Graduate Student Research Assistants (GSRAs) at the University of Michigan have voted to join the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO)/American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 3550. In 1981, GSRAs were barred from organizing after the Michigan Employment Relations Commission ruled that they were not Employees under the Public Employment Relations Act. However, that decision was reversed in 2023, restoring their Collective Bargaining Rights. This victory was a product of decades of campus organizing and now adds more than 2,000 additional Members to the GEO Bargaining Unit. Kevin Zheng, a Ph.D. Student in the School of Information, said: “No matter what job title Graduate Students hold, we face the same pay, same health care, same Advisors and same workplace issues. Furthermore, each of us switch between these positions each semester: I worked as a Fellow last year, as a Research Assistant this year, and will be working as a Graduate Student Instructor in the Fall. It only makes sense for us to be represented and organized together under the same Union.”

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Photo Courtesy Of The National AFL-CIO.