More than 13 years after their original campaign ended due to state law, graduate student research assistants at the University of Michigan have relaunched their push for unionization. On Aug. 19, the Graduate Employees’ Organization announced researchers would seek support for a union election in the hopes of bargaining for competitive wages and health care benefits.

In March 2012, Former Gov. Rick Snyder signed Senate Bill 971 , which amended Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act to exclude graduate researchers from the definition of “public employee,” effectively terminating GSRAs’ hopes for unionization. That changed in 2023, when House Bill 4497 reversed the 2012 decision and restored GSRAs’ collective bargaining rights.

GEO is the legal bargaining unit for Gr

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