FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News From Graduate Employees Organization
Friday, Oct. 19, 2012
Contact:
Liz Rodrigues (305) 484-5004, commchair@geo3550.org
Jim McAsey, (631) 375-1144, jim.mcasey@geo3550.org
University of Michigan Lecturers and Graduate Employees Hold Rally for Prop 2
LEO, GEO support Proposal 2 to protect working families and collective bargaining rights
ANN ARBOR – The Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO) and the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) will hold a rally for Proposal 2 this Friday, October 19, at 12 noon on the University of Michigan’s Central Campus Diag. This rally is to publicize community support for this proposal and collective bargaining rights. State Senator Rebekah Warren, local clergy, and representatives of other Ann Arbor area organizations will be speaking.
Proposal 2 will protect Michigan citizens’ rights to organize, bargain collectively with public or private employers, and participate in collective bargaining free from employer retaliation or intimidation. These rights are under attack by corporate special interests and their political allies. Protecting the democratic right to bargain collectively is the goal of Proposal 2, a goal that is shared among the community coalition that will be represented at today’s rally.
Bonnie Halloran, President of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization, said that “Many of our elected officials have forgotten why collective bargaining is so important to Michigan families. Over the years, it has been collective bargaining that has brought workers the 40 hour week, the weekend, sick leave and child labor laws.”
In an economic climate of austerity and funding cuts for public education, college instructors also need collective bargaining to fight for students’ education. “We use collective bargaining to ensure that we can provide the education our students need,” said GEO President Kathryn Frank. “We ensure that Graduate Student Instructors have realistic class sizes, adequate safety training for lab classes, and resources to teach.”
For many GEO and LEO members, supporting Proposal 2 is about more than their own working conditions. GEO Member and Graduate Student Instructor Emily Howard said, “Prop 2 safeguards a basic democratic right. All Michigan workers should have the right to have a say in their working conditions.”
This rally will feature union and non-union members of the Ann Arbor community who support Proposal 2. Scheduled speakers at today’s rally include State Senator Rebekah Warren, representatives of LEO, GEO, the Washtenaw Community Action Team, and the Student Union of Michigan.
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The Graduate Employees’ Organization (umgeo.org), an affiliate of AFT Michigan, is the labor union representing approximately 1800 graduate teaching and staff assistants at UM. GEO is the second-oldest graduate employee union in the United States, having won its first contract in 1975. The Lecturers’ Employee Organization (leounion.org), also an affiliate of AFT Michigan, represents approximately 1,400 lecturers on the University’s three campuses (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint).
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