Strikes Fuel Biggest Pay Raises in Labor Contracts Since 1990

Clark University refused to discuss wages with the school’s newly unionized graduate student workers as they bargained for their first labor contract—that is, a union official said, until those workers went on strike in October.

“The strike started on a Monday,” said Eli Gillen, the Teamsters Local 170 business agent for Clark University Graduate Workers United. Unionized tradesmen also walked off a construction project at the school’s Worcester, Mass., campus to join the student workers’ picket line in solidarity, he said.

“We were back at the table by day three of the strike. By Friday, we got a tentative agreement,” ...