My name is Ewa Nizalowska (she/her) and I am an international graduate worker from Poland and a fifth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Government. I am running for President of CGSU-UE on the Build / Activate / Mobilize (BAM) slate. Amid attacks from far-right organizations like the National Right-to-Work Committee; the federal government’s ongoing crackdown on higher education and labor rights; a precarious legal and political landscape for international workers; and persistent silencing of protests against the genocide in Palestine, we need a fighting union that can stand up to the federal administration and hold Cornell accountable to protecting its graduate workers. Our slate, Build / Activate / Mobilize (BAM), has developed a platform dedicated to meeting this political moment at a critical time for harnessing our union power to win campus-level and national-level fights.

As the current President of CGSU-UE, I have been at the forefront of a culture shift towards a CGSU-UE that is more militant, mobilized, and democratic than ever before. Through my leadership of the first Local Executive Board, CGSU-UE has built a robust steward network of over 115 active stewards who are empowered to take on ambitious fights to enforce our contract and fight for our rights across Cornell’s campuses. Our monthly General Membership Meetings have become avenues for open and transparent member-to-member engagement and collaborative agenda-setting for our union. Through establishing five standing committees, we have built a robust arena for membership involvement across our union’s communications, data management, social events, political action, and action to protect trans workers. Our communications, spearheaded by María Bulla, have opened up more opportunities than ever for information-sharing, education, and engagement. A culture of openness, robust member-to-member engagement, and worker democracy is crucial to continuing to build a union that can fight and win ambitious fights, both against the boss and against the federal government’s anti-higher education and anti-labor agenda.

The fights we are waging extend beyond Cornell, and we must continue to build strong networks of solidarity with workers in Ithaca and across the country to collectively weather federal-level attacks on labor and higher education. To this end, in the past two years, I have been one of the leaders of UE Higher Education Conference Board, a body composed of nearly all of UE’s Higher Education locals representing a total of over 20,000 graduate workers. As part of my work on the Conference Board, I led the campaign for submitting public comment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) against a harmful proposed federal rule that would limit international graduate workers’ visa terms to four years. I was also one of the co-organizers and co-panelists on a nationwide panel on International Graduate Worker Power, alongside labor leaders from across the country. I also co-led efforts to call for a nation-wide Mutual Academic Defense Compact, which demands that our universities pool legal and financial resources to collectively weather federal attacks on international grads and funding cuts. This campaign involved coordinated local actions at twelve universities, and was covered by major news outlets, including MSNBC. Over the years, I have represented CGSU-UE at UE sub-regional, regional, and national-level meetings and trainings, including the 79th UE National Convention; two UE Eastern Region Meetings; the MIT-GSU Union Leadership Training; and a workshop on strike power at UE Local 506 in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Prior to serving as CGSU-UE’s first President, I represented Region 3 on our Bargaining Committee, where I led our fight for industry-leading protections and benefits for international workers. During the many major fights to protect suspended graduate workers, I co-led the Communications Committee in carrying out the national and local press strategy to raise awareness of our contract fight and exert pressure on Cornell. As part of my work spearheading our media strategy, I represented our union through direct conversations with local and national reporters, which led to extensive coverage of our contract fight in outlets like NPR and The Nation. Along with Jenna Marvin, I established a robust organizer network in Region 3 and facilitated weekly region-wide meetings to build a strong culture of sustainable worker-to-worker organizing. This culture shift encouraged democratic participation and empowered grads to take ownership over organizing in their departments to mobilize their coworkers, equipping us with the power to reach a supermajority of strike pledges in our region. I also served on the Constitutional Committee to ensure that our union is firmly rooted in the principles of member-run unionism and rank-and-file democracy.

We have built a strong foundation for harnessing our collective power to transform our workplace. At the heart of our priorities is shifting the culture away from Cornell’s preoccupation with profit and towards valuing people. If elected to continue serving as CGSU-UE’s President, I am committed to continuing to carry out this vision. Our slate, Build / Activate / Mobilize (BAM), is united around an ambitious agenda that puts engaged, militant rank-and-file organizing at its core.