UE NEWS Updates

The graduate student workers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reached a significant milestone on October 1, when they participated in their first bargaining session to negotiate a union contract. These workers, part of a joint program between WHOI and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have been organizing their union since early 2023. Inspired by successful union drives by graduate workers at other institutions, particularly MIT, the WHOI workers were determined to secure better protections and benefits.

The UE Eastern Region held its fall council meeting on October 26 in Baltimore, home of Local 197-Teachers and Researchers United (TRU). Local 197, who settled their first contract in the spring, had over a dozen members in attendance, joining members of locals from North Carolina to western Pennsylvania to Vermont. Delegates and guests were welcomed by Eastern Region President George Waksmunski at the beginning of the meeting and Local 197 leader Anna Word said a few words to welcome everyone to their local’s hometown.

On Wednesday, October 30, UE Local 115 member Licinia Ochoa, who was terminated last summer in retaliation for her leadership in the union, returned to work at the Refresco bottling plant at her same machine, seniority, and pay. The local had circulated a bilingual petition demanding her reinstatement which was signed by hundreds of people, including both workers in the shop and supporters from the community and around the country.

A dozen UE members from Local 300-Cornell Graduate Students United (CGSU-UE), which represents grad workers at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and Local 506, which represents production and maintenance workers at the Wabtec Locomotive facility in Erie, PA, attended the Buffalo Troublemakers School organized by Labor Notes on October 19. This was first Troublemakers School in western New York State. UAW Region 9 hosted the daylong event.