GAGE Recap: 2020
2020 was a year of hardship and struggle, but it was also a huge year for GAGE. This year, we won our first contract with major gains that are tangibly improving the lives of graduate workers at Georgetown. It was a year of many important first steps as we set up new structures for our union to implement our contract and advance the economic, social, and political well-being of our membership.
Graduate workers of Georgetown built GAGE together. Whatever your involvement in GAGE, know that GAGE’s success in 2020 belongs to you — it belongs to all of us.
Let’s look back on our year!
Wielding Our Collective Power during Bargaining
Throughout the year, GAGE members showed up in support of our vision for a graduate work experience where all of us can thrive. On March 3rd, over a hundred GAGE members joined our full day work-in in the ICC and crowded the room during the meeting with the University for contract negotiations. The pandemic didn’t stop our collective action — we took Twitter by storm and had socially distant protests. Our collective action won us our first union contract with significant raises to PhD stipends and Masters hourly wage rates, new health benefits and generous leave policies, and more.
Ratifying Our First Contract
On May 1st, our bargaining committee reached a tentative agreement with the administration of Georgetown on our first contract (formally called our Collective Bargaining Agreement). The following week GAGE members ratified the contract with a 99% YES vote!
Establishing Our Union Local
With our new contract in place, we got to work setting up new structures for GAGE. We wrote and ratified our Constitution and Bylaws, which were ratified by GAGE members with a 95% YES vote. For the first time, we fully managed our own resources by collecting dues, passing a budget, and funding our organizing and contract enforcement.
Our first Executive Council took on the new responsibilities of implementing the contract and leading GAGE’s Organizers’ Council. We formed new important committees: Grievance, Finance, and International Graduate Students.
GAGE’s status as a union local became “official” this year. GAGE is now on file with the United States Department of Labor, and chartered by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). This year, GAGE got a local number — AFT Local 06440!
Standing with the Movement for Black Lives
GAGE members took to the streets in protest of police brutality and murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other victims. We endorsed the No Cop Unions petition and demanded racial equity in higher education.
GAGE hosted a virtual Teach-In on Organizing for Black Liberation to learn about “defund the police”, reparations, and abolition. Video recordings of the Teach-In are on GAGE’s Facebook.
Launching the Emergency Assistance Fund
Through our contract, we won a new Emergency Assistance Fund (EAF) to alleviate financial hardship experienced by graduate student workers. Our contract guarantees that the University will budget $50.00 per graduate worker per year for the fund. For Georgetown’s 2020–2021 fiscal year, the EAF is approximately $51,000.
This Fall semester, GAGE members on the Executive Council and Finance Committee set up the EAF request process for the first time. So far, GAGE has directed funds to several dozen graduate workers in emergency situations.
Demanding a Safe & Equitable Pandemic Response
GAGE was committed to fighting for the strongest possible protections for graduate workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We joined with other groups on campus to pressure the Georgetown administration to prioritize our community’s health and well-being over the endowment. The crisis of the pandemic fully exposed how Georgetown University leadership fails to listen to and meaningfully involve the people most impacted by their policies.
To hold the Georgetown administration accountable for their inadequate pandemic response, GAGE utilized the grievance procedure in our contract, going all the way to arbitration with Georgetown University. Update: On January 18, 2021, GAGE won arbitration!
Organizing, Organizing, Organizing!
Even though we were in our homes, on Zoom, and away from Georgetown campus, GAGE Department Organizers formed relationships with new graduate student workers and strengthened our community. The overwhelming majority of Georgetown graduate student workers are union members.
We hope everyone who has been part of this journey with us remembers that when we stand together in solidarity, we protect our community and make progress.
2020 was full of milestones and we are ready for 2021!
