FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News From Graduate Employees’ Organization
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
Contact:
Emily Howard (734) 883-2623, commchair@geo3550.org
Jim McAsey, jim.mcasey@geo3550.org
Graduate Employees’ Organization Launches Fertility Justice Campaign
GEO Backs Effort to Add Fertility Treatments to University of Michigan Employees’ Health Coverage
ANN ARBOR – The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) at the University of Michigan launched its public campaign for the addition of fertility treatments to health insurance coverage for all University of Michigan employees. Currently, University of Michigan faculty, staff, and graduate employees have access to a wide range of reproductive services under their insurance, but have no access to fertility treatment.
GEO launched the Fertility Justice Campaign because efforts by individual University employees in petitioning the University administration on this issue have so far been ineffective. Among GEO’s concerns are equity of access to fertility treatments by those who are disproportionately affected by infertility, such as survivors of radiation treatments, military veterans whose reproductive organs have been damaged in combat, gay couples, African American and Latina women, and those who have been diagnosed with early infertility. The University’s Medical Benefits Advisory Committee (MBAC) can elect to add this coverage any time, regardless of open enrollment periods or the negotiation of union contracts.
“Fertility treatments are an important part of health and wellness, and it only makes sense that the University should offer this coverage to their employees since academics must often delay starting families for the sake of their careers,” said Liz Rodrigues, GEO’s president.
Members of the GEO and fertility treatment advocates in the University community will be speaking on this issue at the Regents’ meeting this Thursday, November 21st, at 4pm in the Anderson Room at the Michigan League.
For more information about this issue, see “Insuring All Aspects of Health” by UM graduate employee Katherine Lelito, published in The Michigan Daily on November 14th, 2013.
GEO, an affiliate of AFT Michigan, is the labor union representing approximately 1800 graduate teaching and staff assistants at UM. GEO is the oldest graduate employee union in the United States, having won its first contract in 1975.
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