Posts tagged grad workers
Is “Salting” the Future of Organized Labor?
August 3, 2025 // MA: Another point to just make is that as a salt, you have to earn your keep. Yes, you’re in closer proximity to people, and you can talk to them and build relationships. But part of that is also like doing the work, being taken seriously as a fellow worker, who knows what the hell you’re talking about. JB: Exactly. You have to be a good coworker. I worked at Starbucks for eight months before ever saying the word union. And my role wasn’t to be the vanguard of the revolution. It was to find people, like Michelle Eisen, whose family were coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, who had a deep sense of social justice and a deep commitment to unions, and who quickly saw that her legacy at Starbucks could be helping build a union for everybody who would come after her.
Judge says UM grad workers union committed unfair labor practice; union to appeal
April 19, 2023 // The judge said the Graduate Employees’ Organization violated the no-strike clause of its current contract, which expires May 1. GEO members have been on strike since March 29. But the decision is not final. It serves as a recommendation to the full Michigan Employment Relations Commission. University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said the strike has left students’ exams and final grades in jeopardy. “While the university has worked diligently to ensure that the negative impact felt by students is minimized, it is in the best interest of the entire campus community, especially our undergraduate students, for GEO to stop its strike and return to the classroom,” he said.