Fellow Grad Workers,

Thank you so much to everyone who came to observe our latest bargaining session! We had our largest observer turnout yet, and the University felt your presence. Your support was very much appreciated, and we had some great discussions with you all during caucus and on Discord. We apologize to everyone who planned to join the session remotely. Due to some technical difficulties, we were unable to set up Zoom for observers. We’ll do everything we can to ensure everyone who wants to attend remotely can do so in the future.

Our bargaining session focused on the University’s counterproposal to the International Workers article we introduced a few sessions ago. We also received a counterproposal from the university on our Job Security article, and answered questions from UNH regarding our Second Job and Successorship articles.

UNH brought staff members from OISS to contribute to our discussion and answer questions about the University’s position on International Workers.

The University struck several reasonable requests from our original proposal, including an emergency hotline for International Workers, a University-maintained list of immigration attorneys for International Workers to contact if needed, and assistance with timely completion of immigration-related paperwork.

When pressed for details about why UNH did not agree with these terms, John Wallin, the University representative, told us that he was unwilling to discuss it without the University’s General Counsel present. This was not the University’s first time using these tactics to delay our negotiations. Even though we have come prepared for every session, UNH comes to bargaining sessions without the ability to answer basic questions about their positions.

We are making good progress, but we still need your help! Please come out to our last bargaining session of the year on Monday, December 16th, at 1 PM in MUB 334/336. We are excited to ask representatives from the Graduate School tough questions while discussing our Job Security, Job Posting & Hiring, and Second Job articles. Bring your friends and show UNH how strong this union is!

In solidarity,

UNH GEU-UAW Bargaining Committee