Michigan Attorney General David Schuette’s attempt to intervene in MERC’s upcoming decision about whether GSRAs are employees has made news. Detroit Free Press writer David Jesse reports on Schuette’s statement and responses by GEO members and GSRAs.
Schuette is echoing the views of a group of 370 GSRAs who say they don’t want to unionize. They are being represented by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy. In a release, the group said it was pleased to have Schuette involved.
His involvement isn’t playing well with those GSRAs seeking to unionize.
“I think GSRAs have a right to make this decision for themselves, without interference from outside parties,†Christie Toth, a GSRA, said in a news release.
That group had argued they are paid from the university, do research that brings money in to the university and get benefits like employees. They say the facts have changed since 1981 and they deserve to be treated like employees.
Jesse also notes that this is not Schuette’s only politically motivated attempt to interfere with MERC’s decisions:
Schuette’s involvement continues a pattern of intervening in political and social-issue cases. For example, he has filed a brief supporting Julea Ward, a former Eastern Michigan University graduate counseling student who claims she was kicked out of the program when she sought to refer a gay client to another counselor, saying her religious beliefs wouldn’t allow her to counsel a gay person.
Read more at freep.com!
Other articles:
Peter Schmidt at the Chronicle of Higher Education: State AG Seeks to Thwart Union for U of M Graduate Researchers
Mark Brush @ Michigan Radio:Â Should UM research assistants unionize? Michigan Attorney General weighs in
Kellie Woodhouse @ AnnArbor.com
Comments are closed