I was contacted this morning by Stony Brook Labor Relations and informed that the permit for the GSEU press conference to launch the Research Assistants (RA) union was REVOKED.

Show your support for your sisters and brothers in the RA Union!

Support their first amendment rights to express their views on forming a union. Stony Brook allows neo-fascists like Ann Coulter to speak on campus, but denies our colleagues rights to discuss why they wish to form a union.

GSEU calls upon all sectors of the GSEU community to join our
rally on Monday at 11:00 am at the Student Activities Center (SAC) building. The rally will go forward.

Come support the first amendment, and come support the RAs who want
to join together for a voice at work.

Send a message to Stony Brook that union busting, intimidation, and violations of our first amendment will not be tolerated! Call President Kenny immediately at tel. (631) 632-6265 or email Shirley.Kenny@stonybrook.edu

WELCOME TO THE FALL SEMESTER... TAs, GAs, and RAs of SUNY UNITE!

For the latest info:
www.gseurankandfile.org

Victor Rosado, Business Agent CWA 1104

June 19, 2008

The Social Justice Alliance (SJA) started the Coca-Cola Campaign on Stony Brook Campus in Fall of 2005, where they began educating students on the corporation’s human rights abuses with SINALTRAINAL, a union in Colombia. They delivered letters to the Administration, informing them of the abuses and started holding panels and discussion forums to gain the support of the student body.

Within months, the Undergraduate Student Government passed a resolution that called on the University to remove Coca-Cola Products from campus; and before the end of the spring semester, several undergraduate and graduate clubs called on the university to do the same.

The next semester (Fall of 2006) began with members of the Social Justice Alliance greeting new students with locally-produced, pro-labor beverages and a promise to Administrators that they would not stop organizing until Coca-Cola was off campus. Soon after, members of the Graduate Student Organization unanimously passed a resolution to remove Coca-Cola from Campus.

TESTIMONY OF THE GRADUATE STUDENT EMPLOYEES UNION AT STONY BROOK TO THE NEW YORK STATE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

December 11, 2007

Delivered by Victor Rosado, Business Agent

“Excellence in higher education is a key to our state’s future. The state’s network of outstanding public and private colleges and universities are essential to producing the highly skilled work force that will be a major driver of New York’s Upstate economy. This new commission will help identify innovative, cutting edge ideas and necessary improvements that will help improve the quality of education we deliver and make New York’s higher educational system a world class institution.” - Governor Eliot Spitzer

Good afternoon, Chairperson Rawlings and distinguished members of the committee. On behalf of the 1,000 graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) at SUNY Stony Brook, I thank you for the opportunity today to testify at this public hearing.

Graduate Student Organization Senate Bans Coca Cola Meetings
GSEU successfully lobbies GSO Senate to make the ethical beverage choice

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 (Stony Brook) – Members of the Graduate Student Employees Union (Stony Brook) successfully advocated for a motion of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Senate to ban Coca Cola from its meetings joining GSEU and United University Professionals, the faculty/staff union at Stony Brook, the GSO Senate as the third representative body to ban Coca Cola from their meetings at Stony Brook University.

Coca-Cola has been removed from approximately 50 universities worldwide due to accusations of complicity in the murders of Colombian unionists, environmental degradation in India and other crimes (see www.killercoke.org and www.indiaresource.org). Stony Brook’s exclusive contract with Coca Cola ends at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year and a renewal is being actively opposed by students.

The GSO Senate, which had previously passed a resolution that Coca Cola’s crimes should be publicly discussed within a committee in the University Senate, consists of at least one elected representative from each academic department at Stony Brook. The resolution passed at the March 2007 GSO Senate meeting is attached. No committee was formed. The motion passed will only affect GSO Senate meetings and do not bind the beverage choices of graduate student clubs, groups, lectures, or social and cultural events funded by the GSO.

To All Faculty, Staff and Students:

I am pleased to announce that stipends for TAs and GAs at Stony Brook University will be increased by $2,000 effective Fall Semester 2007. This is an important step both to compensate our graduate and teaching assistants as well as possible and to stay in step with the other AAU universities. The $2,000 increase will provide us parity with our peer institutions.

Our graduate students greatly enrich the intellectual quality of our University, through both their teaching and their research. It is with great satisfaction that we are able to increase the compensation for their services to the University.

Shirley Strum Kenny
President
Stony Brook University - SUNY

The CWA 1104/GSEU Soccer team “FC Internacional” Soccer Team finished second in this year’s Spring 2007 Outdoor Soccer Championship. After going undefeated in the regular season, Internacional lost to "Scrubs" in the finals in a penalty shootout.

As always, thanks for the support from the Local.

Here is the video and transcript of my testimony in Albany at the SUNY Board of Trustees Hearing.

GSEU Testimony to Board of Trustees on Tuesday March 20, 2007

Victor Rosado
Business Agent, Stony Brook GSEU/CWA 1104
Testimony at SUNY Board of Trustees Public Hearing
Albany, New York

Good Afternoon. My Name is Victor Rosado. I am the chief union representative of nearly 1,000 graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate assistants (GAs) at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. We are proudly affiliated with the Graduate Student Employees Union and the Communications Workers of America Local 1104.

I am here to testify on behalf of my members who are not only dedicated employees of the State of New York and SUNY, but are some of the best and brightest minds in the world researching and teaching at Stony Brook, the largest employer on Long Island.

The overwhelming majority of our members feel that the stipends they receive are substandard and terribly inadequate. As a resident of New York State, I am embarrassed that Stony Brook TAs and GAs earn some of the lowest stipends in the country.

During the National Jobs with Justice Student Labor Week of Action, over 50 GSEU members and allies came together on March 28, 2007 to rally in support of better stipends, healthcare, guaranteed fifth year funding, and no mandatory administrative fees.

After 150+ emails were sent to President Shirley Kenny, Governor Spitzer, the SUNY Board of Trustees, and the Chairs of the NYS Higher Education Committees, the GSEU at Stony Brook rallied and stormed the administration building to demand a meeting with the local university administration.

We were successful and have a historic meeting coming up with the Provost and Dean of the Graduate School.

Stony Brook Graduate Magazine and
The Village Times Herald did a great job covering our rally. Below are some pics.

GSEU Rally March 28

“UNITY PAYS!”

NO TO CAMPUS-WIDE SMOKING BAN
NO FEES TO TEACH OR WORK
COMPETITIVE STIPEND FUND FOR ALL GRAD STUDENT WORKERS
PROPER HEALTHCARE, DENTAL AND VISION BENEFITS FOR ALL

MARCH 28, 2007
12:45 PM
STONY BROOK FOUNTAIN

On Wednesday March 28, 2007 the Graduate Student Employees Union at Stony Brook will be having a rally in conjunction with Jobs With Justice National Student Labor Week of Action.

Stony Brook graduate student teaching assistants and graduate assistant workers earn some of the worst stipends in the country, with cost of living expenses at least 56% higher than other SUNY research campuses in New York. We need the support of the entire Long Island community to hold Stony Brook accountable and pay its graduate student employees a living wage. So, come down to the rally on March 28!

GSEU: SUNY WORKS BECAUSE WE DO!

www.gseurankandfile.org or 631-512-0587 for more information

GSEU Members,
Kindly ask your GSO senators to support this resolution and invite them to the Killer Coke presentation on Wed March 7 at campus lifetime.

- Victor
---------
A resolution has been submitted to the GSO Executive Committee by members of the Social Justice Alliance and Graduate Student Employees Union asking the GSO to take the position that international human rights crimes that have been filed against the only beverage supplier on campus be investigated and evaluated by a committee in the University Senate.

To educate yourself on the relevant issues I'd highly recommend coming to an event this Wednesday, 12:50 to 2 PM, in Old Chemistry Building Room 144. Ray Rogers, President and Director of Corporate Campaign, Inc (CCI), which directs the national Killer Coke campaign (http://www.killercoke.org) will be giving a presentation to students, faculty and administration about Coca-Cola, their crimes and tactics.

FC Internacional, the Stony Brook championship soccer club sponsored by CWA 1104, finished third in the Fourth Annual Seawolves Indoor Classic, held February 25, 2007 at Stony Brook University.

Greg Jackson, GSEU/CWA 1104 member and a team leader, said that Internacional reached the semi-finals but lost in a shoot out.

The team is now getting ready to defend its Spring Outdoor Intramurals title for the upcoming season.

An up-to-date list of upcoming Contract Demand Proposals is now available. These demands were based on months of consultation with members and endorsed at the February general meeting at Stony Brook.

Also available is a Final Report on the GSEU Stony Brook Bargaining Survey. Thanks to all that participated!

Report from Oaxaca
Global Fights for Human Rights
Stories from Latin America

COME AND HEAR GERARDO RENIQUE* TALKING ABOUT THE POPULAR STRUGGLE IN OAXACA, SOUTHERN MEXICO, WATCH HIS LAST DOCUMENTARY, “LAND, RAIN AND FIRE” AND SEE NEW INTERVIEWS

*Associate Professor, Department of History/City
College of the City University of New York

FEBRUARY 27TH, 7 PM
WANG CENTER – LECTURE HALL 2

MEXICAN FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED

“LAND, RAIN AND FIRE: REPORT FROM OAXACA”
Tami Gold and Gerardo Renique, 30 minutes, 2006

What began as a teachers' strike for better wages and more resources for students has erupted into a massive movement for profound social change in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.

On June 14, at 4:20 AM, the police made a surprise attack. The more than fifty thousand teachers camped out with their children were awakened to tear gas, pepper spray and helicopters. But the attack backfired as public anger transformed the strike into an unprecedented democratic insurgency, demanding the resignation of Governor Ruiz.

Hundreds of unions, indigenous and women's organizations, neighborhood groups, students and professional associations came together and created The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) and a massive campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience has brought the state government to a standstill.

(Part of the Call for Change Series 2007)

SPONSORED BY:

CENTER FOR STUDY OF WORKING CLASS LIFE
SOCIAL JUSTICE ALLIANCE
GSEU

During the January General Body Meeting GSEU Stony Brook members agreed to support the Environmental Club's campaign to have default double sided printing in Stony Brook SINC sites (computer labs).

Members agreed that Teaching Assistants should accept double sided papers in order to encourage paper conservation measures at Stony Brook. The next week the GSO Senate also unanimously motioned to support the campaign creating a united graduate student voice in support for this campaign.

For more information and to get updates on the campaign please contact the Environmental Club at tree@ic.sunysb.edu. They also have a facebook group where you can show your support.

Bottom-Up Organizing Key to New AFL-CIO ‘Stewards Army’

Rand Wilson, organizing director at IUE-CWA Local 201 in Massachusetts, sends us this report on the AFL-CIO union movement’s push for a “Stewards Army” to unite workers in face of increasing employer harassment.

The president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has called for a new volunteer “Stewards Army” to mobilize for workers’ rights.

At a Dec. 2 meeting of rank-and-file activists and stewards in Braintree, Mass., CWA President Larry Cohen described a “vicious attack” by telecommunications employers on our standard of living, right to organize and ability to negotiate collective agreements. To rousing applause, Cohen said that for the labor movement to defend its members’ wages and working conditions—or that of workers more generally—would require “creating an army of stewards.”

The meeting brought together activists from fourteen CWA, [Electrical Workers] IBEW, and Utility Workers [UWUA] local unions from throughout the Northeast to focus on the challenges of uniting workers in the rapidly evolving telecommunications, computer and broadcast TV industries. Some 60 members, stewards and local officers attended the day-long Saturday meeting along with several AFL-CIO staff.

General Membership Meeting
December 12 2006
Wang Center Room 101

Minutes: Ryan Hubbell
Edited: Victor Rosado

In attendance: Miranda M. (Economics), David W. (Philosophy), Angie B. (Theatre Arts), Kira S. (History), Dan W. (Wang Center), Chris N. (Ecology and Evolution), Lisa H. (English), Jacquie V. (English), Kathleen S. (Executive Vice President), Pablo L. (Sociology), Roberta S. (Anthropology), Juan Ariel G. (Comparative Literature), Jason J. (Comparative Literature).

I. Membership drive update
Need to make sure list is accurate
Get list into a database

II. Recent Grievances/Contract Enforcement

- 63 people applied for PDF Round I
- Money might be $400 per applicant
- Next round is due February 12th
- Graduate School is saying you can only apply once per year
- Technology fee waiver
-- About 100 people did not receive it
-- They will get it. Problem resolved; caused by financial aid glitch.
-- Eight International TAs/GAs for Spring/Fall 2006 didl not receive technology fee waiver
--- These people were signed up before the snapshot date, but because of payroll delays, they were “hired” afterwards

III. Business Agent Meeting with UUP
- Line of communications is open with UUP
- Willing to appoint a GSEU liaison
- If anyone is interested, we will take volunteers

IV. Resolution for the situation in Oaxaca
- GSEU draft resolution akin to the one drafted in the SOC dept
- Come to the meeting in NYC to show support
- Event tentative date February 27th
- Resolution pases unanimously

V. Coca Cola Campaign Albany

Resolución sobre la Represión al Pueblo de Oaxaca

Considerando:

Que el gobierno federal mexicano y el gobierno del estado de Oaxaca ha reprimido a la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca,

Que la represión ha tenido como triste saldo el asesinato de varias personas y la violenta detención de cientos de manifestantes, muchos de ellos torturados a manos de la policía y muchos de ellos aun con paradero desconocido;

Se resuelve: el Sindicato de Estudiantes Graduados y Empleados de la Universidad del Estado de Nueva York condena la vergonzosa y criminal actuación del gobierno federal y estadual, su militarizacion del estado de Oaxaca y su apoyo a fuerzas para-militares; su desprecio por la autodeterminación de los pueblos, su irresponsabilidad en la violación de la autonomía universitaria y su atentado contra los derechos humanos.

Resolution on the Repression of the People of Oaxaca

Whereas the federal Mexican government and state Oaxacan government have repressed popular assembly of Oaxaca;

Whereas the repression has sadly resulted in the assassination of various people, the violent detention of hundreds of demonstrators, and also many of them have been tortured at the hands of the police, and the whereabouts of several people still remain unknown;

GSEU Stony Brook Business Agent Victor Rosado recently joined a former Cingular Wireless employee and a current Verizon Wireless worker who appeared on Bill McNulty's "Lunch on Thursdays" program on WUSB 90.1 FM radio to discuss the struggle to unionize workers at Verizon Wireless, CWA International's Hang Up on Verizon Wireless and Cingular Switch campaigns and the benefits of having a union in the higher education and telecommunications industries. Listen to the show here, which aired originally on October 12, 2006: Part 1 and Part 2 (Right click and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" to download mp3 file).

In support of CWA's campaigns, GSEU Stony Brook has encouraged hundreds of members to switch to Cingular Wireless and has gotten nearly one hundred folks in Amherst, Stony Brook and New York City to sign Hang Up on Verizon Wireless pledge cards.

The Stony Brook Independent and Newsday covered the 9-11-06 rally sponsored by the Long Island Federation of Labor, Jobs with Justice, and CWA 1104/GSEU. Over 75 union members, students and Long Island community activists came to show support for 9-11 rescue workers who utilize the services of the Occupational Health and Safety Clinic at Stony Brook Hospital.

CWA International has launched a campaign called Cingular Switch to support CWA union members and jobs at the only unionized cell phone service provider in the country: Cingular Wireless. Other companies such a Verizon Wireless have fired workers and utilized classic union-busting tactics to prevent Verizon Wireless workers from establishing and voting for a union.

Switch to Cingular Wireless and receive a 5% discount as a proud union member. Just go to any Cingular store and give them the "FAN" promotion code #00113662. SUNY students are eligible for a 5% discount (see below for FAN codes) and all SUNY faculty/staff can receive a 20% discount (FAN Code #00099526), including all TAs/GAs/RAs. So sign up today!

Already have Cingular? You can apply for the discounts as well! Go to Cingular's discounts section of their website and enter your work/school email or print the Certification Form and send to the company.

FAN Promotion Codes for SUNY Students:

2386169 SUNY BROCKPORT
2386170 SUNY ALBANY
2386171 SUNY NEW PALTZ
2386176 SUNY CORTLAND
2386255 SUNY OSWEGO
2386253 ERIE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
00041229 SUNY BINGHAMTON
00046001 SUNY STONY BROOK
00078733 SUNY BUFFALO
00080338 BUFFALO STATE
000103091 SUNY POTSDAM
000107795 SUNY GENESEO