cross-posted from howtheuniversityworks.com

Part 2 of 4 in my extended interview with activists from Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago. They sing “Ballad of the Marooned Dissertation Writers,” by radical folklorist Joe Grim Feinberg. Graduate employee unionization in the U.S. is more advanced at public institutions, and organizing at private schools stalled for a while in the aftermath of the Bush mob’s hijack of the NLRB, but there is a resurgence of militancy among grad employees at private institutions.

Part 1: Why Graduate Students Unionize Part 3: Pushback Part 4: Unions and Academic Democracy

I’ve restarted the video series in connection with the summer conferences of contingent faculty and graduate employees in the U.S. and Canada. The next installments will feature an interview with leaders of the graduate employee union at NYU and with faculty serving contingently: Melanie Hubbard, a Columbia Ph.D. with articles, an NEH fellowship, and a book contract who has served as full-time contingent faculty for ten years; Elizabeth Hoffman, an activist with the California Faculty Association; and “Anonymous,” a long-term part-time lecturer.

17th Annual Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions Conference Hosted by GESO in New Haven, CT. July 31-August 3 2008

4th Annual Canadian Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions Conference Hosted by GTA-Union at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. August 7-9, 2008.

8th International Conference of the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor Hosted by COCAL-California, San Diego State University. August 8-10, 2008

17th ANNUAL CGEU CONFERENCE SCHEDULE Thursday July 31 – Sunday August 3 2008, New Haven, CT

For more information on registration, go to www.geso.org or email Mary Reynolds at mary@yaleunions.org. If you will need a homestay, please contact Mary Reynolds asap.

Thursday, July 31 5pm-8pm, Registration, GESO office, 425 College Street, 3rd floor

Friday, August 1 9am-10:30am, Breakfast and Registration, 81 Wall Street, Room 101

10:30am-12:30pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 301 The Global University and Organizing Global Scholars Rana Jaleel, GSOC/UAW, NYU Jeffrey Boyd and Lucas Klein, GESO/UNITE HERE, Yale

10:30am-12:30pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 401 University Growth, Faculty Shrinkage: Endowments, Development and Privatization Maris Zivarts, UNITE HERE, Yale Amber Cooper, GEO/AFT, UIC TBA, GEO/AFT, U of Michigan

12:30pm-1:15pm, 34 Hillhouse Ave, LUCE Hall Common Room Boxed Lunch

1:30pm-3:30pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 301 Winning Our Issues: Using Research at and away from the Bargaining Table Scott Bruton, AAUP/AFT, Rutgers Bernie Zirnheld and Paul Shin, GESO/UNITE HERE, Yale

1:30pm-3:30pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 101 Organizing Legislative Campaigns Patrick Gallagher and Joanna Holzman, GSOC/UAW, NYU TBA, TAA/AFT, U of Wisconsin

4:30pm-6pm, 425 College Street, Trinity Hall KEYNOTE: Labor and the Presidential Campaign Tom Snyder, National Political Director, UNITE HERE

6pm, 425 College Street, Trinity Hall Dinner

Saturday, August 2 9am-10am, Registration, 81 Wall Street, Room 101

10am-11pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 301 Discussion: Redefining Community: Race, Gender, Class and Challenging Institutional Power Sarah Haley, Alejandro Delgado, and Serena Sprungl, GESO/UNITE HERE, Yale

10am-12pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 401 Who?s Doing the Teaching?: Restructuring Academic Work David Assouline, GESO/UNITE HERE, Yale Mikael Swayze, CUPE, U of Toronto Barbara Bowen, PSC/CUNY, AFT

12pm-1pm, 34 Hillhouse Ave, LUCE Common Room Boxed lunch

1pm-3pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 301 Coalition Building: How to Build Alliances with other Workers on Campus Anita Seth, GESO/UNITE HERE, Yale Lisha Story, GEO/UAW, UMass-Amherst TBA, GEO/AFT, U of Michigan

1pm-3pm, 81 Wall Street, Room 401 Building Organizing Committees: High Turnover, the Memory Problem, and the Union Difference Susan Valentine, GSOC/UAW, NYU Carlos Aramayo, GESO/UNITE HERE, Yale Amber Cooper, GEO/AFT, UIC Jim McAsey, GSEU/CWA, SUNY

3:30pm-5:30pm, WLH 117 Plenary: Legislative Strategies Barbara Bowen, President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY and Vice President, AFT Christian Sweeney, Technical, Office, and Professional Department, UAW

Sunday, August 3 9am-11am, Breakfast and Closing Session