Graduate research assistants at the University of Michigan have won their unionization campaign to join the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO).
2,200 graduate research assistants will now be represented in GEO’s bargaining team at U-M after a 92% majority voted to join the union.
Lavinia Dunagan is the co-chair of GEO’s Communications Committee. She says almost all assistants agreed to be a part of GEO for better job security against budget cuts.
“People felt that it was very urgent to make sure all grad students at the University of Michigan had access to certain protections from the federal government and also maybe some of its actions and consequences, such as limited research funding.”
Dunagan says having more people in the GEO bargaining team can lead to future contracts with U-M that are more comprehensive and cover research safety concerns.
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