Our union is committed to being the first line of defense to protect international grads. 

This is especially important since we cannot rely on Cornell to protect us: President Kotlikoff told the GPSA that he is not willing to go above and beyond to protect international grads. Cornell’s priority is its endowment; not its people. International workers are 50% of CGSU, and we will not allow the nationwide attacks on non-citizen rights to divide or silence us. 

Unions across the country have been at the forefront of the fight against the federal government’s targeted attack on international workers. Amid the nationwide assault on the rights of international workers, we will fight with and for international workers through building out international worker leadership in our union, enforcing the international worker protections we secured in our contract, and carrying out a robust education program on non-citizen workers’ rights and protections. We will also continue to build strong relationships with other campus organizations, union locals, and the broader Ithaca community to build a mass defense against attacks on our rights; and develop international worker leadership and organizing structures. As Angela Davis said on our campus a few months ago, it’s time to “turn that fear into collective power.”

Our plan: 

1. Organize to build international worker power and encourage international worker participation and leadership in our union, and educate all CGSU-UE members on international worker issues and rights.

2. Enforce the benefits we secured for international grads in our contract, including sanctuary campus protections, more efficient ISO responses, and exemptions from the ITAP exam.

3. Creating a guide and expanding resources for international grads to follow in case of SEVIS or visa revocations, including access to an emergency hotline. 

4. Provide Know Your Rights Trainings to give international grads essential information about handling ICE and crossing the border.

5. Build relationships with our sibling locals and unions across Ithaca to collectively weather federal attacks against non-citizen workers.

We fought for and won industry-setting protections in our contract—guaranteed funding, academic due process, protections from harassment, better protections against unjust discipline and discharge, and academic freedom––because we know that Cornell overworks grads and creates hostile and unsafe work environments. In order for our contract to be more than words on a page, we must enforce it by filing grievances when Cornell commits a violation. We need a robust network of stewards in every department working collaboratively to make the working conditions enshrined in our contract a reality. It is more important than ever to put pressure on Cornell to respect our contract and protect workers rather than their profit. At a time when the federal administration stands against many of our principal values, our union’s fight for the dignity of grads will make our campus and others safer. That struggle begins at the department level and stewards are our first line of defense. 

Our plan: 

1. Build a robust steward network to ensure that the contract is proactively enforced across our campus.

2. Ensure our steward network is inclusive and collaborative at the department level.

3. Enforce our industry-setting academic due process and non-appointment discipline and discharge protections to their maximum potential, especially in the context of the recent attacks on academic workers.

4. Educate members about the rights won in our contract so that they can fully understand the benefits and protections they are entitled to.

The members run this union, and our union is powerful when members stand together. To win the fights that matter most to us as graduate workers, we need every voice engaged and every hand in the struggle. We want members to be involved at every level with broad opportunities for engagement to empower a new generation of members to take bold action at the department level and beyond. We’re building a culture where no one is isolated, where struggles in one department are understood as shared across campus, and where solidarity is not just a word but a practice. By deepening department-level organizing and connecting graduate workers across disciplines, we are laying the groundwork for a strong, democratic union rooted in collective power. When we fight together, we win together.

Our plan:

1. Transform department-level struggles into campus-wide fights by hosting regular departmental and area meetings where grads can discuss how to resolve the pressing issues in their communities.

2. Build a strong union culture on our campus by promoting mass participation in monthly general membership meetings and committees in addition to onboarding and training for organizers and stewards, to ensure every grad worker has a voice in our union.

3. Maintain regular and transparent communication with all members. 

4. Strengthen outreach to and mutual support with Diversity Council organizations on campus.

5. Protect our Union Shop rights to build a strong foundation for our democratic union through mass membership and everyone contributing their fair share.

We will fight for the right of graduate workers to teach all relevant material and promote critical discussion in the classroom without threat of surveillance. We will continue to fight for our right to free expression and public demonstrations of free speech without undue administrative discipline. Given the recent events on this campus and many others across the nation, we will specifically hold Cornell accountable to protect students who speak out against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and we will fight against the particularly egregious retribution international graduate workers have faced for exercising their right to free expression on this campus. Additionally, we will fight to protect all other fields currently under attack, including research on anthropogenic climate change, transmissible disease outbreak, and cancer. We are also committed to all DEI initiatives and protections for workers of color, trans and queer workers, and workers facing other systemic socio-cultural inequalities.

Our plan:

1. Mobilize our Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression Article to ensure no grad will have to capitulate on the content of their research or course material

2. Protect our right to assemble or protest and the right to address any matter of institutional governance, policy, or action and consultation on new university policies via the grievance procedure

3. Educate grads about interfacing with OSCCS and/or CUPD and assist grads in any disciplinary proceedings related to academic freedom

4. Utilize our industry-setting Discipline & Discharge article, including our non-appointment discipline protections, to ensure that grads cannot be unfairly disciplined for any reason

This is a time of crisis in higher education and the labor movement as a whole. We are witnessing national attacks on noncitizens, academic researchers, and organized labor. Our fights are no longer isolated to our campus; these recent crises threaten millions of workers, academic and otherwise. To address these broad-scale attacks, we have a comprehensive vision to tailor our local organizing to the national landscape. We will organize with faculty, contingent academic workers and staff, UE sibling shops, and the local Ithaca labor community to stand together in resistance to attacks on labor and higher education. We will ensure that Cornell guarantees funding to all graduate workers who are unable to return to the US or had grants or fellowships affected by recent funding cuts through demanding that Cornell enter a Mutual Academic Defense Compact with peer institutions, as organized by UE grad locals. We will also work with grad locals to protect NLRB bargaining rights and protections for the grad industry. As Cornell faces pressure from above, we will hold Cornell accountable and ensure they do not cave to the Trump Administration’s draconian demands. We will do so by joining with all those affected and fighting together for mutual protection against these ongoing attacks from the federal government.

Our plan:

1. Engage in frequent conversations with sibling UE shops and other organized labor in Ithaca and across the country (including AAUP, CCAW, and UAW) to coordinate actions that put pressure on Cornell to fight against attacks on higher education and labor rights.

2. Pressure Cornell, through formal grievances and organizing, to use their financial resources and endowment to ensure continuation of funding for graduate workers, both domestic and international.

3. Compile and publish legal and financial resources for graduate workers under immigration or funding pressure.

4. Protect and expand graduate workers’ legal rights to form unions, bargain, and enforce their contracts amid nationwide attacks on federal labor protections.

5. Continue to fight for fellow inclusion in our bargaining unit through local organizing efforts and nationwide coordination.