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WELCOME TO THE GSU
Any graduate student may join the organization of the GSU, and the GSU has the legal authority to negotiation contracts for nearly 500 Graduate Assistants at CMU. Negotiations for the first official contract are ongoing.
Struggling Grad Assistants are no longer left out in the cold.
Get involved to make sure YOUR contract is the best it can be.
Through their unions, U-M, MSU, Western, and Wayne State have
negotiated the pay raises they deserved, won strong health benefits and
tuition waivers, and gained a method for solving everyday problems that
may arise in the workplace.
9/24/09
MEMBERSHIP MEETING, BARGAINING PLATFORM
Good news! The GSU bargaining team met with the CMU administration last
Friday (9/18), and we reached tentative agreements on two
issues.
- Uniform standards for workload, including the
rights to be fully informed of our duties before we start work and to
receive notice if there are any expected changes.
- The rights to view personnel records, receive
copies of them, contest disputed information, and insert written
responses to evaluations.
A few points still under discussion.
- The need to be informed in advance of changes in standard
performance requirements/responsibilities.
- Which required training and professional development
programs will be free and how they will be included as a part of our work
hours.
- The role of peer evaluations in terms of overall GA evaluation.
- The routes through which GAs can seek additional employment
at other universities (e.g., to get extra money and teaching experience).
There's going to be a Membership Meeting on Thursday, October 1 at
7:00 pm at the Bovee University Center (UC 3: Lake St Clair & Lake St
Huron rooms). Some items on the agenda include:
- Presentation of the GSU bargaining platform.
- Nomination and election of officers.
- Organizing updates.
- Ways you can get involved.
Download the Entire
Bargaining Platform (PDF)
9/2/09 PAY AND BENEFITS NEXT UP IN NEGOTIATIONS
During the next few weeks, contract negotiations will begin to focus more on economic issues.
Currently, over 95% of CMU Graduate Assistants are paid a salary less than the national average for GAs. Unlike 84% of Graduate Schools, CMU Grad Assistants receive no options for employer health benefits. CMU GAs receive substantially weaker tuition waivers than most other comperable on-campus employees, including CMU office professionals, faculty, and service maintenence workers.
This lack of investment in the graduate program harms retention, deters
quality applicants, and weakens the priority of teaching, in addition
to causing many GAs to seek food stamps, public housing, and public
health support.
8/20/09 CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS IN FULL SWING
Soon, the GSU will begin negotiating all economic issues for Graduate Assistant contracts. To pave the way for economic negotiations, the GSU wrapped up submitting contract articles for all non-economic sections of the contract. These include the following:
- Union rights
- Non-discrimination protections
- Provisions for special conferences with the administration
- Open disclosure of information to the GSU
- Anti-harassment safeguards
- Employment periods and appointment notifications
- Workload protections
- Standard performance requirements
- Training and professional development
- Teaching assistant evaluations
- Access to personnel records
- Health and safety protections
- Grievance procedures
- Scope of the agreement
- Purpose and intent of the agreement
The GSU
has reached several tentative agreements with the administration, and
remaining provisions have been tabled for later discussion.
5/5/09 GSU WINS RECOGNITION VOTE BY 88% MAJORITY!
A majority of CMU Graduate Assistants voted to make the GSU
an official labor union. We now have the authority to negotiate with
the administration for fair pay and benefits and finally have a realy
voice in the decisions that affect our lives.
The GSU is designed to promote freedom, prosperity, and respect for all graduate assistants, teachers, researchers, and other graduate employees.
In filing for union recognition, the GSU
becomes one of nearly 30 graduate unions nationwide. We join Western, U
of M, MSU, and Wayne State as the fifth graduate union in Michigan.
As a group, graduate unions have been among the most effective labor unions in terms of improving institutional quality and providing members with real freedom.
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