There are a lot of ways you can get involved in GSU. First of all, you can sign a GSU membership card, affirming that you are a member of the union.
From November 2016 to May 2017 we ran a card-campaign for union-recognition – collecting signed authorization cards from prospective members of the bargaining unit, to file for a union election. On May 8th we filed authorization cards from a majority of graduate teaching and research assistants to the National Labor Relations Board for an election recognizing our union.
On August 8, 2017, the Chicago Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered an election for October 17 and 18, 2017 to decide whether approximately 2,200 graduate students wish to be represented for collective bargaining by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The following graduate students were eligible to vote:
All graduate students who are full-time and regular part-time teaching assistants, research assistants, course assistants, workshop coordinators, writing interns, preceptors, language assistants, instructors, lecturers, lectors, and teaching interns in the School of Divinity, School of Social Service Administration, Division of Social Sciences, Division of Humanities, Division of Biological Sciences, and Division of Physical Sciences employed by the University of Chicago at its campus in Chicago, Illinois.
On October 17 and 18, 2017, graduate employees at the University of Chicago voted 1103 versus 479 in favor of legally recognizing Graduate Students United as their union of graduate employees at the University. We will now be looking to elect a bargaining committee, that will then bargain a contract with the university administration and bring it to the membership for a vote. This process requires broad participation and representation from all divisions and departments represented in the bargaining unit. We are therefore working now to increase the membership of graduate employees in GSU across divisions, as we prepare to bring the university administration to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair contract for graduate employees at this institution.
Contact your departmental organizer if you have any questions or would like to discuss the upcoming campaign to get the university to the bargaining table.
There are many more opportunities to get involved:
- You can subscribe to our newsletter.
- You can get involved in one of our campaigns.
- You can join the organizing committee directly or one of its subcommittees. You can become a departmental organizer.
- You can help us improve this website.
- You can sign up to volunteer some time.
- You can get involved with other groups we’re affiliated with, like the American Federation of Teachers, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the American Association of University Professors, or the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions.
- You can do solidarity work with other groups in Chicago.
- You can let us know what working conditions are like in your part of the university, or do some research on what it’s like for others.
Above all, you can help create the union that you want to see exist.
You can also fill out this handy form, and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we get a chance. If you have general inquiries, see our contact page.
