In one of the largest NLRB election wins for any union in recent years, 3800 graduate workers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology voted on April 4 and 5 to join UE. The MIT Graduate Student Union/UE (MIT-GSU) prevailed by a margin of almost two to one. Following the decisive 1785-912 victory, the MIT administration indicated their intention to begin bargaining with the union in an email to all graduate students.
The victory came after many years of a worker-led campaign that exhibited many core UE principles: rank and file control, uniting all workers, and aggressive struggle to improve conditions.
Speaking to the UE Eastern Region council meeting later in April, MIT-GSU member Thejas Wesley told delegates, “We couldn’t have asked for a better national union to partner with.” Director of Organization Mark Meinster added that MIT-GSU will be “an incredible, militant, democratic UE local.”