The university announced that the Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees (GAGE) unionization election will take place from Nov. 5 to Nov. 8. in an email from Provost Robert Groves and Edward Heaton, executive vice president for health sciences, that emphasized the university’s commitment to the agreement it made with GAGE on April 2.
“The agreement creates a framework recognizing that graduate students’ relationship with the University is fundamentally an educational one, while also responding to their desire to have a stronger voice in the terms of their service as Graduate Student Assistants,” the email read.
GAGE tweeted an announcement of their own and launched a page on their website outlining what to expect at the polling locations.
There will be four polling stations located around campus in Lauinger Library, the ICC, Regents Hall, and the Pre-Clinical Science Building. Each station will be open from 10am to 7pm and overseen by poll worker from the American Arbitration Association, the third party administering the election.
GAGE notified the university of their intention to hold an election on Oct. 8. According to the April 2 agreement, the election will take place outside of established National Labor Relations Board procedures, meaning the results of the election will stand even if the National Labor Relations Board reverses a 2016 decision allowing graduate student unionization at private universities.
The university-wide email also stated the university’s commitment to its graduate workers. “Georgetown will continue its efforts to improve conditions for graduate students if a union is not elected and will bargain in good faith if one is elected,” the email read. “We are committed to working together to ensure there is open and serious dialogue.”
