The graduate student workers of the university were feeling celebratory after officially getting a raise.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Photo: oneclass.com)

Graduate student workers of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are set to receive their long awaited increase in the amount of money in their stipend.

According to Wate, the graduate student workers will receive a long-awaited increase in their pay. Ryan Ackett, a graduate student worker said that the increase in their stipends should have happened years ago. He also added that the increase in stipend will change the lives of graduate student workers, as this will allow them to find affordable places to rent.

Caleb Gore stated that graduate student workers have started with a survey then a petition that was sent around. The petition garnered more than 1,000 signatures in a matter of weeks. Gore added that they do not have paid family or medical leave.

The stipends for workers that are contracted for 9 months rose 35% and for contracts for 12 months, it rose to 44%. The stipends had been around 14,000 dollars for the year, now the graduate student workers will be getting between 20,000 dollars and 26,000 dollars for the 9 and 12 month contracts.

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One of the graduate student workers in UT, Ryan Ackett, stated that they are almost where they wanted to be and they wanted to celebrate this victory.

Another one of the graduate student workers, Caleb Gore, said that the biggest things to consider were the rents that is compounded with low stipends. Every graduate student workers they could find was given the petition and it started from there. Saying they really want to ramp up their campaign for family medical leave for the graduate student workers.

Ryan Ackett stated that they will keep fighting for workers at the university to make the school the best place it can be.

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