Support Our Union
In order for us to build and sustain a strong, living union that supports all the graduate employees at SU, we need everyone’s help. Grad workers across the country are unionizing and winning big improvements, but graduate student union are still relatively new in higher education. We need to understand our contract, ensure that our advisors understand it, and stay in communication so that any issue can be resolved quickly and be used to help future grads too! On this page you can find a variety of ways to get involved with Syracuse Graduate Employees United!
There are a variety of ways you can get involved with SGEU, depending your availability and interests:
Organizing Committee
If you’re more interested in overall strategy and organizing, consider coming by one of our open Organizing Committee meetings, which occur every week!
Standing Committees
If you don’t have time for a weekly meeting but want to help out with various tasks essential to the functioning of our union, consider joining one of our Standing Committees such as the international student committee and the student health advisory committee!
Learn more about all of these options below!
Department Reps.
Or, if you’d like to serve as a liaison in your department, keeping your peers informed about the latest union happenings, answering questions they may, and, if need be, encouraging them to take action, consider becoming a Department Representative
Organizing Committee (OC)
The Organizing Committee meets weekly to discuss our union’s progress, hear report backs from Standing Committees (and the Bargaining Committee), and strengthen our organizing skills. Any graduate worker is welcome to join the Organizing Committee. If you are interested, please join us at one of our weekly standing meetings (details below).
Meeting Time: 6:00pm, Mondays
Meeting Location: Carnegie Library; Room 110
Community Building
Do you have a knack for event planning? The Community Building Committee is an essential part of building member-to-member solidarity through the planning and implementation of social events and public actions.
Meeting Information:
Every Friday at 2:15pm, on Zoom
Outreach and Coalition-Building
We aren’t the only workers on campus - or in the city! We are fortunate enough to have a large number of supporters. The Outreach and Coalition Committee is a body working to coordinate and build relationships with outside organizations and other labor groups both on and off SU’s campus, ensuring a thriving and sustained movement for Syracuse Graduate Employees which supports and is supported by allied groups and organizations
Meeting Information:
As Needed,
Contact Hayden Courtney using the button below for more information!
Standing Committees
Building and growing our union takes a lot of work spread out among many hands! If you are looking for a way to contribute, consider joining one of our Standing Committees. These groups are made up of volunteers who are committed to building a strong graduate employee union at SU. They conduct a variety of essential work that keeps our union running!
See a group you are interested in joining? Click the “join” button underneath the committee information to be connected with a fellow grad or email info@syracusegradsunited.org to learn more!
Communications
Interested in keeping all of our union members in the know? The Communications Committee is critical to SGEU having a consistent message for its’ internal members, collaborators, and other external bodies. It ensures the visibility of the organization through consistent communication channels while also having oversight over the organization’s membership listserv, accounting for all members having access to important news, updates, and events.
Meeting Information:
Every other Wednesday, 5:30pm
Education and Training
Interested in learning more about unionizing, bargaining, and building a strong democratic union? The Education and Training Committee is an integral part of orienting new members, identifying educational needs of the current membership, and providing all membership essential resources in order for SGEU to have a majority of its body both informed and engaged.
Meeting Information:
Every other Wednesday, 5:00pm
Archives and Data
With a unit of over 1,000 members, we have a lot of data and information to keep organized. The Archives and Data Committee is essential for our organization to maintain institutional memory for future members and elected officers of SGEU through organizing and categorizing all relevant materials on an accessible and reliable database.
Meeting Information:
Every Thursday at 3:00pm
Department Representative
Department Representatives serve as the primary point of contact for union members within specific academic departments. They serve as invaluable resources for graduate student workers looking to learn more about our union and are responsible for keeping their immediate peers up-to-date on the latest union happenings. In contract negotiation years, Department Reps assist the OC and BC in ensuring that their departments are ready to take action, if needed.