University of Michigan Grad Workers Host 50th Anniversary Workers’ Gala

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: University of Michigan Grad Workers Host 50th Anniversary Workers’ Gala

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Contact: commchair@geo3550.org

ANN ARBOR, MI — The evening of Saturday, April 26, graduate workers at the University of Michigan are hosting a Workers’ Gala to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Graduate Employees’ Organization – AFT Local 3550, a labor union representing over 2,000 UMich Graduate Student Instructors and Staff Assistants. Bringing together labor organizers across campus, Washtenaw County, and the state of Michigan at large, the Workers’ Gala will feature a dinner, a raffle of a tapestry by Tabitha Arnold, silent auctions, and live music. Co-founder of Labor Notes Jane Slaughter, former GEO Presidents Jon Curtiss, Sam Montgomery, and Rob Gillezeau, one of GEO’s founders Sandra Silberstein, and current GEO President Nico Juarez will deliver remarks following dinner. “We’re excited to commemorate this major milestone with our labor community,” said Major Stevens, Treasurer of GEO. “With 50 years of collective action behind us, we’re more prepared than ever to fight for what we, and all workers on this campus, deserve.”

Roughly 175 guests will be in attendance including GEO members, alumni, and allies from other unions and organizations representing the following: 

• Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO)
• LEO – Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (LEO-GLAM)
• Michigan Nurses Association – UM Professional Nurse Council (MNA-UMPNC)
• American Federation of State, Country & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1583
• Resident Assistants’ Organization (RAO)
• University Staff United (USU)
• UM Postdoctoral Researchers Organization (UM-PRO) 
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
• Huron Valley Area Labor Federation (HVALF)
• Labor Notes
• Ann Arbor Tenants Union (AATU)
• Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2)

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) was founded in 1974, making it the oldest graduate union in the country. Shortly after certification, grad workers went on a month-long strike for a contract in 1975. Since then, GEO members have fought for and won premium-free health insurance, tuition waivers, transgender healthcare, harassment protections, police abolition and more.