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  • March 4, 2024 – First Negotiation Meeting with Admin’s Legal Representatives

    In this initial negotiation meeting there was some discussion about who would be eligible to join the union unit, but the main focus was defining the approach to the election agreement.The administration was open to a private election, using Syracuse University’s recent agreement as a basis.

  • March 27, 2024 – Began Signing SEIU Union Cards and Received Exclusion List from Admin’s Legal Representatives

  • April 24, 2024 – Received First Draft of the Election Agreement

  • Fall 2024 – Graduate Labor Union

    The Graduate Student Collective changed our name to the Graduate Labor Union to better reflect our aim to organize our coworkers and collectively bargain for fair working conditions.

  • October 23rd, 2024 – Second Negotiation

    After months of the administration’s stonewalling, and soon after a string of demonstrations over Meliora weekend held in an effort to bring the university back to the table, the university agreed to meet once more with GLU membership. The discussion concerned defining the unit and FERPA compliance around a private election agreement. The GLU established that it would acquire a court order from Monroe County Court to subpoena necessary information and then the University would contact students in compliance with FERPA. DMAs, first-year students, and institutional training grants were the exclusions discussed.

  • October 30th, 2024 – Third Negotiation Meeting with Admin’s Legal Representatives

    This meeting was a more in-depth negotiation over who should be included in the union. The administration still had not conceded, but asked us to send a list of every exclusion we had an issue with.

  • November 1st, 2024 – Press Conference

    150 grads and allies held a press conference to raise awareness about why graduate workers feel the need to unionize, explain how the exclusions proposed by the University made the unit weaker, and update the community on the state of negotiations thus far. We were joined by faculty supporters, members of the undergraduate Student Association, leaders of the hospital and campus staff union, State Senator Samra Brouk, State Senator Jeremy Cooney, State Assemblyman Harry Bronson, State Assemblywoman Sarah Clark, State Assemblywoman Jen Lunsford, and City Councilperson Stanley Martin.

    (Add links to press coverage here)

  • December 11th, 2024 – Communication from Prosskauer and Rose Regarding Letter Delivery Action

    Phone conversations took place between UR administration’s attorney Steve Porzio (Prosskauer and Rose) and Scott Phillipson (SEIU Local 200) regarding a planned action in which GLU workers and supporters would deliver a letter to Wallis Hall on December 13th. After asking what we would need to cancel this action, Steve Porzio sent an email in which he said that since our issues are resolved we no longer need to go forward with our action.

  • December 18th, 2024 – Communication from Prosskauer and Rose Finalizing the Election Agreement

    This email was sent to Scott Phillipson to finalize the election agreement and the changes that were made a week prior. After the document was finalized, the GLU Organizing Committee voted to sign the election agreement and our acceptance of their agreement was delivered to University’s attorneys.

  • January 16th, 2025 – Communication to Prosskauer and Rose Inquiring about the timeline to sign the Election Agreement

    After nearly a month with no response from the University, GLU members reached out to request a signing date for the election agreement.

  • January 18th, 2025 – Response from Prosskauer and Rose about the timeline to sign the Election Agreement, citing FERPA concerns

  • January 23rd, 2025 – GLU responds to FERPA concerns

  • January 30th, 2025 – Letter Delivery Rally

    The Graduate Labor Union held a rally centered on calling for the administration to honor their word and sign their agreement. This included delivering a copy of the election agreement to Wallis Hall to be signed.

  • February 18th, 2025 – Rally to Announce Strike Authorization Campaign

    Over 250 University of Rochester graduate workers rallied, despite a sub 0 windchill, to demand the right to form a union and announced our intention to strike if an election agreement was not reached. We were joined by faculty, undergraduate students, faith leaders, elected leaders and community members who gathered to show their support for the right of graduate workers to organize and win a voice over their working conditions.

  • February 22nd, 2025 – Communication from Prosskauer and Rose backing out of the Election Agreement

    Three reasons were cited as motivation for backing out of the agreement. The first being concerns about the Vanderbilt decision and not being able to disseminate information in accordance with FERPA. The second was that there is a large amount of uncertainty regarding most things, due to the new US president. The final reason cited is a lack of precedence of private election agreements occurring at the University of Rochester.

    In a response several days later, the GLU denounced these reasons as pretextual and over the coming months, we and our legal representatives offered numerous pathways for a union election which accounted for these concerns — none of which were substantially entertained.

    Claim that the GLU is “pressuring” the school into a “highly unusual” private agreement, despite such agreements being standard practice at private universities across the US.

    In lieu of honoring our agreement, the school suggests the GLU pursue unionization through the NLRB, which, under the current presidential administration, would risk jeopardizing the legal status of graduate labor unions at private universities across the country.

  • March 24th – March 28th – Polls Open for Strike Authorization Vote

    Hundreds of graduate workers voted in the polls, with 90% of the voter turnout voting in favor of a strike.

  • April 7th, 2025 – Demand Letter Sent to UR Administration to Avert Strike

  • April 10th, 2025 – Nicole Sampson Responds Directly to Demand Letter

  • April 18, 2025 – GLU Shut out of Scheduled Meeting with NY State Public Employment Relations Board and Admin’s Legal Representatives

  • April 18, 2025 – Announcement of New Attestation System Sent out Campus-Wide at 6pm on Friday Evening (with our strike set to begin Monday)

  • April 21st, 2025 – Strike Begins

    The strike began April 21st after extensive solicitation of feedback from individual departments regarding the scope of and nature of the labor withheld.

    Mayor Malik Evans and Councilmember Mary Lupien each deliver speeches in support of graduate workers, calling on the university to honor their agreement.

    By this time it becomes clear that the university administration is no longer consulting Steve Porsio as the primary lawyer on this case and is working with Schoeneck, Bond and King, a notorious anti-labor law firm whose modus operandi has been to draw out negotiations as long as possible to fatigue workers.

  • May 1st, 2025 – May Day

    Along with over 1,000 other Rochester residents and countless of our union siblings, we marched on the eastman campus and drew attention to our working conditions and U of R’s anti-union actions.
    The action called on our union siblings and supporters in Rochester to join us on May 16th for a day of action at commencement.

  • May 16th, 2025 – Commencement Day of Action and Final Day of Strike Before Summer Hiatus

  • August 25, 2025 – Victories on Pay, Health Insurance, Childcare

    After 3 years of tireless organizing and a 25 day long strike (the longest in Rochester in generations) we have won a campus wide minimum stipend, as well as improvements to healthcare and the childcare subsidy.