Ahead of the University of Michigan’s Regents’ Meeting on Thursday, dozens of graduate workers will rally in front of the School of Social Work to demand affordability, dignity, and payment for mandatory internships required of Masters of Social Work students. It’s been nearly 3 months to the day since graduate workers, represented by Graduate Employees’ Organization AFT Local 3550, began bargaining for a new contract with University administrators. In that time, almost no progress has been made on the serious issues grads are facing.
On issues ranging from transitional funding for survivors of harassment; to better and more affordable mental healthcare, transgender healthcare, and care for chronic conditions; to the establishment of an unarmed, non-violent police alternative on campus; and to a more accessible and adequate childcare subsidy – the University’s representatives have flatly rejected graduate workers’ proposals. As Garima Singh, GEO Bargaining Team member, Feminist Caucus Chair, and Romance Languages PhD candidate states, “Given the numerous, well-documented cases of sexual harassment at this University, I expected Human Resources to take our proposal for transitional funding more seriously. Even though our proposal is based on an existing program in the College of Literature, Sciences, and Arts, HR rejected it without presenting an alternative. They are in denial about the seriousness of this problem if they think it doesn’t need to be addressed in our contract.”
On the issue of compensation – one deeply felt by grad workers who have seen the gap between their salary and the cost of living triple since 2020 – the University has offered a paltry increase of 7.7% over the course of the 3-year contract. Given current levels of inflation, this is an effective pay-cut for grad workers, whose current salary of $24,053.32 accounts for only 60% of the local cost of living. As Sben Korsh, an Architecture graduate student states, “HR’s rejection of nearly all our proposals has genuinely shocked me. We are one of the wealthiest universities in the world, with a $416 million surplus of cash last year, yet I make $24k a year. Why are they doing this to me and my co-workers?”
The University has also, thus far, refused to even discuss the issue of Payment for Placements (P4P). Masters of Social Work (MSW) students are required to work in unpaid field placements for 900 hours as part of their degrees. The lack of payment is simply unacceptable for students who already have to take on tens of thousands of dollars in debt. 70 MSW students do their field placements for the University of Michigan, giving the University nearly $1.3 million in unpaid labor. As Justice Cook, an MSW, states, “The university has claimed to care about increasing the diversity from underrepresented groups as part of the DEI strategic plan. Providing financial compensation to these students would not only level the playing field, but it would also help break down the barriers that limit access to opportunities for marginalized communities.”
Negotiations are taking place amidst an atmosphere of growing anger and frustration among graduate workers, who have been demanding cost of living adjustments at universities across the country. New grad worker unions are being formed at schools like Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and Yale. Meanwhile, graduate workers across the University of California recently won better wages and working conditions after a 5-week strike. Graduate Workers at Temple University are currently on strike for a living wage. Ariana Haidari, a graduate student in the School of Public Health, states, “??Cost of living increases impact graduate students just like any other employee. Any business that does not include a fair wage in its business model is an unethical business. It is powerful to see how grad students across the country are pushing back on the idea that academia is immune to issues of workers’ rights and wellbeing.”
Graduate Workers and their allies will speak at the Regents’ Meeting to demand action and real counter proposals from HR.
Press Contact: Amir Fleischmann (he/him); contractchair@geo3550.org
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