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Syracuse Graduate Student Employees United tweeted Wednesday afternoon that it has won an election agreement with Syracuse University.

“After years of building power by talking with our coworkers and months of public actions and events, we have secured an agreement with the administration for a fair and speedy process for a union election this semester,” the tweet read.

Although an election date has not yet been posted, SGEU says the next step is their election to form an official union.

This comes after the university did not recognize the union after its deadline on Feb. 20.

Shortly after the announcement, Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter emailed SU students about the agreement in a co-signature message with Scott Phillipson, president of Service Employees International Union.

“The University and SGEU are committed to ensuring an inclusive, respectful and equitable process,” the email read. “Together, we will work to create an environment where the opinions, voices and ideas of all graduate students are given consideration on this important matter.”

Part of their agreement entails that neither of the two groups will commit any “unfair labor practice,” “provide any support or assistance” to either group or behave negatively toward either group, the email said.

Ritter wrote that the SU administration will continuously provide updates on the union to the campus community accordingly.

This post will be updated with additional reporting.

Published on March 1, 2023 at 5:48 pm