After months of negotiations with the College, the Barnard Resident Assistants Union has officially ratified its first contract.

The Barnard RA Union has ratified its first contract with the College’s administration, as confirmed by a Story posted to the Union’s Instagram account on Friday. The ratification comes after months of bargaining with the College, and makes the Barnard RA Union only the third of its kind to reach a contract with its administration. 

Among the major changes introduced in this contract, RAs will gain a new $4,300 annual stipend. However, in a significant shift from the previous contract, the new contract does not cover the cost of housing and meal plans for RAs. This compensation model has long been a point of contention for the Union, with organizers arguing it creates pay inequity for RAs whose housing is already covered by institutional aid, as their compensation was considered to be replacing their financial aid and thus deducted from their institutional grants. Under the new contract, all RAs, regardless of financial aid status, will receive the same $4,300 stipend. The College also plans to increase the stipend as campus minimum wage continues to increase annually, though the size of the potential increase is unclear. 

Furthermore, RAs who currently receive financial aid will have Stafford Loans and expected student contributions canceled on their subsequent tuition bills. In exchange, students whose housing is not already covered by institutional aid will be charged a discounted rate of about $5,200 annually. The standard annual cost of Barnard housing is around $12,400.

The Barnard RA Union began initial organizing efforts in Spring 2022, and officially unionized under OPEIU Local 153 later that fall. Since September of this year, the Union has been in regular bargaining sessions with representatives from Barnard, attempting to negotiate a contract that addresses a number of areas of concern for RAs. The Union’s new contracted provisions notably fall short of their original goal, which would have included a $5,000 annual stipend on top of the College covering the costs of housing and meal plans for all RAs. 

The College has not issued a response to the contract discussion since their October 5 update, in which they stated, “The College looks forward to continuing negotiations and working hard with the union to reach a fair and mutually beneficial agreement.”

Barnard Hall via Flickr