Graduate union hosts ‘Teach-In,’ lays out organizing process

By Kyle Chouinard, writer for The Daily Orange | Published on January 24, 2023

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Ph.D. Candidate Kyle Leister felt as if he was doing everything a “good” Ph.D. student at Syracuse University should. He was working 13-hour days, publishing papers, writing grants, teaching classes and presenting at academic conferences. At the same time, Leister and his wife worried about whether they could even afford to start a family.

“Why should we have to dissect every decision to ensure that we have enough money to feed and clothe our children while working toward a degree?” he thought after speaking with his wife. “Why should we have to choose between having kids and completing a masters or a Ph.D.?”

Leister — with photos of both his two-year-old and six-month-old behind him — told an audience of around 50 undergraduate and graduate students that he came to the conclusion that a union could fix the struggles he was facing. Leister was among a series of speakers in Huntington Beard Crouse’s Kittredge Auditorium Monday night for Syracuse Graduate Employees United’s Teach-In.

Throughout the hour of programming, members of the organization spoke about how to create a union and where the organization currently stands. Sergio Saravia, a Ph.D. student in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, layed out a seven-step plan for unionization.

SGEU already completed its first three steps: talking with coworkers, forming an organizing committee and getting in contact with an established union. In 2017, SGEU partnered with the Service Employees International Union Local 200 United. The organization, which has worked with other graduate student unions across the country, helps in areas like increasing staff support and holding meetings.

“They have been so instrumental in our team for so long,” said Katie Mott, an organizer with SGEU and a Ph.D. student studying sociology at SU. “Over the years, our relationship has only grown.”

Now in the middle of its fourth step, SGEU is currently working on canvassing and signing union cards. To be officially recognized, the organization has to gain a majority of graduate student workers’ support. As of Jan. 23, Maxwell graduate student and SGEU organizer Amanda Beavin told The Daily Orange that SGEU has had over half of the graduate student workers at SU sign on, but said SGEU wouldn’t detail the exact number of signees.

Throughout the hour-long presentation, multiple members said support for the organization has increased since Tuesday, when it publicly announced its push for recognition on the steps of Hendricks Chapel.

“We recognize this importance, and we want to do our jobs well,” Ph.D. Candidate Joseph Beckmann said on the steps of Hendricks Chapel on Tuesday. “We’re here because we enjoy it. We want to do it well, but we can’t if we’re not treated well. (There’s) not enough support for teachers.”

The subsequent steps include calling for voluntary recognition or, if necessary, holding an election before beginning the bargaining process. Following the Teach-In, Beavin said the process moving forward is “malleable,” and that the organization is collaborating with the university in pursuit of a fair process for recognizing the union.

“Right now, we’re really optimistic that we can have a working relationship with (SU’s administration) and find a way to make this process a fair process,” she said.

On Jan. 13, just days before SGEU’s Tuesday announcement of its campaign, SU announced a series of changes to improve the graduate student experience. In the university-wide email, Vice Chancellor and Provost Gretchen Ritter announced that SU would be raising stipends, guaranteeing four years of funding, doubling summer funding and increasing summer fellowship stipends.

Outside of their seven steps, the organization has worked on coalition building with groups outside of its own.

In an open letter, just under 250 members of SU’s faculty called on the university to remain neutral in the union’s efforts. SU remaining neutral would mean the university would neither support nor oppose the union.

“Syracuse University would not be the R1 institution that it is today were it not for the innumerable contributions of its graduate employees,” the signatories read. “In light of this fact, we want to foster the best possible environment for graduate employees to decide among themselves whether to join a union.”

Around 700 other people – which members of SGEU’s Undergraduate Student Organization said included many undergraduate students – and organizations have also signed an additional petition supporting the union’s creation.

“Especially in these uncertain times, graduate workers deserve the right to sit at the table with SU administration and collectively bargain to improve their working lives,” the petition read.

SGEU has also worked with graduate student workers’ unions at other colleges and universities. During the presentation, Narian Wu, an organizer with Boston University Graduate Workers Union, detailed their own process. In December, the union, which also worked with a local SEIU branch, won their election to gain recognition with 98% for the vote.

Undergraduates specifically have gotten involved supporting graduate students’ efforts to unionize through the Undergraduate Labor Organization. Megan Cooper, a third-year undergraduate student studying international relations, English and Spanish, said the undergraduate group will be meeting on Jan. 31 at 5 p.m. in the Marshall Square Mall.

Tara Sandlin, another undergraduate at SU and a member of ULO, said the working conditions for graduate students also impact the lives and studies of the undergraduates who take their classes and share their educational environment.

“Their working conditions are our learning conditions,” Sandlin said.

Published on January 24, 2023 at 12:47 am

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard