The Graduate Employees Union is one step closer to gaining collective bargaining power.

Graduate assistants are set to vote in an election April 19 and 20 to determine whether they wish to be represented by a collective bargaining unit.

“We’re very excited,” said Amy Jones, a sociology graduate student and vice president of the union. “This is what we’ve been building up to.”

Under Michigan law, public employees can form collective bargaining units to negotiate compensation and benefits.

But in order to gain the power to negotiate, they must first be recognized by the State of Michigan.

In early February, the union filed for collective bargaining status with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.

In addition to the vote, the commission must request names from the university to verify that the more than 900 students who expressed interest in the union in February comprise at least one-third of the total graduate employee population.

Once the names are verified, the election can go forward.

If a simple majority of members vote in support of a collective bargaining unit, the university will be required to negotiate a contract in good faith with the union.

“We’re very confident that things will go well,” Jones said.

But Bob Banks, assistant provost for Academic Human Resources, said he feels unionization is unnecessary.

“We would look at graduate students as academic colleagues,” he said. “We don’t really think that