by Fighting Words Staff – https://fighting-words.net/

Members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) have been on strike for improved working conditions and better pay. 

On Mon. April 3, 2023, the GEO and its community supporters held a picket line outside the University of Michigan Detroit Center on Woodward Ave. near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Midtown. 

According to a leaflet being passed out at the picket line: “GEO is the labor union representing 2,000 graduate student workers at U-M. We are teachers, researchers and mentors providing thousands of hours of instruction for the University. Our teaching generates $200 million in profit for U-M. 

“Grad school should be possible for everyone–not just those who have access to family wealth. To make that happen we need a baseline living wage of $38.5k, while also providing additional support to groups of workers such as parents and international students, whose costs of living can be higher. 

“We’re also fighting for a safer campus by proposing a transitional funding program for survivors of harassment and calling for U-M to fund a community-based non-violent police alternative, separate from DPSS.” 

You can donate to the GEO Strike Fund at https://t.co/wlbTgvTnSf

More information: Graduate Employees’ Organization 3550