We are a graduate union 50 years in the making.

Representing graduate workers at the University of Michigan since 1974, GEO is the oldest graduate union in the country. 

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GEO News

AUGUST 19, 2025 — A message from U-M graduate researcher-organizers: Over the past 50 years, graduate student instructors and staff assistants at the University of Michigan have achieved great successes through collective bargaining with the university. Last bargaining cycle, unionized […]
ANN ARBOR, MI – On July 23, 2025, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (DoE OCR) announced that it has opened “national origin discrimination investigations” into five universities, including the University of Michigan. The DoE OCR alleges […]
ANN ARBOR, MI – Last week, the Graduate Employees’ Organization – AFT Local 3550 (GEO) at the University of Michigan, representing over 2,000 Graduate Student Instructors and Staff Assistants, learned that more than ten undergraduate and graduate students at U-M […]

Solidarity Letters!

During our recent strike, labor allies wrote to all of us to express solidarity.
Click here to see all of our solidarity letters!

“U-M should stop impeding negotiations, include the 12-month funding plan in its talks with GEO, and bargain in good faith toward a fair contract that ensures affordability and dignity for all graduate workers”

Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters

“…we deplore the University’s attempt to use the courts to force our fellow union members in GEO back to work.”

The All Campus Labor Council at the University of Michigan

President Ono and Provost McCauley … have access to email lists and UM Media outlets (such as the University Record) that have been used to mischaracterize the negotiations … and trivialize the graduate students’ proposals for livable wages and healthy work conditions.

American Friends Service Committee

“They cannot make ends meet on the salary U-M pays them. Year after year, some of the most talented students we admit turn us down due to the low stipends we can offer.”

U-M Department of Comparative Literature

“… we know that graduate students’ working conditions are undergraduates’ learning conditions … GEO is fighting for changes that would significantly improve learning outcomes across campus by making graduate workers safe and secure in their jobs.”

Shawn Fain

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)

We know that these workers work far more hours than they are paid for. Instead of continuing to line administrators’ pockets with sky-rocketing salaries, the University of Michigan should do the right thing and pay its graduate workers the living wage they deserve.

Fred Hahn

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario