The Southern Indiana Area Labor Federation AFL-CIO has sent a letter to the Indiana University Board of Trustees and President Pamela Whitten in offering to mediate between them and the Graduate Workers at Indiana University. The letter was shared with media outlets.
“Letter follows:
“To the Indiana University Board of Trustees and President Pamela Whitten,
On behalf of the Southern Indiana Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, we are writing to publicly recognize the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition – United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (IGWC-UE) and endorse their unionization efforts.
We call on the IU Administration to meet with the IGWC-UE, to organize a fair union election, and to remain neutral throughout this process. We offer our willing support to help mediate these conversations.
By their submission of nearly 1,600 union cards, the IGWC-UE demonstrated overwhelmingly that Graduate Workers at Indiana University wish to be unionized. We are proud to stand in solidarity with the IGWC-UE and with fellow endorsers – including 130 IU faculty members, the IU Graduate & Professional Student Government, and local AAUP and CWA chapters.
The IGWC-UE’s efforts echo our own mission to “support Indiana workers as they bargain with employers to improve their living conditions and workplaces, as well as their communities, state and nation.” Like all workers, Graduate Workers at IU deserve employment conditions that are fair, equitable, and dignified.
The IGWC-UE has presented clear evidence of concerns about the conditions faced by Graduate Workers at IU. They have also provided a direct and democratically elected pathway toward resolving these issues – unionization and collective bargaining. It is time for the IU Administration to meet in good faith with the IGWC-UE and organize a fair union vote.
President President of the White River Labor Chapter
Eric Wagemann Jackie Yenna
Executive Vice President
Jerry Sutherlin”
