Press Release: GEO seeks University response to unfair labor practice

The Graduate Employee Organization is seeking swift and decisive action from the University of Michigan to rectify the unfair firing of a Graduate Student Research Assistant (GSRA) for union organizing.

Jennifer Dibbern, a GSRA in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, was terminated from her research position by her advisor and forced to suspend her academic work toward a doctoral degree earlier this fall because she refused to stop organizing for a GSRA union.

Dibbern is a talented materials science researcher whose academic work had been consistently evaluated as excellent prior to this fall; she had won research awards from her department and teaching awards from the College of Engineering before she became publicly and actively involved as an organizer on the GSRA campaign.

Dibbern’s advisor, Rachel Goldman, repeatedly voiced anti-union sentiment in mandatory meetings, told Dibbern repeatedly that she needed to “curtail outside activities” in order to demonstrate her commitment to her research program–a directive that was given to no other members of the advisor’s research group.

Dibbern is a longtime member and  third ranking officer in the Graduate Employees’ Organization. Michigan law protects employees from retaliation due to union activities.

“I was fired and removed from my academic program for exercising my rights as an employee in the state of Michigan,” said Dibbern. “My firing is not just a blow to my career, it is a threat to all graduate employees at the University.”

GEO and Dibbern have held several meetings with the University’s Academic Human Resources Department to try to reach a fair resolution to this problem through normal administrative procedures, but the University refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing and agree to a reasonable remedy.

“The University claims that GSRAs already have access to a fair and impartial grievance procedure. If they mean what they say, they should act to make sure Jennifer is re-instated as a student and a researcher,” said GEO President Samantha Montgomery. “If the University remains unwilling to correct this injustice our membership will be forced into action. This is particularly disappointing after a respectful and collaborative round of bargaining last Spring.”

The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) is the labor union representing Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) and Graduate Student Staff Assistants (GSSAs) at the University of Michigan. Graduate employees founded GEO in 1970, making GEO one of the oldest graduate employee unions in the United States.