Student Association to vote on recognition, support for grad student employee union

By Kendall Luther, writer for The Daily Orange | Published on February 6, 2023

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Syracuse University’s Student Association will vote Monday on a bill establishing its recognition and support for the Graduate Student Employee Union and its campaign to be officially recognized by SU.

Hayden Courtney and Chris Holowczak of the Undergraduate Labor Organization — a group founded to provide undergraduate support to graduate workers and labor movements on campus — presented a bill to the assembly at last week’s meeting asking that SU does not retaliate against unionization effort. The bill does not request voluntary recognition, but calls for protections for current graduate student workers who decide to join the union.

“Our intention is just to have another avenue of support that shows the Syracuse University administration that we’re really, as undergraduates, not in favor of any retaliation, and that we believe that the union campaign should be fought neutrally, and that the administration should allow this campaign to exist with no barriers,” said Megan Cooper, a founder of ULO.

Cooper explained ULO members’ fear that SU could potentially call for mandatory meetings or hire union-busting organizations to dissuade union members from voting in ways they otherwise would. Cooper said she hopes the campaign process will allow graduate students to make their own decision without “undue influence” from the university.

The bill comes shortly after the Graduate Student Organization passed a resolution with a two-thirds majority to officially recognize SGEU at its meeting on Wednesday.

“The Graduate Student Organization actually also did a very similar bill,” SA President David Bruen said. “It’s a resolution recognizing and expressing our support for the Graduate Student Union as a unionization effort for research, graduate and teaching assistants.”

SGEU is currently in the process of gaining support from a simple majority of graduate workers on campus for its unionization campaign, primarily through petitions and signed cards. After a majority is achieved, SGEU will look to pursue official recognition, whether voluntarily or by election through the National Labor Relations Board.

Cooper said the ULO is seeing “huge growth” in the number of petition signatures since the unionization campaign launched on Jan. 17, adding that the number of signatures has tripled.

Through undergraduate support, Cooper hopes that the university will understand the impact that graduate students’ working conditions inevitably has on undergraduate students.

“By giving undergrad support, and by being undergrads supporting this effort, we’re showing them this is something that’s also so important to our student success. And if you’re committed to our student success, this is an additional step in that process,” Cooper said.

Bruen also emphasized the importance of expressing support for SGEU, adding that although undergraduate students aren’t directly involved in the union process, they can signal their support to build a broader coalition.

“We understand the hard work they’re putting in, and we value them. And the goal of Student Association is to advocate for all students, members of campus, even if they’re not necessarily undergraduates,” said Anna Ginelli, SA’s Speaker Pro Tempore and a sponsor of the bill.

Ginelli added that she hopes the assembly will have a lot of conversation about the bill and discuss what exactly supporting SGEU means.

Bruen said that if the resolution passes, he hopes to continue a collaboration between ULO, SGEU and SA through events like Teach-ins and Town Halls, which SA uses as a forum to hear concerns from the student body.

“It’s really just an opportunity for us as the Student Association and representatives to formally express our support. And I think it’s a very meaningful thing to do,” Bruen said.

SGEU will host its next event on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. on the steps of Carnegie Library. Cooper stressed the importance of attending and showing support for the union.

“Graduate student success is necessary for us as undergrads to succeed, and hopefully, that also shows the administration that this is something that can’t be ignored,” Cooper said.