UE Local 896/COGS

06/07/2026

🪧 You’re joining COGS at the Board of Regents meeting on June 15th, right? Want to customize your own sign to bring with? Come make some with us on Tuesday, June 9th at the Iowa City Public Library, in Meeting Room A at 4:30 PM! All supplies provided! 🖍️🎨

06/03/2026

IT’S ACTION TIME! 📍 WHERE: Leavitt Center for University Advancement, 1 E Park Rd, Iowa City (facing Hatcher lot)
⏰ WHEN: Rally at 3:30, public comment at 4:30
✊ WHO: Members of COGS, AFSCME, and SEIU, community allies, and YOU!

COGS will be at the Board of Regents meeting on Monday, June 15th and we want YOU to join us for a rally and packing the room! We’ll get fired up with featured speakers, chants, songs, and community during the rally at 3:30 before we move inside. During the public comment session at 4:30, members from COGS, AFSCME, and SEIU will be stepping up and delivering their messages to the Regents. COGS demands: No more job cuts! Safety for international scholars! Academic freedom for all!

We need a HUGE turnout to remind the Regents: THE UNIVERSITY WORKS BECAUSE WE DO! ⚡️ Sign up for communications and pledge to be there via the signup QR or link in our bio!!

05/19/2026

COGS Membership has voted to endorse V Fixmer-Oraiz for District 4 and Mandi Re*****on for District 5 in the Johnson County Board of Supervisors election on June 2nd. Early voting has started! For more information, see the Johnson County elections page at https://www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov/auditor/elections

05/11/2026

Posted on behalf of the affected graduate researcher—compilation of sources cited in our recent statement on the Board of Supervisors and treatment of our member. For a version of the statement with full citations, please visit our website, cogs.org.

05/11/2026

Statement on comments made toward one of our members at the Johnson County Board of Supervisors meeting -

04/23/2026

A preview of works up for auction at TONIGHTS General Membership Meeting.

6pm @ the Wesley Center (120 N Dubuque st)

See you there!

04/16/2026

Today is our union’s 30th Birthday!

For 30 years we’ve been fighting for higher wages and better working conditions for graduate students. We’ve won affordable healthcare, proper grievance procedures, 100% tuition coverage and 50% fee coverage. We’ve fought back against attacks on international workers and infringements on academic freedom. And we aren’t going anywhere. Here’s to 30 more years of COGS!

To celebrate Local 896, the first graduate student union under UE, we are throwing a PARTY at PS1 Close House THIS SATURDAY 4/18 2-6pm. members. Current Grad students, COGS Alum, family, friends, and community members all welcome. Hope to see you there!

📸:
-COGs certification victory party, April 1996 (slides 1-2)
-Grade-in at the IMU for a fair contract, December 1996
-First Coordinating Committee, 1996
-Picket Line, 1990s
-COGS picnic, 1990s
-Protest against privatization, 1990s
-COGS members, 1990s

04/03/2026

This month marks the 30 years of COGS, UE’s oldest graduate workers union! To celebrate we are throwing an anniversary party at Public Space One in Iowa City on Saturday, April 18. COGS Alumni, current grad workers, and community members please join us for an afternoon of history, art, speakers, refreshments, and live music. Make sure to catch our panel on lessons from Iowa labor history and the future of organizing.

If you have pictures, videos, or other memories of cogs that you’d like to contribute please send them to us at [email protected].

See you there!

03/27/2026

Please sign the petition linked on their website! International students and faculty make our University great!

Chinese faculty and researchers make significant contributions to Iowa’s research ecosystem, helping bring major federal investment into the state. The two categories below (NIH awards and NSF awards) show examples of this impact. These are only sample highlights, and there are more funding awards...

03/24/2026