Why join GAU? Because there is strength in numbers!

GAU works hard to get you yearly raises, end fees, improve health insurance and childcare, and everything else. But at the end of the day, we are only as strong as our membership is! When you join GAU, you send a message to the University administration that you care about these issues and others that affect your working conditions. If we have all 4,400 graduate employees at UF behind us, they will listen! All of our major victories, such as getting full tuition waivers, affordable health insurance, increases to the minimum stipend, eight weeks of paid family and medical leave, and fee relief, coincide with periods in time where we have high membership.

Since the passage of SB 256, union membership is more important than ever. Our right to collective bargaining is under attack in the state of Florida. We need to achieve 65% membership density by February 9, 2024 to maintain our union. If you enjoy having a say in your employment contract, you need to join the union today. If the union is decertified, UF no longer has to guarantee full tuition waivers, healthcare, eight weeks of paid family leave, or even safe working conditions. We are in the midst of a massive membership push to get to 65% density, and we need your help. ​Become a member today!

Become A Member

How Do Dues Work? 

GAU is a non-profit organization that exists to represent our members. As with any labor union or professional organization, membership in GAU entails dues. All graduate employees benefit from the contract, whether they are GAU members or not. But by becoming a dues-paying member, you contribute your fair share to the work that GAU does on your and your colleagues’ behalf, and you invest in improving those rights and benefits for yourself and future generations of graduate employees. Dues are 1% of your annual salary, and for most GAs that comes out to ~$10 per paycheck. Your dues pay for expenses such as contract negotiation, member recruitment, organizing members, legal representation, communications, and member services. Membership is open to all graduate employees, including international students. If you work here, then we work for you! 

What is eDues? 

eDues is the new way to pay your union dues and maintain your GAU membership. SB 256, passed earlier this year, has made payroll dues deductions for unions illegal. Fortunately, our parent union, the Florida Education Association, foresaw the passage of this anti-union legislation and created our own system for collecting dues. 

​If you have not made the switch to eDues, you are not currently a member of GAU. Make the switch today by filling out this form. 

Fortunately, this new system is operated entirely separately from UF, meaning UF will no longer know who is a union member and who is not! 

Is the new membership system secure?

• ​Chapters across the state are partnering with the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) through its parent

organization, the Florida Education Association (FEA), to offer eDues to members through Plaid, a third-party
technology platform that facilitates communication between your bank account and your union’s bank
account to complete an ACH payment - The Automated Clearing House Network.

• Many other apps, services, and merchants rely on Plaid to connect with their customers’ bank accounts (like

VENMO). Plaid connects its clients with over 11,000 different financial institutions.

• If you regularly use a credit/debit card online or in stores or input your bank username/password or account

numbers anywhere online to make purchases or pay bills, Plaid is almost certainly involved in at least some of
your transactions.​

• Your chapter and UFF staff do not collect or store your banking information in our databases,

therefore we cannot share or lose your account data.

• ACH is the same manner in which the employer deposits your paycheck to your bank account. eDues simply

allows members to automate the direct payment of dues from their bank account to their local Union’s bank
account through ACH - the Automated Clearing House.

• ACH is trusted by financial institutions to transfer funds electronically and it is more secure than other forms

of payment collection, such as cash and paper checks according to the Federal Reserve. This is why it is the
trusted way our members make payments every day for things like car payments, mortgages, rent, cell phone
bill, insurance, and more. www.nacha.org/news/ach-payments-have-lowest-fraud

If I'm a member of GAU, am I a member of statewide or national unions as well?

Being a GAU member means you are also a member of the United Faculty of Florida (UFF), which is affiliated with the Florida Education Association (FEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA), and the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). These other organizations advocate on behalf of organized labor and public education at the state and national level, fight lawsuits that UF-GAU does not have the resources to fight on its own, and provide various other means of legal support, liability insurance, and so forth. They also provide professional training in union work such as collective bargaining and filing grievances. This access to professional support is critical to our long-term viability! Being a member of a national union family also gives GAU members access to benefits negotiated by our parent unions, including free life insurance policies and discounts on travel, event tickets, and more!

What types of benefits are available to GAU members? 

How do I enroll? 

Download step by step instructions for completing the new membership form here: 

your_guide_to_joining_your_union_uf_gau.pdf
File Size:	963 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---