Letters and resolutions of support have been flooding in to the GSOC offices. more here...

President Sexton flooded with letters from prominent scholars denouncing NYU's refusal to bargain. more here...

Without the protection of a union contract, NYU can take our benefits away at any time. IN FACT, NYU HAS ALREADY CUT GRAD STUDENT HEALTH BENEFITS.Click here for a comparison of our medical benefits from last year to this year.

URGENT UPDATE: NYU offers sham contract, then refuses to negotiate

On August 5, all members of the NYU community received an email from the University administration announcing their final decision not to negotiate with GSOC-UAW Local 2110 for a second contract. This email confirms what many of us have suspected all along: that NYU is simply not interested in acting in good faith to negotiate a respectful working relationship with the teaching and graduate assistants who help make this university work. Despite their decision, we are determined to fight for our union, and we will win! read more...

NYU "Town Hall" Draws Standing Room Only Crowd: Overwhelming Support for Union is Voiced

Thanks to all of you - GSOC members and supporters - who attended NYU's "town hall" meeting on July 12. Despite the meeting being held in mid-July when the campus is deserted, hundreds of GSOC members, faculty and NYU workers turned out to voice their strong support of our union.

A number of elected officials, including Councilmember Christine Quinn, State Senator Tom Duane, Assemblyman Scott Stringer, as well as representatives from the offices of Congressman Anthony Weiner and Civil Liberties lawyer Norman Siegel, were also present to encourage President John Sexton and the NYU administration to negotiate in good faith with our union. Initially, the administration prohibited any elected officials (as well as members of the press) from entering the packed, standing room only meeting, but in the face of overwhelming opposition from the crowd, President Sexton was forced to relent and allow them to speak.

Over 50 people, many of them senior faculty members, spoke in the meeting, voicing their support for GSOC and their outrage at the administration's refusal to bargain and undemocratic decision-making. Edward Ziter, a
professor in the Drama department, introduced a resolution calling for the NYU administration to immediately begin bargaining in good faith with our union. The resolution was overwhelmingly approved. To see the full text as well as press coverage on the event, go to our website at http://www.2110uaw.org/gsoc. We will also be posting photos and quotes from the meeting itself shortly.

NYU has said they will release their "final decision" on union recognition on Friday, July 15th. The July 12th meeting may not change that decision, but it did show that anything NYU decides about our union will be far from final. As many of our members told NYU yesterday, "GSOC is here to stay," and we will do whatever it takes to win a second contract.

We will keep you updated about Friday's announcement and any other developments. Now, more than ever, activist involvement in our union is crucial. We need to reach as many of our members as possible in the coming weeks before the fall semester to discuss our strategy. If you can help out this summer, contact Bethany Runes in the GSOC office at (212)387-0220 or at gsoc@2110uaw.org

Listen to an audio recording of the Town Hall meeting. Follow the link and click on the "Audio Stream" link.

Read press coverage of the meeting from: Washington Square News, IndyMedia, Inside Higher Ed

Read a letter in support of GSOC that was sent to President Sexton from NYU alumni

Read a letter of support of GSOC from CUPE, the academic employees' union at the University of Toronto, and a letter from NY City Councilperson Alan Jay Gerson

Download a copy of the GSOC open letter to President Sexton.

Slideshow of NYU rally with Rev. Jesse Jackson, courtesy Max Valcourt

Read the letter to John Sexton, Columbia President Lee Bollinger, and Yale President Richard Levin from 43 members of the US Congress.

Read the letter from Senator John Edwards to John Sexton, Columbia President Lee Bollinger, and Yale President Richard Levin here. "I hope and expect," it reads "that you will bargain in good faith."

NLRB DECISION REVERSES UNION RIGHTS FOR GRAD EMPLOYEES: On July 15, the National Labor Relations Board issued a 3-2 decision reversing the legal precedent granting graduate student employees the right to form a union and declaring that, under federal law, graduate student assistants are not employees. Read more, and download the decision, here.

Washington Square News tells NYU: "Recognize the graduate students' union." Read the editorial here.

NYU professors petition for GSOC: the university should "negotiate in good faith with student employees over their terms and conditions of employment." >>click here.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Certifies Union Majority at Columbia>>click here...