UTGWU Weekly Newsletter: July 21

Howdy y’all! We hope everyone has been having a great summer so far and finding ways to stay cool in the Texas heat. 

This summer we’ve focused on canvassing and our efforts continue to build momentum across campus! We’ve now reached Chemistry, Physics, Math, Astronomy, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Integrative Biology, gathering valuable feedback from graduate student workers along the way. Student workers have been candied about stories about retaliation concerns from PIs and departments, especially international students, sparking important conversations about how we can organize safely and build collectively that empowers all graduate workers.

Next up, we’ll be doing our last canvassing run for the summer, returning to departments we’ve canvassed, capped off with a happy hour, so keep your eyes out for that event. If you’re interested in having UTGWU stop by your department and talk about the union and what it means for graduate workers, please feel free to reach out!

In other news, we’ve learned that the Graduate School Orientation appears to have been canceled – we’re currently reaching out to find out what’s going on and will keep members posted. Orientation has been one of the first moments graduate student workers come together from across various schools and departments, plus it is one of the most important chances UTGWU has to speak to them. All of this comes alongside broader questions about the restructuring of the Graduate School, which might affect staffing and how departments advocate for themselves. We’re following up with leadership to learn more.

In the meantime, we’re pivoting to individual department orientations. UTGWU has members across many departments on campus who can help table, flyer, and give short talks to new graduate workers about union legality in Texas and working conditions. If your department has an orientation coming up, let us know – we’d love your help in getting the word out!