By Rebecca Emmerich Aggie Staff Writer . The Association of Graduate Student Employees at UC Davis will be meeting this week with the Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Dennis Shimek to begin dialogue with the administration in order to negotiate their goals, which include collective bargaining rights. According to union activist Andrew Gross, the union was established at UCD in 1993 by a majority vote of the employees. Gross noted that the university failed to recognize the union, instead engaging in anti-union litigation to deny collective bargaining rights. According to Gross, there are several reasons necessitating a union.
Undergraduates primarily interact with teaching assistants, especially in lower division classes.
Gross further noted that the quality of education is relative to the graduate students' rights. The University is both a workplace and a place of education. Carlos Davidson, also a union activist, similarly noted the importance of graduate student teaching at the University. Providing means for graduate students to express concerns over work conditions is also relevant to the need for a union according to graduate student Julian Nelson. Often graduate students can feel isolated, and this is a good opportunity for them to get involved regarding graduate student issues such as bargaining rights and greater political involvement in the campus.