Graduate Students' Rights

Abstract

The News & Comment article “Grad students press for right to strike” by Constance Holden ([29 Nov., p. 1461][1]) includes the assertion that the desire for unions exists mostly among teaching assistants in the humanities and social sciences. This is true. Science graduate students have not generally been part of the union struggle. At the University of Michigan, graduate student instructors (GSIs) are represented by the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), the second oldest graduate union in the country. A majority of GSIs in physics, chemistry, biology, and biophysics are union members. They have been active in every aspect of union organizing and negotiations, including participation in our 2-day work stoppage last April. GSIs are real employees of the university and perform 40% of the classroom teaching at Michigan. The university would not function adequately without our crucial services. We have fought for, and won, adequate health care, tuition waivers, and salary increases, and we would not likely have these benefits without the GEO. Another group of graduate students, the research assistants, are not represented by the union here at Michigan, despite their important contributions. How much of the research in this country is performed by graduate students? I'm not sure, but it's usually at low pay and with few benefits. Graduate students in any field face an uncertain future, and many come to feel like undervalued laborers in the scholarly enterprise. Graduate students from all fields recognize that it is crucial to have the power to negotiate for the conditions of their employment. [1]: /lookup/volpage/275/1461