We, the grad workers of Northeastern, are voting YES for our union on Sept 19, 20, and 21st.
Will you sign on to our public petition to show fellow grads that you will vote YES in September?
At our request, on Friday, July 14th, the National Labor Relations Board ordered Northeastern to allow all graduate workers performing teaching and research to vote in our election to form a union. If a majority of voters vote YES for the formation of the union, Northeastern will be legally required to bargain with us for a new working contract. Your name is on the list of eligible voters provided to us by the NLRB! That means you get to vote in September with us!
- Why should I vote YES for a union?
With a union, we will elect a bargaining committee of graduate workers who will negotiate a contract with the administration over our working conditions. We would be able to negotiate our rates of pay, health benefits, work hours, working conditions, protections from harassment, exploitation, discrimination, and more.
We’re part of a national wave of graduate workers unionizing at universities such as Harvard, Columbia, MIT, WPI, Yale, NYU, and many, many more. From those victories, we see examples of grad unions who have been able to win strong improvements in their graduate school experience. - Will Northeastern administrators oppose this?
Yes, unfortunately they have chosen to obstruct our efforts. The status quo is that the admins can make changes to our work and pay whenever they want, however they want, and without our consent. They want to retain that power and have already started a campaign to discourage us from voting for a union via disinformation emails, intimidation tactics, and insinuating “drastic changes” to our advising relationships without evidence.
Through unionization we will get to democratically approve or deny changes to our working conditions, and we can bargain to address major problems that they choose to ignore. We vote for our representatives, we decide our bargaining goals, and we vote on the contract.
- Should that discourage us?
No! Administrators will still have the power to run the university effectively. Other universities that have had unionized grad workers for decades, like University of California, University of Washington, and UMass, have continued to thrive. Northeastern will also continue to thrive, and with democratic control over our working conditions, so will we! - How can I help?
We launched a public petition, for grad workers to sign, that will show everyone that we stand together in forming our union, GENU-UAW. Can you take 2 minutes and add your name? Once we hit a critical mass, we will share it across social media and via email to demonstrate the overwhelming support.
If you want to join the organizing committee: just reply to this email and let us know you want to help!
If you have questions: reply to this email and a grad organizer will reach out to chat with you!
We will keep reaching out as we get closer to our election, address any questions you have, and keep you informed on voting logistics once they are formalized. Feel free to visit our website and follow us on social media (Twitter | Instagram | Tiktok) for more info. Let’s win this election!
In solidarity,
GENU-UAW Organizing Committee
Drafted by:
Nathan Partlan, Computer Science
Kelly Barnsley, Chemistry
Hunter Moskowitz, History
Xenia Dragon, Computer Science
Grace Poudrier, Sociology
Niki Thomas, Bioengineering
Alice Koeninger, Computer Science
Kutub Gandhi, Computer Science
Sydney Purdue, Interdisciplinary Design & Media
Sophia Sheng, Law
Camille Rumberger, Marine and Environmental Science
Maria Solis Kennedy, Law
Anamay Chaturvedi, Computer Science
Arslan Sheikh, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Daniel Braconnier, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Tim Rupprecht, Computer Engineering
Amogh Pradeep, Computer Science