Syracuse Graduate Employees United ‘rapidly’ approaches super-majority status

By Dominic Chiappone, Asst. News Editor for The Daily Orange | Published on February 15, 2023

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Syracuse University administration has yet to voluntarily recognize the unionization effort while Syracuse Graduate Employees United rapidly approaches “super-majority” status, SGEU leaders shared at a union orientation meeting on Tuesday night.

Sam Call and Cassidy Thomas, members of the SGEU organizing committee, confirmed that SGEU has not heard from SU’s administration since its march across campus on Wednesday. Over 250 graduate student employees and union allies — with support from 14 campus and community organizations — called for the university’s administration to voluntarily recognize SGEU.

If SU’s administration fails to voluntarily recognize the unionization effort by Monday, SGEU plans to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board in Buffalo, according to a letter SGEU presented at the demonstration to Gretchen Ritter, SU’s vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer.

A majority of SGEU members confirmed to have signed the cards as of Wednesday, Thomas said, and the number of signatures is still growing.

“We’re already on majority status. We’re still continuing to build up our support among graduate workers, because we really want to reach out to everyone,” Call said. “We want everyone to be a part of this.”

SGEU outlined upcoming steps for the unionization plan during Tuesday’s orientation event. Call said that SGEU could have two separate “bargaining units” going forward, including one for stipend workers and one for hourly workers. SGEU will vote this spring on the formation of a bargaining unit for stipend workers, Call said, as well as maintain a focus on collecting union authorization cards from hourly workers. Thomas added that SGEU will provide updates based on the administration’s response, and said SGEU’s intentiuon is to form one union at the end of the unionization process for both hourly workers and stipend workers.

Thomas clarified that all graduate employees will have a say in the selection of SGEU members who will represent the organization in negotiations with SU administration, regardless of whether they signed a union authorization card during the campaign stage.

“Once they get a tentative agreement, we as the workers would then have the ability to vote ‘yes’ on that contract, or vote to go back to the negotiating table again,” Thomas said.

Attendees who participated in the orientation focused on SGEU’s platform — advocating for higher wages, better healthcare coverage and greater support for international students at the university.

Several students also expressed concerns over potential anti-union efforts by SU in the wake of similar unionization efforts at other campuses. One student referred to Temple University’s student union, whose members accused Temple of halting their benefits without notice and threatening union members with deportation. On Thursday, the university also announced that TUGSA students on strike would no longer receive tuition remission.

Thomas assured attendees that working with SGEU shouldn’t be a “radical thing,” or one which the university is unprepared for. Thomas said SU has maintained good standing with at least four other unions for years, while the university hasn’t seen any strikes in decades.

SGEU is currently partnering with Service Employees International Union, a national organization of labor union workers, as a safeguard to ensure protections for student protesters. On Feb. 7, SU’s Student Association passed a bill, presented by the Undergraduate Labor Organization, which requests neutrality from SU administration in an effort to protect graduate workers who choose to join the unionization effort.

Call shared a similar sentiment to Thomas, saying protections are much higher in New York state compared to other parts of the country. Call said SGEU is actively communicating with other graduate student unions, and that graduate workers from SGEU have been in contact for some time with members of Boston University’s graduate student employees’ student union.

The orientation highlighted union victories for graduate workers at other colleges and universities, including increased stipends at Brown University and Columbia University, as well as capped work hours at Georgetown University and Harvard University.

“A union has the legal protection and legal ability to negotiate … with the school on equal footing, and once our union is legally formed and recognized as a bargaining unit, the school would actually be compelled to negotiate with us on equal footing,” Thomas said.

SGEU will host multiple events throughout the week in its continued effort to educate and build support for the unionization effort, including one-on-one meetings which students can schedule with SGEU Organizing Committee members and representatives.

SGEU is asking all students, graduate workers, faculty and community members to call SU Chancellor Kent Syverud’s office Wednesday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. to express solidarity and urge him to recognize the unionization effort.

Thomas said the growth in signed union authorization cards is exciting, given the amount of work done this year to spread and further the unionization effort. Call, who joined SGEU five years ago, said she plans to work with SGEU as long as the union exists.

“I’m convincing a lot of the older graduate students that were there five years ago who thought that ‘oh, this is just like another thing that won’t happen,’” Call said. “But people are starting to realize it’s a real thing now.”