FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Monday, October 3, the University of Michigan Graduate Employees Organization (GEO)
requested that the Michigan Employment Relations Commission reconsider
its rejection of GEO’s petition for a union recognition election among Graduate
Student Research Assistants (GSRAs) at UM.
GEO’s request for reconsideration included an affadavit of facts drawn from the
University’s websites, which show that GSRAs are employees. A brief from GEO
establishes how these facts have changed since MERC’s 1981 decision placing
GSRAs outside of eligibility for union recognition.
“GSRAs pay taxes, we swear the oath required of public employees under the
Michigan Constitution, and we are eligible for leave time under the Family
Medical Leave Act, a piece of federal legislation that applies only to employees—
we are employees, and we deserve the right to vote,†said Andrea Jokisaari, the
GSRA Steering Committee chair and a GSRA in Materials Science and Engineering.
GEO’s election petition—supported by cards signed by a strong majority of
GSRAs at UM—is opposed by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a right-wing
think tank that advocates the privatization of the University of Michigan.
Added Samantha Montgomery, the president of GEO: “GSRAs should have the
freedom to vote about whether they want to form a union. By trying to interfere
with this fundamental right, the Mackinac Center is once again attempting to
bully the employees of this University. They’re not going to succeed.â€
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