Bargaining News

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #11: If you fire employees, they don’t need protections?!

    At least according to HR at the table, defending Taubman College’s baseless firing of a graduate worker that led to them being detained by ICE. Read more below in Bulletin #11.

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #10: Class size caps now!

    In Issue #10 – we pass class sizes, unfair hiring practices, and special conferences articles. Read more below!

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #9: We won the GSRA unionization election!

    Plus, we passed several articles at our second session with HR. The mediator didn’t even come! Read more in Bargaining Bulletin #9 below!

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #8: We won open bargaining!

    At our first mediated session after the 28-day pause, HR conceded to open bargaining and we were able to pass several important proposals. Read more below!

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #7

    Big updates to share: the Michigan Employment Relations Commission has ordered a 28-day pause. Read on to find out what grad workers will do in response!

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #6

    Read Bulletin #6! This past week, grad workers prepared to present our ICE Off Campus demands — some of the most urgent issues on campus at present, and demands that resonate with workers in every job title.

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #5

    HR Stalls Over Table Placement and Lack of Name Placards! Read more in the bulletin below: What happened at the table: HR refused, again, to meet us in-person on Friday, instead forcing us to communicate through the state-appointed mediator, Micki Czerniak.  This week, we tried to pass our Salary article which demanded: a living wage…

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin #4

    What did grad workers do when yet another week at the table went by with HR refusing to negotiate in person? They kept their cool, of course! Read all about January 23rd’s bargaining session in the 4th issue of the Bargaining Bulletin. Text-only version: Graduate Employees’ Organization Bargaining Bulletin Issue #4, January 26, 2026 Temperatures…

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin Issue #3

    Hot off the presses, it’s bargaining bulletin #3! Knowing that they can’t formally refuse open bargaining, HR has refused to bargain altogether, refusing to sit down at the table. Read more in the issue below!

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin Issue #2

    Check out Issue #2 of our bargaining bulletin, featuring HR’s unwillingness to sit down at the table!

  • 2025-2026 Bargaining Bulletin Issue #1

    Hot off the presses (laptops), it’s the return of the GEO Bargaining Bulletin! Keep up to date with reports back from the bargaining table, as well as events and dates to know about as member organizers. The bulletin, as with all things GEO, is the hard work of member volunteers and will be released weekly.

  • Negotiation Bulletin #47: Grads Celebrate Historic Contract With a Vow to Keep Fighting for the Future

    Negotiation Bulletin #47: Grads Celebrate Historic Contract With a Vow to Keep Fighting for the Future

    On August 25th, GEO members voted to ratify our new contract, with 97% voting for ratification. This officially ends GEO’s historic, 146-day strike for affordability and dignity. The 9-month campaign involved thousands of workers at every step of the way: from the platform development process, to the fight for open bargaining, to the strike, and…

  • GEO Members Vote to Reach Tentative Agreement

    According to GEO President Jared Eno, “members’ decision to authorize the bargaining team to reach a tentative agreement reflects the major gains we’ve won in this campaign. With an effective 80% raise, harassment protections for all grad workers, and new benefits for parents, international students, and transgender workers, members are finally seeing months of striking…

  • Negotiation Bulletin #45: Grads Vote to Keep Fighting: Week of Discussion Leads to Comprehensive Counter-offer

    Negotiation Bulletin #45: Grads Vote to Keep Fighting: Week of Discussion Leads to Comprehensive Counter-offer

    At a mass meeting attended by nearly 500 people on Thursday, August 10, grad workers voted to respond to the Administration’s August 2 offer with a counter pushing for more gains. The meeting capped off a week of discussion, in which over 300 members participated in 32 department meetings, more than 14 working group meetings,…

  • Negotiation Bulletin #44: Grads Receive Comprehensive Offer From U-M; Vote to Respond to Offer by August 10

    On Wednesday, August 2, 2023, University of Michigan Administration provided a comprehensive offer to graduate workers for their three-year employment contract starting in Fall 2023. The offer shows serious movement in key areas of GEO’s campaign platform, and include: (1) 20% raises on Ann Arbor campus; (2) the Rackham Plan in grad workers’ contract; (3)…

  • Board of Regents Offer to GEO – 08.02.2023

    The following offer was sent by Democratic Board of Regents members to GEO President Jared Eno on August 2, 2023. The offer is “exploding” in that it would be withdrawn if GEO members did not ratify the proposal by August 4 at 5 PM. Given the complexities of a contract that affects thousands of graduate…

  • Negotiation Bulletin #43: Grads Make Serious Movement at Bargaining Table. HR Stalls.

    Negotiation Bulletin #43: Grads Make Serious Movement at Bargaining Table. HR Stalls.

    At bargaining on July 13th, the 40th negotiation session between GEO and the administration, grad workers came ready to make movement with proposals related to workload (combined appointments), healthcare, international GSIs, and workplace disability accommodations. After a brief caucus with members, the Bargaining Team introduced proposals which would cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs…

  • Negotiation Bulletin #42: Grads Walk Out of Bargaining Over Harassment

    Negotiation Bulletin #42: Grads Walk Out of Bargaining Over Harassment

    At bargaining on June 23rd, GEO members voted to end the session early and walk out after a frustrating conversation about the latest sexual harassment scandal at the University. At the session, grads relayed the harrowing details of Professor Stephenson’s abuse of his grad workers to HR, in hopes of reassessing our proposed Transitional Funding…

  • Grad Workers Walk Out of Bargaining Session over HR’s Response to Latest U-M Sexual Harassment Scandal

    On Friday, June 23, graduate workers walked out of a bargaining session with the University of Michigan’s Human Resources (HR), after HR refused to take responsibility for the latest sexual harassment scandal involving Professor Robert Stephenson’s abuse of two graduate students, reported on by the Michigan Daily on June 7. During negotiations, Garima Singh, Co-Chair…

  • Negotiation Bulletin #41: UM Under Investigation For Grade Falsification

    Negotiation Bulletin #41: UM Under Investigation For Grade Falsification

    At a press conference this week, grad workers announced that the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), U-M’s accrediting body, will move forward with our complaint about the grade falsification scandal. Grads filed the complaint with the HLC after Provost McCauley and Dean Curzan pressured department chairs and non-instructional staff into submitting fabricated grades for the students…