We Won Arbitration!

Amid a seemingly endless stream of bad news and troubling events, we write to share with you some great news. We won our grievance!

The arbitrator affirmed that GAGE has the right to bargain towards a written agreement about the impact of COVID-19 on our working conditions. He determined that the administration at Georgetown violated our contract by unilaterally ending negotiations with GAGE and refusing to sign a written agreement to protect our health, safety, and livelihoods.

Following this victory, we have submitted a new request to the university to bargain over the impact of its COVID-19 policy changes. The pandemic is dragging into its second year, and graduate workers remain at risk of getting COVID-19 and are facing the dramatic consequences of a global recession.

The arbitrator’s decision reflects the hard work that you and our union community have done in the last six months to organize graduate workers and call attention to the shortcomings of the administration’s COVID-19 policies as they impact our lives and livelihoods. To win an agreement that protects graduate workers through the end of the pandemic, we need to make sure the university sees and hears that power!

This decision sets an important example for graduate workers across the United States. Across the country, graduate workers continue to face down administrators who are willing to sacrifice their health and safety for the university’s bottom-line. Let’s work together to ensure that Georgetown isn’t one of them.