There can be a very real difference between how a company policy appears on paper and how it actually plays out in the workplace. That’s why having GSU members and elected officers directly involved in bargaining committees and other meetings with company management isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s one of GSU’s greatest advantages.

GSU staff are experts at lining up the facts and arguments and standing up for the membership, but nothing beats the impact of a GSU member providing a real-time reality check. We’ve seen it happen time and again: management describes how a process works, and a member is right there to say, “Actually, that’s not what’s happening.”

“I can be thoroughly prepared for a meeting, but honestly, there is an added weight when a member just speaks up and clears the air,” says GSU staff rep Jordan Cousins. “When Management is telling us one thing, and a member sitting across the table says, ‘Wait a second, that’s not what happened last Tuesday,’ it changes the whole energy of the room. You can’t substitute that kind of first-hand knowledge—it makes our side so much stronger.”