Fellow workers,
Below please find the statements presented by candidates for the open positions on GEO’s Bargaining Committee. These will also be posted on the GEO website, available to read in Campus Center 915 during in-person tabling, and at the next general membership meeting on October 18. You can read more about the process for elections in the formal notice of elections, distributed yesterday by email and available on the GEO website here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to GEO’s Elections Committee at elections.
in solidarity,
the GEO Elections Committee
Bargaining Organizing and Mobilizing Coordinator (2 positions)
Isaac Sundin
I am a master’s student in the Labor Studies department currently involved with GEO’s organizing committee. I have been helping to launch the Contract Action Team (CAT) in preparation for the contract fight ahead of us. As a Bargaining, Organizing and Mobilization Coordinator, I intend to bring the teams and standing committees together to implement a unified strategic vision for this contract fight. The coming months provide an opportunity to strengthen our union while fighting for the needs of our members. Streamlining the avenues for membership involvement through the open bargaining process and the CAT will help us build the power to win our demands and incorporate more members into GEO’s decision making processes. Membership involvement is what gives us our power, and demonstrating that power is the only way to make progress at the bargaining table.
Isuru Herath
I am a master’s student in Labor Studies currently involved in the bargaining and organizing committees. I bring ten years of organizing and labor experience to the GEO/UAW 2322 Bargaining Organizing & Mobilization Coordinator position. I have led organizing and bargaining campaigns across multiple unions in Minnesota, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE), Campaign Workers Guild (CWG), and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA). Recently, in 2022, as the Lead Senior Organizer and Campaign Lead, I played a pivotal role in the strategic corporate campaign and the bargaining process for MNA. By putting our organizing effort into building a robust Contract Action Team (CAT), the Nurses successfully mobilized 15,000 members across the state to pressure corporate-backed lobbyists and healthcare corporations. The bargaining process, emphasizing corporate strategic research and organizing, led to MNA’s most successful contract win, improving standards for working families across Minnesota. With these strategies we will win a historic contract at UMASS.
Juni Campbell
Hello everyone! My name is Juni Campbell, I am a first year student, the steward for the chemistry department, and an adamant organizer and proponent for collective action. After I completed my undergraduate degree from UMass in 2018, I got involved in organizing in the valley. I have worked in groups like Sunrise, Northampton Abolition Now, Anti-Imperialist Action Committee, and the Resistance Center. From these I learned a lot about what it means to run a successful, and an unsuccessful, campaign.
Most of my activist organizing was spent with Sunrise, a youth-led climate advocacy group. Our ever growing WMass coalition conducted a campaign of escalated actions against Representative Richard Neal, and in support of the then mayor of Holyoke, Alex Morse, who was running against him. Our actions culminated in a 300 person march through Springfield in the lead up to election day.
In 2022 I moved to North Carolina and became a high school teacher. The school was a public school serving mostly poor, working class families and I got firsthand experience of the attacks that are happening on schools across the country. Severe underfunding led to major staffing shortages and there was a massive administrative drive to get teachers to stop taking sick days. Many of my coworkers had to work second jobs, the awful health insurance was a constant joke for us, and every day was a fight to “just get to the bell”. After seeing all of this my coworker and I decided we had to try and do something about it, so we started to organize!
Over the course of the school year we managed to get six other teachers who were interested in unionizing the school and started a steering committee. Our initial work was centered around power mapping the school, having 1-1s with coworkers, and planning actions/events such as inviting a labor rights activist to come and talk with the students. We also won small victories against the administration regarding transparency issues with the absent teacher coverage schedule.
There is nothing more important to me than protecting each other in the workplace. As an organizing and mobilization coordinator I would be able to dedicate more time to the projects of organizing STEM employees, and building a strong union culture across all departments. With only 54% of graduate employees paying dues, and even less actively engaged in the union, we are in need of creative organizing both at the table and away from it. I believe that I can bring the lessons learned through my past experiences into our current struggle and I am excited to build a stronger, more vibrant, and more resilient union!
Kendall Richards
Dear GEO community,
My name is Ken Richards (they/them). I’m a first year student pursuing a Master of Design in Public Art and Engagement.
While my experience as a graduate student and GEO member is limited, I have a long history at UMass. Prior to my graduate career, I completed my undergraduate degree here, held an undergrad position here, worked as a staff member here, and have served as a course instructor here. I am well acquainted with the structure of this institution and the vast inconsistency of treatment given to the members of our community on the basis of social identity and title. Witnessing and experiencing this discrepancy has sharpened my aptness for rattling the cages of those with power. I strive to utilize this skill in the pursuit of our varied and deserved demands.
As a live-in graduate assistant, I am part of a team with a less traditional assistantship structure. As such, our needs are less commonly included in conversations. I’m interested in finding out where else our agenda is missing bullet points. My work as a Bargaining Organizing & Mobilization Coordinator would center around the prioritization of reaching every member; of amplifying the voices of our most marginalized; and of demonstrating allyship with our most isolated.
Thank you.
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In solidarity, GEO Leadership
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