We did it!
On 24 April 2012, the GEO Parents’ Caucus reached a tentative agreement with university administrators on issues related to the child care subsidy. As part of contract negotiations last year between GEO and UM, a committee was created of GEO members and UM administrators to evaluate the childcare subsidy policy for graduate employee parents. $150,000 was allotted to implement recommendations made by this committee. We began negotiations in September and reached agreement in April. Click here to view the language of the agreement.
The joint GEO-UM committee will use the funds to create a pilot program which provides a secondary child care subsidy to some families who do not qualify for the current subsidy program, which requires spouses of GEO members to work or study at least 20 hours per week. The pilot program provides comparable funds to graduate employees whose spouses work between 12-19 hours per week. The 12 hour limit opens up the child care subsidy program to a wider range of families, including some international graduate employees who would have been otherwise excluded due to their spouses’ visa statuses.
The funding of the program is structured so that the $150,000 will be distributed across the remaining two years of our contract. Written into the tentative agreement are conditions that ensure that unused funds from the program will be available for negotiation during our next collective bargaining cycle.
This win would not have been possible without the dedication and support of GEO membership! We had power in negotiations because GEO members, parents and non-parents alike stood in solidarity with those of us at the table!
Please inform your colleagues who have children about this secondary child care subsidy so they know they now have expanded access. And get involved with GEO to help make further gains for graduate employees at the University of Michigan.
On behalf of the GEO Parents’ Caucus,
Melissa Sanders, PhD, Psychology
Katie Brion, History of Art
Jacki Antonovich, History
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