The Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Michigan condemns in the strongest possible terms the University of Michigan’s unconscionable decision to fire 3 international graduate workers and terminate their SEVIS statuses, resulting in their detention by ICE on October 16. At a time when the […]
AUGUST 19, 2025 — A message from U-M graduate researcher-organizers: Over the past 50 years, graduate student instructors and staff assistants at the University of Michigan have achieved great successes through collective bargaining with the university. Last bargaining cycle, unionized instructors won a 20% raise over […]
ANN ARBOR, MI – On July 23, 2025, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (DoE OCR) announced that it has opened “national origin discrimination investigations” into five universities, including the University of Michigan. The DoE OCR alleges that scholarships, including U-M’s Dreamer Scholarship, […]
ANN ARBOR, MI – Last week, the Graduate Employees’ Organization – AFT Local 3550 (GEO) at the University of Michigan, representing over 2,000 Graduate Student Instructors and Staff Assistants, learned that more than ten undergraduate and graduate students at U-M have been charged by the University’s […]
GEO calls on University of Michigan administrators to protect our coworkers JUNE 10, 2025 Graduate workers at the University of Michigan are closely watching developments related to international student visa statuses. Just two weeks ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the federal administration’s intentions to […]
MAY 17, 2025 — On May 4, U-M President Santa Ono announced that he is leaving the university and seeking the presidency at the University of Florida (UF). Former Chancellor of the Dearborn campus, Domenico Grasso, has been appointed as Interim President. President Ono arrived shortly before […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: GEO Celebrates MI AG Dana Nessel Dropping Charges Against 7 of the U-M Encampment 11, Union Members May 6, 2025 Contact – GEO Communications Co-Chairs, commchair@geo3550.org The Graduate Employees’ Organization AFT Local 3550 celebrates the announcement that MI AG Dana Nessel has dropped […]
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 […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FBI and state/local police raid the residences of University of Michigan pro-Palestine activists, including a GEO member Wednesday, April 23, 2025 Contact: commchair@geo3550.org ANN ARBOR, MI – Early this morning, law enforcement organizations—including the FBI, the Michigan State Police, and local police departments—executed […]
APRIL 10, 2025 — After days of silence from University of Michigan administration, U-M President Santa Ono sent a campus-wide email on April 9 to address the increasing number of visa revocations of U-M international students and grad workers. At the time of his email, 22 […]
UPDATE 4/9/2025 2:45 pm: 22 enrolled students and graduates have had their visas and SEVIS statuses terminated. UPDATE 4/9/2025 1:00 pm: GEO has confirmed that seven University of Michigan graduate students have had their visas revoked. APRIL 8, 2025 — Over the weekend, the Graduate Employees’ Organization […]
The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), AFT-MI Local 3550, AFL-CIO, at the University of Michigan firmly opposes the heinous actions taken against Grant Miner, president of Student Workers of Columbia (UAW Local 2710), whose employment was illegally terminated yesterday for alleged involvement in protests against the genocide […]
On October 24 and 25, we went to arbitration over two grievances about LSA’s discriminatory Allocation Guidelines and Hiring Priorities for GSIs. This was the final step of the grievance process. Members from several departments and professional schools most impacted by these unilateral policy changes mobilized […]
On December 6th, after two separate and unrelated incidents, two first-year and first-semester resident advisors (RAs) were called into separate meetings with their supervisors. In each incident, the responsibilities of their jobs demanded them to make difficult decisions that are common to the RA position: to […]
The Graduate Employees Organization, AFT Local 3550, unequivocally condemns the latest round of police violence at the University of Michigan. This is now the fifth time that University police have brutalized protestors in one calendar year. We reject the criminalization of pro-Palestine protest and the normalization […]
Over five hundred UAW Eaton Aerospace workers have been on strike since earlier this month, when they walked off the job in protest of their employer’s new two-tier retirement system, which would end pension plans for new hires, low wages, and insufficient health care benefits. GEO […]
GEO members overwhelmingly (90%) approved a new portfolio and a new investment policy statement for the organization, incorporating a groundbreaking divestment framework for investing organizational funds in a vote following a 9/18 General Membership Meeting. We are one of the first unions to fully divest from […]
Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that she is pursuing criminal charges, including felonies, against 11 people—a group comprising graduate student workers, undergraduates, alumni, and community members—in response to their alleged involvement in pro-Palestine protests at the University of Michigan. These charges, sought by the […]
On Wednesday, August 28, 2024, the University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security (DPSS), through officers from the UM Police Department (UMPD), arrested four activists who participated in a die-in action protesting the Israeli military’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. This is just the most […]