U of M graduate students try to unionize

A group of graduate students are trying again to unionize at the University of Minnesota.

At a university forum Thursday, grad student Cecilia Aldarondo joined several other panelists in calling for a greater say in working conditions.

"Some people have, say for example, not seen a raise in several years. Other people have children and have to shell out, you know, many hundreds of dollars for dependant care," Aldarondo said. "Other people are working in situations in which they are asked to work far and above the hours that they're being paid to work."

The United Auto Workers union is involved in the effort.

This is the fourth time graduate students have tried to organize at the university. The last time was in 2005.

In response, university administration referred media questions to its website, which says it would prefer to work directly with each graduate assistant regarding wages, benefits and working conditions.