Orientation Week Under Way!

This week officially kicks off the year for the TAA. Over the course of this week, we will get out and organize at nearly 60 departmental orientations for new graduate assistants, speaking with nearly 1,000 grad student workers.

Orientation week is when we do our most intense organizing drive of the year, signing of hundreds of new members, re-connecting with hundreds of continuing members, and generally building the basic infrastructure of membership that we need for a successful year.

In the 2009-2010 academic year, we have an ambitious agenda. We have a new contract up for negotiation that will require that we organize hard to win gains for all graduate assistants. We are going to engage in an unprecedented level of organizing and leadership development to build a stronger union. We are going to increase our membership numbers to be among the highest in the realm of graduate labor unions. We are going to build a union that works for all grad student workers.

There is no better way to get started with being involved in your union than to volunteer to help out during Orientation week. If you can help with departmental orientations, follow-up contacting of new members, dropping literature, or data management, let our Orientation Committee co-chairs Tim Frandy and Peter Rickman know when you are available. We are looking for folks to get involved literally any time during the week from 9 AM to 9 PM. This is an intense organizing drive, but anyone can get involved at a level comfortable to them – and we’ll train you to take on something meaningful right away. So be in touch if you want to get involved in your union at a critical juncture for an exciting and important year for all of us.