Have your graduate students unionized and how is it working out?

[WeedInTheWheat]

Regardless of CA or union rules, this is likely a violation of their student visa.

The union contract explicitly states the workers should be present in California during the contract period. So the student is in violation of the union contract they just negotiated.

I'm looking at the union contract and I don't see anything of the sort in there. Perhaps I'm missing it...

[Caracal]

The contract says explicitly that the employment should be consistent with the requirements of the funding source. Most federal grants (NSF/DoD/NIH) requires the worker to be present in the US.

Personally, I think the university is turning the screws on the students, effectively saying, if you want to get paid more you have to give more.

The union contract explicitly states the workers should be present in California during the contract period. So the student is in violation of the union contract they just negotiated.

I'm looking at the union contract and I don't see anything of the sort in there. Perhaps I'm missing it...

Oh well, that's not imposing a new requirement. I'm assuming the point of that language is just to specify that nothing in the union contract supersedes funding requirements.

Isn't that residency requirement your responsibility though? If it's your grant and you're paying students out of it, its your job to make sure work is being done in compliance with the terms. I'm not implying you're doing anything wrong-some rules need to be scrupolously followed and others can be bent or ignored and nobody will care. But making those calls is on you, not the student.

That language in the contract means that if you told the student they couldn't work remotely from abroad and they tried to file a grievance against you, you could just point out that you are just following the requirements of your funding and the grievance wouldn't go anywhere.