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The abrupt decision by BU was announced a week after the end of a nearly seven-month graduate worker strike in October, which concluded when the school’s Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU) reached a contract agreement that included raises of more than 70 percent for the lowest-paid Ph.D. student workers in the form of a $45,000 minimum annual stipend and 3 percent annual raises during the three-year term. In a statement posted on Instagram shortly after the announcement, BUGWU claimed the university’s actions were a direct response to the contract agreement.