UConn’s Graduate Employee Union (GEU-UAW Local 6950) is comprised of nearly 2,300 graduate workers and postdocs engaged in teaching and research across Storrs, Hartford, and Avery Point campuses. Since we first unionized in 2014, our members have been committed to the entangled issues of climate justice and labor justice. Our first local president, Todd Vachon, initiated our affiliation with the CT Roundtable in early 2014, and our membership has voted to continue this affiliation each year since.
The GEU-UAW 6950, and specifically our Social, Economic and Environmental (SEE) Justice Committee, has worked closely with the CT Roundtable on many initiatives, including, most recently, Transit Equity Day. We are dedicated to transit justice and have continuously pushed our university to make the campus bus system more inclusive and in better service to our community. Additionally, we’ve lobbied against cuts to public transit at the state level, as well as route cuts to Windham Region Transit District. We’ve also voted to endorse the public transportation lockbox amendment in the 2018 election, believing its an important step forward in preventing misuse of transportation funds by elected officials.
We are committed to fighting for workers’ rights and for a liveable climate. Our partnership with the CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs has been instrumental to this aim and we look forward to continuing working together.