The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) is the labor union that represents GSIs (Graduate Student Instructors) and GSSAs (Graduate Student Staff Assistants) at the University of Michigan. GEO is Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers, and is one of the oldest graduate student employee unions in the US.
The web site is https://www.geo3550.org/ (checked 2023-09)
The GEO has staged walkout strikes as a bargaining tactic with the University administration. They reached an agreement in 2008 without going on strike, but walked off the job for one day in 2005. A 146-day strike ended on August 25, 2023.
Audio
In October 2012, GEO and the Lecturers' Employee Organization held a rally in support of Proposal 2 — a proposal that would have amended the Michigan Constitution to ensure the right to unionize — which was ultimately defeated in November. Here is a sound clip of their rally: https://soundcloud.com/giacomo-bologna-1/geo-leo-rally-for-proposition
In the news
- GSIs Walk Out, Michigan Daily, March 2005
Resounding chants of “No contract — no work, no peace” could be heard all over central campus yesterday as members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization staged a one-day walkout in protest of the University and its alleged lack of cooperation in negotiations.
