On Nov. 18, the Nevada Graduate Student Workers (NGSW), organized under the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, hosted an event with Nevada Attorney General and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). At the event, the attorney general discussed many of the issues graduate students face as student workers.
The event began with an introduction from NGSW and UAW member Helen Kirana, who stated the purpose of NGSW and the current unionization ambitions for graduate students. “We decided to form a union so that we can, one, argue collectively as equals with the administration to improve working conditions, second, democratically decide priorities for improvements to our workplace, and three, reach an enforceable collective bargaining agreement that guarantees our rights,” she said.
According to NGSW, graduate assistants (GAs) at UNR have faced various difficulties in the workplace that led to their formation as a union, and have currently faced a struggle in being acknowledged by NSHE.
According to the presentation given by Kirana, “The university responded by ignoring our democratic choice to unionize.”…