What is GSOC?
GSOC (Graduate Student Organizing Committee) is the labor union for grad students working under United Auto Workers (UAW) Local-7902. The UAW is an international union that provides institutional, financial, and legal support to over 600 local unions band 400,000 active members across North America. That includes us, NYU-GSOC, over 3,000 NYU graduate students working across nearly every school and department as Teaching Assistants, Adjunct Instructors, Social Science Research Assistants, Graduate Assistants, and hourly employees.
We first won recognition in 2001, becoming the first graduate union at a U.S. private university. We negotiated our most recent contract in 2021 after nearly a year of bargaining with NYU and a three week strike that ended in one of the strongest contracts for graduate student workers anywhere in the country in terms of pay, benefits and protections.
That contract is due to expire in August 2026; in the meantime, fellow unions at universities across the country have raised the standard we set in 2021 even higher. The time is now to get organized and prepare ourselves to bring the priorities of our membership to the bargaining table and fight for what we deserve. To do that, we are going back to our roots of union democracy, mass participation, and social justice within and beyond the workplace. Our day-to-day organizing and our contract with NYU reflect these values. If you want to lend a hand in defining and fighting for them, then reach and get involved today.
We are affiliated with Local 7902 of the United Auto Workers.
GSOC exists as a shop within one of over 600 locals under the wider umbrella of an international union: the UAW, or the United Automobile Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.
From 2001 until August 2025, GSOC was organized under Local 2110 along with dozens of smaller shops representing workers in a wide range of cultural and educational industries. After lots of research, discussion, and a membership-wide vote, we decided to collectively transition to Local 7902, where we exist alongside NYU’s contract faculty and the New School’s student-worker union.
Aside from allowing us to join together and bargain collectively with other academic workers, the change has also given us more direct control over the hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues that we collect each year from members, allowing us to hire staff organizers from among the membership to build and grow our union; hold more and better events, town halls, and meetings to enrich our union democracy; hire lawyers to defend our members against exploitation and abuses in the workplace; and generally strengthen our defense of members and their interests before the University.
GSOC’s internal structure and activity is governed according to a set of bylaws agreed upon between GSOC and UAW Local 2110 (our previous local)
You can also find the bylaws with which UAW Local 7902 operates under here:
GSOC is made up of rank-and-file M.A. and Ph.D. students (just like you!) who fill a number of formal and informal roles to ensure a functioning and efficient union.
All of our graduate student members! This includes graduate student workers and students who were employed by NYU within the last three semesters. We aim to be a rank-and-file-driven union, meaning a fully democratic institution led by initiatives from the bottom-up, rather than top-down
A department leader is a priority contact within a given department, acting as the point-person for department-specific organizing. They typically relay organizing information to the students there. This is a completely informal role.
Stewards are elected to organize in and represent academic regions of NYU, which we call “turfs.” Their main role is to ensure workers within a turf are building relationship with one another and with other GSOC members.
There are 30 steward seats distributed across schools. Stewards can file grievances and get access to information of workers in the departments to help their organizing efforts. For questions about organizing or general concerns, you can find steward contact information here, or email us (gsoc@actuaw.org)!
Most of our organizing is done within these sub-groups. The permanent committees are:
The current working groups, which fluctuate over time according to need, include:
To join a committee or working group, reach out to gsoc@actuaw.org for more information!
There are 3 Unit Reps who are elected to serve on a semesterly basis. These are paid positions for graduate workers, who liaise between GSOC and NYU, engage in official procedural matters around grievances and membership cards, and supporting our organizing efforts across departments and schools