Statements and press releases

  • Press Release: U-M Refuses to Meet with Grad Workers’ Union

    December 2, 2022 U-M Refuses to Meet with Grad Workers’ Union In an unfortunate setback in contract negotiations between U-M Academic Human Resources (AHR) and Graduate Employees’ Organization (AFT Local 3550), U-M negotiators declined to meet with GEO representatives in a room large enough to accommodate them unless GEO first agreed to onerous ground rules.…

  • Press Release: Hundreds of Graduate Workers at U-M Rally for a Living Wage, Work with Dignity

    November 17, 2022Hundreds of Graduate Workers at U-M Rally for a Living Wage, Work with Dignity  Hundreds of graduate workers at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) will rally for a living wage on Thursday November 17 at 9 AM on the Central Campus Diag in anticipation of contract negotiations with University of Michigan administrators.…

  • GEO Statement following Work Stoppage Ballot Results: Membership Authorizes Walk-Out over Pandemic and Policing Demands

    September 7, 2020 — This past weekend, members of GEO’s bargaining unit – currently employed Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) and Graduate Student Staff Assistants (GSSAs) – voted overwhelmingly to authorize GEO leadership to call a strike. 79 percent of voters voted yes on our work stoppage. GEO members will withhold their labor effective Tuesday, September…

  • GEO in the News: Michigan Daily, August 9, 2020

    GEO members protest for ‘safe and just’ pandemic response “About 30 members of the University of Michigan community convened on the Diag Friday afternoon to rally for greater protections and transparency with reopening policies this fall. The protest was organized by the Graduate Employees’ Organization amid negotiations with University administrators.” Read the full story here.

  • GEO in the News: Michigan Daily, August 6, 2020

    ‘U’ community requests greater transparency and flexibility in reopening plans Rackham student Jeff Lockhart is a member of the Graduate Employees’ Organization’s COVID Caucus. […] Lockhart also discussed a report the University Ethics and Privacy Committee published on June 8 which analyzes the University’s response to COVID-19 and considerations that must be made for all parties involved…

  • GEO in the News: Michigan Daily, August 3, 2020

    ‘A culture of silence’: Students respond to WilmerHale report of Philbert’s misconduct “[Sheira] Cohen, who is also a member of the Graduate Employees’ Organization, has been at the bargaining table with the University in the past calling for change to how sexual misconduct is handled. As a member of the bargaining team negotiating a new three-year contract with the…

  • GEO in the News: Michigan Radio, June 24, 2020

    Here’s how Michigan universities plan to reopen in the fall “The University of Michigan Graduate Employees’ Organization in particular is unhappy with the lack of clarity from school officials, saying in a statement: ‘U-M’s reopening plan leaves many questions unanswered, but what we do know at this point shows that it is insufficient to protect…

  • GEO in the News: Michigan Daily, June 2, 2020

    COVID-19 updates to University Housing contracts raise concerns for graduate student residents “The Graduate Employees’ Organization has also taken issue with updated provisions in the contract. GEO president Sumeet Patwardhan… added that GEO’s COVID Caucus, which is the body responsible for a recent open letter to the University outlining the demands of graduate students, is taking the…