GET-UP active, despite low profile

Although the presence of Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania on campus may not be shown through large protests and teach-ins thus far this semester, GET-UP asserts it is quietly building its organization and preparing for an election to vote on unionization.

GET-UP -- a group of graduate students that organized in the fall of 2000 with the hope of creating a union of graduate students -- continues to wait for a decision from the National Labor Relations Board on whether they have the right to hold union elections.

At the NLRB hearings last semester, GET-UP argued for the right of graduate students -- many of whom serve as teaching and research assistants -- to be recognized as employees and negotiate their own benefits through a union, while the University continues to claim that the only job of students is to learn. The case closed in late April, and both sides anxiously await a decision from the NLRB that could come any day.

In recent years, the NLRB has allowed graduate students to organize at several other private universities.

"We've been building the organization... that's important work we're doing," GET-UP president Joe Kable said. GET-UP is "getting ready for an election."

"We're contemplating what we can do to increase our visible presence on campus," added GET-UP spokesman David Faris, a student in the Graduate School of Fine Arts. "We're still going out and having conversations with graduate employees... [who are] the main focus of our efforts."

Kable, a Medical School student, said he recognized that most people may associate unions with strikes and picket lines, but "the vast majority of the work a union does doesn't involve those things," he said.

A union "involves talking to its members, its members having meetings... surveying grad students about what they'd like to see," as central issues for the union to resolve, he said. GET-UP has been "putting together... our platform... envisioning what the University could possibly be."

However, the University maintains that GET-UP does not represent the views of a majority of graduate students.

"GET-UP is a relatively small but vocal group of students with very strong opinions about graduate unionization," University spokeswoman Lori Doyle claimed. "They've not garnered widespread support from the student body."

During the wait for a decision from the NLRB, the University is "continuing to work closely with all graduate student organizations... [and] keeping a close eye on things," Doyle said.

Doyle said she was particularly pleased with the failure of a recent Undergraduate Assembly resolution that would have asked the University to refrain from appealing the NLRB's decision if it comes down in favor of union elections.

"We were very pleased with the UA's decision," said Doyle, "We felt it was the right one."

GET-UP spokesman David Faris acknowledged that GET-UP "would have liked for the resolution to have passed... we seek and appreciate support from the undergraduates."

"I think it's disappointing," Kable said, adding that he believes students "should at least come to an agreement" to "let the graduate employees decide for themselves" whether or not to unionize.

Both GET-UP and the University representatives said they have no idea when to expect a decision from the NLRB.

"We expected to have a decision by now and it looks like it might not happen for awhile," Faris said.

"From what we can tell, we don't have a sense of when it might be," Doyle added.

According to Kable, there is only one way to end the long wait.

The University "has spent a lot of time and money tying this up as a legal issue," he said, "A very easy way to end the frustration would be to sit down and stipulate to an election."

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