MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, Minn. – On Tuesday, Jan. 17, University of Minnesota graduate assistants took two key steps forward in their union-building drive.

On the University’s Minneapolis campus, a letter was delivered to the office of University President Eric Kaler early Tuesday morning. The letter invited the University to join with a majority of its 4,500 graduate research and teaching assistants to file a petition for union recognition with the State Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS).

Across the Mississippi River at the St. Paul BMS offices, a second group of graduate assistants asked the bureau to schedule a union election.

The two-pronged approach was necessary, said Scott Thaller, a research assistant in the Physics Department, "because we are realists. We know that a joint petition is a more democratic and inclusive way to form our union and we are hopeful that the university will agree to file joint petition. But we are preparing for other outcomes by also asking the BMS to call a union election.”

University opposition to a graduate assistants’ union has blocked three previous organizing efforts since 1991, Thaller noted. However, he continued, “this time, so many grad assistants are involved and support the way that a union will finally give us the right and power to advocate for ourselves, that we believe we will succeed.”

“Having a union will give us the collective power, as graduate workers, to negotiate the terms and conditions of our jobs with the university. When we form a union, the university must meet and negotiate with the graduate student workers,” added Elita Poplavska, a graduate assistant in the Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems.

Ron McInroy, director of UAW Region 4, applauded the university’s graduate assistants saying,  "It is rewarding to see graduate assistants from almost all academic disciplines at the university working together to achieve their shared goals. By democratically forming a union they will have a much-needed voice in the terms and conditions of their work.”

Graduate research assistants engage in a wide range of research endeavors that contribute to advancements in areas such as solar energy and nanotechnology, treatments for cancer and AIDS, and that shape global and economic policy. Graduate instructors design their own courses and are the primary instructors of record for a significant portion of undergraduate students.

University of Minnesota Graduate Assistants are organizing their union under the United Auto Workers umbrella. The UAW is one of the nation’s most diverse labor unions, representing more than 45,000 workers in higher education, including teaching assistants, research assistants, academic administrators, full-time and adjunct faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and clerical, technical and professional employees.