In today’s News & Commentary, Boston University graduate workers ratify a contract after a seven-month strike, Kansas City tenants go on a rent strike, and Wal-Mart workers in Canada vote to form the company’s first warehouse union in North America. 

The Boston University Graduate Workers’ Union voted to ratify a contract after a seven-month strike. The strike was the longest such strike in at least a decade. The new contract includes a minimum hourly wage of $20 per hour, a 70% increase for the union’s lowest-paid workers. It also includes subsidized transportation benefits for commuters, large improvements in child care support, and pledges to maintain health coverage for PhD students. 

“We’ve won significant improvements in our wages and benefits, and that was only possible because of the strength of our membership and the support from the labor community,” Freddy Reiber, a graduate worker in the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, said in a press release. “Of course, the fight isn’t over. We’ve got a solid foundation and are already thinking about the next contract so that we can help create a more equitable BU.”

Hundreds of tenants in Kansas City, Missouri are on rent strike. KC Tenants, a member of the Tenant Union Federation, organized the strike. Residents of two apartment complexes are demanding better upkeep and repairs, collectively bargained leases, and a 3% cap on annual rent hikes for buildings receiving federal subsidies. 

Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the United States and in the world. Workers in Mississauga, Canada won the first warehouse workers union in North America. The workers are organizing around better wages, increased job security, and improved health and safety conditions. The win at Walmart comes just months after the first successful union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Canada.