We are a graduate union 50 years in the making.

Representing graduate workers at the University of Michigan since 1974, GEO is the oldest graduate union in the country. 

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GEO News

Fall 2026: Bargaining Update + FAQ Despite our efforts to engage in good-faith bargaining with UM Academic HR (AHR), the University has yet to offer the meaningful improvements we need. Instead, they have repeatedly proposed striking entire articles from the […]
ANN ARBOR, MI — In June 2026, so-called “progressive” Washtenaw County Prosecutor and Michigan attorney general candidate Eli Savit took up the University of Michigan Police Department’s (UMPD) request for felony charges against GEO President Hiab Teshome. These baseless charges […]
Grad workers in GEO asked how HR would protect international grad students’ ability to work and complete their degrees given the impending end of the Duration of Status policy, but HR believes that a 4 year limit on degree progress […]

Solidarity Letters!

During our recent strike, labor allies wrote to all of us to express solidarity.
Click here to see all of our solidarity letters!

“U-M should stop impeding negotiations, include the 12-month funding plan in its talks with GEO, and bargain in good faith toward a fair contract that ensures affordability and dignity for all graduate workers”

Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters

“…we deplore the University’s attempt to use the courts to force our fellow union members in GEO back to work.”

The All Campus Labor Council at the University of Michigan

President Ono and Provost McCauley … have access to email lists and UM Media outlets (such as the University Record) that have been used to mischaracterize the negotiations … and trivialize the graduate students’ proposals for livable wages and healthy work conditions.

American Friends Service Committee

“They cannot make ends meet on the salary U-M pays them. Year after year, some of the most talented students we admit turn us down due to the low stipends we can offer.”

U-M Department of Comparative Literature

“… we know that graduate students’ working conditions are undergraduates’ learning conditions … GEO is fighting for changes that would significantly improve learning outcomes across campus by making graduate workers safe and secure in their jobs.”

Shawn Fain

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)

We know that these workers work far more hours than they are paid for. Instead of continuing to line administrators’ pockets with sky-rocketing salaries, the University of Michigan should do the right thing and pay its graduate workers the living wage they deserve.

Fred Hahn

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario