spent in a PhD program without retirement savings can cost a grad worker over $425,000 by retirement age.
Brown's Response: Acknowledged, Not Committed
Brown's bargaining team, led by Ben Trachman, did not dispute GLO's numbers or its underlying data in this session. He requested copies of the sources and noted "there's nothing to clarify currently." But he was also direct about the limits of comparison: peer-institution benefits come with their own caveats and aren't apples-to-apples, and "there will have to be some give and take." On healthcare access specifically, Brown said it lacks "a magic wand" for provider shortages but offered to help individual members find care.
No counterproposal was made at this session. Brown's team indicated they were still absorbing the request.
What's Next
GLO closed the presentation by reaffirming its core message: this is not a request born of austerity denial; it's one grounded in the fact that Brown ended FY25 with an $8.9 billion endowment, an 11.9% return, and a $2.6 million operating surplus. The university has the resources. The proposal asks it to share them with those who serve as a primary generator of Brown’s reputation and ability to attract external funding.
Questions? Reach out: comms@glounion.org
