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Talk:Graduate student employee unionization

Latest comment: 1 year ago by AJVincelli in topic Table of Grad Worker Unions
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Content and balance

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This page needs balance in two regards: 1. It mostly tracks the unionization issue at private universities even though most campaigns have occured at public universities. 2. It covers mostly setbacks rather than gains. Generally, it reads like an anti-union page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 04:43, 29 August 2006‎ (talk) 141.158.33.79

Comments on recent edits

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Latest comment: 17 years ago2 comments1 person in discussion

I revised the body of this entry with the aim of more balance, and draw out the distinction between public and private systems in the US. The opening paragraph, and the timeline, remain unbalanced. It is difficult to quantify the position of faculty on this issue, although it is probably fair to say that most administrators oppose unionization. There are antiunion faculty. On the other hand, major professional organizations like the Modern Languages Association and the American Historical Association, and the American Association of University Professors have all come out in support of (not unionization per se) but the right of graduate employees to have unions if they want them.

Anecdotally, it seems that student opposition has been less heated at public universities.

Toby Higbie 16:43, 7 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

I revised the opening paragraph. The timeline and external links still emphasize the private sector, Ivy League campaigns, and this should be changed. Toby Higbie 12:50, 12 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

Revisions and improvements

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Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments1 person in discussion

This page also needs to expand upon the court cases pertaining to graduate-student unions. Hopefully this will either improve or replace the "Collective Bargaining Rights Section". Genericface (talk) 09:43, 15 December 2007 (UTC)Reply

Added a history of graduate students unions, which I hope will replace the timeline currently in place. The history contains all of the unionized universities. I've also added areas where I still need citations for specific dates. I will be able to fix some of these on my own once I get back to my notes. Genericface (talk) 09:43, 15 December 2007 (UTC)Reply

Union at University of Oregon

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Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

I've removed the reference that GTFF (misspelled GTEE in my note) was the first union. Author remarked GTEE was recognized in June 1969, which is after Wisconsin was recognized in May 1969 (http://www.taa-madison.org/history.html). Moreover, Oregon's own website begins the history in 1975 (http://gtff.net/history.php). --Genericface (talk) 05:00, 10 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

That removal was in ERROR. You have confused the GSEA at the University of Oregon with the GTFF, a later organization, at the University of Oregon. The GTFF at the University of Oregon came into existence six years after the founding of the GSEA. The GSEA at the University of Oregon was the first in the U.S. to have a contract as a freestanding organization with a university. The GTFF at Oregon was organized after the GSEA had gone out of existence. Since I signed the contract with the U of Oregon for the GSEA I darned well know when what happened and when. We were in contact with the group at Wisconsin and I am unaware that they were recognized as a bargaining agent by the University of Wisconsin at that time. Why don't you get in touch with me. My email address is bgc@teleport.com.Bgcbgc (talk) 11:18, 6 February 2008 (UTC)Reply

Errors regarding Illinois

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Latest comment: 9 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

The information about the course of grad unionization in Illinois is in error; unionization was not achieved through a court ruling. What happened was that GEO at UIUC received a favorable ruling from the state court of appeals, but later lost in the state supreme court. Subsequently, grads at UIUC occupied the Swanlund administration building, forcing the university administration to grant voluntary recognition. The state legislature then put everything on a sound footing for the rest of the state universities by passing a law allowing grad unions to be recognized through a card-check process. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.50.254.22 (talk) 01:26, 11 March 2011 (UTC)Reply

This is correct according to a lengthy history of the UIUC campaign on the union's website: http://www.uigeo.org/history/ Toby Higbie (talk) 00:39, 17 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

number of grad-student worker unions

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Latest comment: 1 year ago4 comments3 people in discussion

Not all grad-student unions in the US are members of the CGEU. There are 3 others I know of (all AFT): The New Jersey Institute of Technology, Portland State University, and CUNY. If someone wants to find a reference for this, we can say >= 36 unions in the US. There may be more that I don't know of. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.148.60.222 (talk) 15:42, 11 March 2017 (UTC)Reply

Should we try to collect a complete list of all of the graduate student-worker unions in a table? Could be a useful resource for folks.--Rupumped (talk) 19:19, 10 October 2020 (UTC)Reply
Yes, let’s do this!! I’m happy to help compile the info. It looks like there are several lists on the web, but all are outdated. I’d love to have a table of each union including their name, chapter number, unit number if applicable, state or national certification number with a link to the certificate record if possible, link to their website, link to their latest contract, and link to their Constitution / Bylaws.  :) AJVincelli (talk) 16:26, 29 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
I started a new Topic for a table of grad worker unions, see below. AJVincelli (talk) 03:58, 30 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
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Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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Table of Grad Worker Unions

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Latest comment: 1 year ago16 comments4 people in discussion

Hi all, I can't find a list of all of the grad worker unions anywhere, and I'm thinking that Wikipedia would be the perfect place to compile this info. Then the maintenance of the list is open-sourced! There's been so many private universities unionizing in the past few years, it's difficult to know about them all.

Could we start with a spreadsheet in Google Docs (for easy editing), send it around our networks to help fill it in, and then migrate the table to this Wiki page? All thoughts are welcome! AJVincelli (talk) 03:57, 30 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Okay I started a Google spreadsheet (link obsolete), please help fill it in! Then we can migrate the data to this Wiki page (or a new Wiki page?). AJVincelli (talk) 04:05, 30 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
Okay, my list has 173 grad worker bargaining units so far!! I think it's time to put a table on Wiki, and hopefully the public can fill in any missing units. @Rupumped Are you interested in helping to put the Google Spreadsheet table on Wikipedia? Right now I'm just thinking to include the basics: the school, unit name, unit nickname, affiliation, local number, and website. What do you think? I could really use help! AJVincelli (talk) 23:44, 3 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
I've never made a table in Wikipedia before, maybe I can try here? AJVincelli (talk) 23:48, 3 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for adding Stanford to the list, @Manville jeffrey! I’m actually trying to compile a complete list, see the table below. What do you think? All feedback is much appreciated before publishing.  :) AJVincelli (talk) 22:35, 7 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
AJVincelli (talk) 23:52, 3 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
Hi AJ, this is looking great! Sorry for the delay; I need to do a better job staying on top of my Wikipedia notifications. It looks like you've already completed most of the work here already. Great work! Quick question: what is the difference between "contracted" and "established" unions? I can scrape the websites you found and fill in the questions marks.
Also, what do you think about adding columns for dates the union went public and the date of the most recent contract ratification, if applicable? Rupumped (talk) 08:51, 25 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
@AJVincelli ^ sorry forgot to tag Rupumped (talk) 09:16, 25 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
Hi @Repumped!!! It’s great to hear from you! Actually, there’s whole lot more going on… This table is just the tip of the iceberg.  :) I’ll DM you. AJVincelli (talk) 13:47, 25 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
Is Graduate student employee unionisation purely a USA thing. If not you need to add a lot of examples for other countries. If it is I have doubts about whether it is notable. I am a retired university professor in the UK and Australia and I do not think those countries have a union for graduate students specifically, although I have been retired for almost 20 years and I could be wrong. --Bduke (talk) 06:20, 8 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Hello @Bduke, thank you for commenting! You are right, I am trying really hard to find grad worker units outside the US, but it’s very difficult. It seems that the union structures are different in other countries. I do have several Canadian units in the table (under the provinces “QC” and “ON”), and I’ve contacted a union in the Philippines on a rumor that their Teaching Assistants are covered by the AUPAEU’s contract (they are considered junior faculty in the contract). Even if a bargaining unit includes more job titles than just grad workers, it still counts and I’d love to add it to the table! UCW in the US works that way too. If you have any recommendations or suggestions that I can follow up on, please let me know. Thanks! AJVincelli (talk) 15:34, 8 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
I would make this a standalone list article that can be appropriately scoped to the USA and of course linked from this article, similar to Starbucks unions and List of Starbucks union petitions in the United States. I would make the urls citation links so that the table is smaller, especially for mobile mode. Similarly, should make the tables sortable and wiki link any notable locals eg Graduate Employees' Organization 3550 Local 33–UNITE HERE. I would not make this list global, it is comparing apples and oranges since union, unit, collective bargaining and institutional power are completely different in each country. Nice work! ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 09:54, 9 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
@Shushugah 100% YES to your formatting ideas!! If you have the bandwidth, please feel free to edit the table as you have recommended.
About the international grad worker units, I still do want to include them in some way. Perhaps in a separate table? I know they might not be similar to US unions, but surely there’s a way to include them in some way. Actually, I was under the impression that unions in other countries were much more common, accepted, and even mandated. Maybe the US is the odd one out.
If there are any graduate student employees working for an institute of higher education who have organized to improve their working conditions and make their voices heard by their employer, I want to list them. They have earned a place on a list, even if they aren’t in the US and even if English isn’t their main language. I am dedicated to finding them! And if a list exists here, even if it’s a small list, it may spark the power of Wikipedia’s open-source collaboration, and more international unions may organically appear on the list.  :)
Do y’all have any ideas about how to include non-US grad workers somehow? I’ll ask my network about more unions globally. Is anybody aware of any organized international grad workers, or rumors that I can chase?
All thoughts are much appreciated! AJVincelli (talk) 13:49, 9 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
I too believe every country with verifiable graduate student labor movement should be on Wikipedia. I am just not convinced that a shared table is the best way.
Comparing the two would risk Wikipedia:Original research. See Tech union for an internationalised page. Given that trade unions differ in each country as a construct, it makes sense to contextualise it too. For example France has 7% union density, but nearly 100% bargaining coverage, which is very different from US or German systems (I picked three examples I am familiar with). For Germany, the de:TVStud-Initiative (German: Collective bargaining for student initiative) is an important initiative of both ver.di and Education and Science Workers' Union (Germany). ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 20:28, 9 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Oooh, I like that Tech Union page, it has different sections for the different countries. They are still all together on one page, but contextualized to avoid direct comparisons. Could we do something similar for grad worker unions? Although I have to say, I am extremely ignorant about non-US unions. I have no idea about union density, bargaining coverage, etc. I fear that I won't be able to add any content other than the very basics (name, website, etc.). AJVincelli (talk) 20:39, 9 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Hello @Shushugah, I tried to make a new draft article for the list of grad worker unions. Per your excellent recommendations I embedded the websites as citations, split the table in to US and Canadian with 2 separate sections, and added wiki links to notable unions.
Here's the link: Draft:List of graduate student employee unions
Can you please review it and help me make it publishable ASAP? Thank you for your help!! AJVincelli (talk) 17:04, 22 July 2023 (UTC)Reply


Hi @Repumped, @Bduke, @Shushugah, @LoomCreek, Manville jeffrey, and all other interested people: The grad worker unions table has been moved to a new draft article called "List of graduate student employee unions." Please review it, edit it, update it, etc.! I would LOVE to get this information out to the public ASAP!!!


Hi everyone, the list of grad worker unions is live! It can be found here: List_of_graduate_student_employee_unions

Feel free to check it out, and edit it!  :)

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