It wasn't the crack of dawn, but it was still early by academic standards when 100 members of Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania/AFT (GET-UP) gathered in front of the official residence of University of Pennsylvania president Judith Rodin. At 8 a.m. on Oct. 2, the graduate employees once again repeated their demand that the university count the votes cast by Penn's graduate employees in a February 2003 union recognition election.

"This was the first action of the fall semester and the beginning of a series of escalating actions planned between now and the end of the semester," says GET-UP spokesman Jeff Hornstein. "We are going to spend this semester agitating this administration to drop its appeal and to count the votes."

In November 2002, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the graduate student employees could have a union election. That election for the unit of 1,000 was held Feb. 26-27. The university, however, immediately filed an appeal to the NLRB in Washington, D.C., which caused the ballot box to be sealed and the count delayed.

"We played by the rules," says GET-UP member David Faris. "Exit polls and surveys indicate that we won by a solid majority. Here we are six months later, and the votes have not yet been counted and bargaining has not begun."

GET-UP/AFT is asking union members to help in their campaign to get the votes counted, by signing a petition at http://getuponline.org/. [Tim Shea]

[October 15, 2003]