FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM: James A.W. Shaw TO:       WORKPLACE   The Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission counted the vote by graduate students teaching this fall in the Division of Continuing Education to determine whether they would be allowed to join GEO. GEO is the union of 2,500 graduate teaching and research assistants at UMass, Amherst. We represented all graduate student instructors--except those teaching Con.Ed. (basically night and summer school). We are a part of UAW Local 2322. The final vote was unanimously in favor of the Union: 24-0. There were only 32 eligible voters teaching this fall, but this decision will benefit all 300 graduate instructors who teach in Continuing Education every year.    The next step is to sit down at the Bargaining Table with the University and negotiate the working conditions for Continuing Education instructors. We will negotiate things like pay, health care, intellectual property and distance learning, appointment and reappointment, and compensation for instructors who prepare courses that are ultimately cancelled. Our campaign began more than two years ago (the first union card was signed in March 1999!), but we were resilient. We continued to organize, to sign up new members, and to keep the pressure on. This summer, we conducted a seven-hour sit-in at the office of the UMass President (avoiding arrest by the Boston police at the last minute); we had a grade delay this summer in which the majority of summer instructors turned their grades in late at a rally; some instructors called in sick; there were regular rallies and pickets in which we stormed management's offices; we garnered statewide news media; obtained letters of support from state legislators. Most importantly, the rank and file stood together. This is a great victory. It is especially important because more and more of our jobs were heading over to ConEd. Unionization will help stop that bleeding. Plus, the future of our profession is threatened by distance learning, which the university is conducting through Continuing Education.     FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: James A.W. Shaw, President Local 2322, United Auto Workers Northampton, MA  413-584-4905 (phone) 413-584-6624 (fax) jamesawshaw@hotmail.com