Our vision statement:
We envision a campus wherein our members achieve their collective goals through collective action; wherein personal relationships transcend themselves and become solidarity within the interdepartmental third space of the union.
We envision a campus with graduate students who are greater than the sum of their parts, making each other better educators, better scholars, and better people as they participate in common struggle.
We envision a campus wherein the choices that affect us are made by us and we work to empower members to be heard at all levels of decision-making.
As some of the most vital and exploited workers in higher education, we fight alongside our sibling unions against the agenda of austerity, pushing instead for a world in which universities are accessible, fully-funded, and owned by their workers and students.
To these ends, we strive in all things to build a community that affirms trust, equity, and joy, carrying these values into every niche of university life and onto the picket lines. We use our power to challenge the alienating and individualistic culture imposed upon us by institutional academia and our broader society.
This world is ours to win.
Join your union!
Power isn’t given—it’s built. Join your coworkers and achieve the collective strength necessary to win real change.
Get involved
A strong union is composed of active members. UIC works because we do. Join us in creating a UIC that works for us.
Bargaining updates
The fight for a fair contract happens at the bargaining table as well as on the shop floor. Follow the latest negotiations here.
Our history
Learn the story of how we built our union and the victories that have shaped our workplace. Our past is a testament to what we can accomplish together.
A union that wins.
Since our inception in 1994, UIC GEO has improved the lives of thousands of graduate students with higher wages, better healthcare, and greater dignity on the job. We go hard in the paint for campus workers—always have; always will.
Read about our history of wins for the working class.
We must support fellow graduate students to live with decency despite manufactured harm. Even though graduate school is tough and a struggle, we—like anyone—deserve joy, comfort, and fair treatment.
—Erik E., former Organizing Chair
