December 6, 2011 – 4:12pm
GEO responds to Michigan Attorney General’s motion
BY RAYZA GOLDSMITH
Yesterday, a lawyer representing the Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University filed a legal brief, continuing the struggle of GEO to get a vote on Graduate Student Research Assistant unionization.
The brief was in response to a motion filed on Nov. 29 by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, in which he described his intent to intervene at the Michigan Employment Relations Commission’s meeting on Dec. 13. At the meeting, the commission will decide whether to allow the vote on GSRA unionization.
The brief filed yesterday by GEO’s lawyer Mark Cousens, claims Schuette should not be allowed to intervene at the meeting and that his request should be “promptly and decisively denied.â€
“Allowing intervention for the reasons proffered by the AG would cause chaos and compromise the Constitutional autonomy of the University of Michigan Board of Regents,†the brief stated.
The brief goes on to list a number of issues GEO has with Schuette’s argument for why he should be allowed to intervene, including the fact that he represents the wishes of 19 executives at the University rather than the University community, many of whom do not support collective bargaining, according to the brief.
The brief also states precedent for cases in which third parties, like the Attorney General would be in this proceeding, have not been granted to the right to intervene in MERC proceedings.
Stephen Raiman, president of Students Against GSRA Unionization, wrote in an email that this brief is just another attempt to shut out opposition to GSRA unionization.
“(GEO’s) attorneys feel they can rewrite the law, and they have fought every attempt by an opposing party to simply be represented in the MERC hearings,†Raiman wrote. “They have successfully shut out students who oppose them, university administrators who oppose them, and now they are attempting to shut out the attorney general.â€
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