One of us is an electrician who has spent nearly a decade keeping the lights on at MIT. The other is a graduate researcher who relies on those lights, and the equipment they power, to do work.

Our jobs might seem worlds apart. But our work is inseparable and we have more in common than you might think. We both understand what it takes to keep MIT running. And right now, we’re fighting for fair contracts that recognize the value of our work and allow us to keep up with the rising cost of living.

That’s why our unions SEIU 32BJ, representing MIT facilities workers, and the MIT Graduate Student Union, UE Local 256, are standing together and preparing to strike if we cannot come to a fair agreement with the university.

Across the country, everyone is feeling the squeeze. Groceries, housing, health care and other everyday expenses keep getting more expensive. At universities like ours, uncertainty over federal research funding has created additional financial pressures, leaving workers worried about what comes next.

Unfortunately, MIT is using uncertainty as an excuse to ask the people who help these institutions function to accept less.

We’re seeing firsthand what happens when workers are asked to do more while their own economic security becomes increasingly fragile.

For facilities workers, that means maintaining a sprawling campus around the clock, often without enough people to do the job. MIT has more than 200 buildings, and the workers responsible for keeping them safe and operational are stretched thin. The fire protection team has just six fire technicians, while the HVAC department has 17 vacancies.

When equipment needs replacing, workers are often told there isn’t funding. Preventive maintenance that once happened annually has sometimes been pushed back to every two or three years.

These are decisions that affect buildings that the MIT community uses every day.

Graduate workers know that dependence firsthand. The instruments and servers that make scientific discoveries possible rely on the SEIU 32BJ electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and other workers who keep campus functioning.

And just as facilities workers make research possible, graduate workers are central to MIT’s academic mission. We conduct experiments, collaborate with faculty and teach students. Without that work, the university cannot operate as the world-class research institution it prides itself on being.

Yet both groups are struggling to keep up financially.

MIT recently announced an 11 percent increase in health insurance premiums for 32BJ members. Some workers already pay hundreds a week for coverage, on top of copays and other medical expenses. Many commute long distances because living near Cambridge is simply too expensive. Meanwhile, the wage increases MIT has offered in negotiations have fallen short of what workers need.

Graduate workers face a similar squeeze. With base annual pay for many doctoral researchers around $51,000, some spend more than half their income on rent alone. MIT has also raised rents in university housing faster than graduate worker pay has increased.

Our unions have different needs, too. Graduate workers want protections for international colleagues, who make up roughly 40 percent of our bargaining unit and face uncertainty over immigration rules. We also need a security agreement that preserves the longevity of our union. Facilities workers need wages that help MIT recruit and retain skilled tradespeople, along with staffing levels that allow them to maintain campus safely.

We recognize that universities face real challenges as federal policies change, and MIT is no exception. But how a university responds to those challenges reflects its priorities.

MIT has substantial financial resources, including an endowment worth billions of dollars. We believe the university can make different choices about how it invests in the people who sustain its mission. 

Our unions have been talking and organizing together for nearly a year because we’ve come to understand that neither group can separate its future from the other’s.

That solidarity extends beyond our two unions. Teamsters Local 25 has pledged not to cross our picket lines, demonstrating that workers throughout Greater Boston recognize what’s at stake. We are also thankful to the hundreds of undergraduate students who have already pledged to strike alongside us (by not attending class) if MIT continues refusing to agree to fair contracts. 

Neither of us wants to see MIT disrupted. However, both unions are preparing to strike if that’s what it takes.

If we do, the consequences will be significant. Classes and laboratory operations may cease. The workers who respond to building emergencies and keep essential systems running will be absent from their usual posts. 

We hope MIT’s leadership recognizes the value of our work before it comes to that.

At a time when working people everywhere are being asked to absorb higher costs and greater uncertainty, we’re choosing to stand together rather than face those pressures alone.

MIT’s reputation was built on extraordinary discoveries and achievements. But behind every breakthrough are the people whose labor makes it possible.

We are those people, and our work deserves fair contracts.

Bradford is an electrician at MIT and chief steward for SEIU 32BJ. Chua is a graduate researcher and president of the MIT Graduate Student Union, UE Local 256.

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