Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania, Penn's would-be graduate student union, used its energy and resources this past week to promote its cause on the national stage.
Following the Senate hearing on Thursday, GET-UP campaigned at the John Kerry rally and continued its grassroots effort in encouraging people to vote by canvassing local neighborhoods.
GET-UP was invited to speak before a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee last Thursday by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Representatives from the University and the National Labor Relations Board also testified.
GET-UP's political spokeswoman Tina Collins, a joint History and Graduate School of Education doctoral candidate, testified on her experiences as a graduate teaching assistant and those of other graduate research and teaching assistants.
The organization viewed the hearing as a success in raising awareness for its cause.
"It went really well," Collins said. "Senator Specter asked some really important questions to the National Labor Relations Board ... and our case came off very strongly."
Collins said that although there may not be immediate results in terms of legislation, the hearing "raised further awareness of our campaign on a national level and makes sure people are aware that this issue is not going to go away."
GET-UP also rallied together for Kerry's visit to Philadelphia on Friday. The group was approached by the Penn College Democrats to help organize the event. GET-UP called on its members and supporters from all over Philadelphia to attend the rally.
"We were pretty visible for most of that day," Collins said. GET-UP handed out literature on the history of the activist group and the NLRB, along with T-shirts and pins.
GET-UP also sent a delegation to Kerry's appearance at Temple University that morning, gaining attention by sitting in the second row.
The graduate group, along with other pro-labor voices, has a lot to gain from a Kerry win in November.
Each presidential election influences membership on the NLRB. The board's five members serve for five-year terms, and any incoming president can change the composition of the board.
This past summer, in a case involving graduate teaching assistants at Brown University, the board voted 3-2 along party lines and reversed a 2000 decision by the then-Democrat-controlled NLRB that allowed teaching assistants at New York University to form a union.
Kerry has publicly stated that he will select a secretary of labor who makes decisions based on the reality of the workplace and will support the Employee Free Choice Act.
Under this legislation, workers would be able to establish a union in their workplace through a voting or majority verification process.
With so much at stake in this election, GET-UP is canvassing neighborhoods all around Philadelphia, encouraging union members to vote.
"It's been a really positive experience," Collins said, "and it's important, because the more you talk to people about the issues, the more likely they are to vote."
