News from Graduate Employees Organization 3550
March 28, 2023
ANN ARBOR – Graduate students workers with Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT Michigan 3550, AFL-CIO at the University of Michigan called a strike Monday evening. The decision to strike is the culmination of five months of negotiations in which the University stonewalled graduate workers and failed to provide serious counter-offers to graduate workers’ proposals. It follows a strike authorization vote last week that passed with 95 percent of votes in favor.
Graduate workers will walk off the job this Wednesday, at 10:24 a.m. and will kick off their strike with a rally on the Diag, with picketing to follow.
“This action represents graduate workers’ determination to fight for a U-M for all and a contract that is focused on equity, dignity and a living wage for graduate workers,” said Jared Eno, president for the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO). “You shouldn’t need family wealth to be a graduate student, we’re fighting for a university where any worker can flourish – no matter if they’re a parent, transgender, an international worker, or disabled.”
Agreement on the majority of graduate workers’ proposals—including important topics like a living wage, harassment protections, accessible funding for childcare, inequities faced by international students, affordable copays, gender-affirming healthcare, and workplace safety—remains elusive. Currently, graduate workers have reached tentative agreements on a few pieces of their bargaining platform, namely the use of bulletin boards, administrative information that the University provides to GEO every semester, and procedures for registration and leave.
“The University of Michigan’s graduate workers go above and beyond. Graduate workers are a touch point for the undergraduate community, we teach, and we research, all well taking our own classes and all of the work that all these things entail. We provide an enormous service to the University of Michigan and deserve to make a living wage,” says David Helps, a bargaining team member and PhD candidate in History. “We brought serious proposals to the table that we developed over a year and a half of research and outreach to bargaining-unit members, but the University administration refused to address the problems that graduate workers face.”
Extra bargaining sessions last week and over the weekend failed to produce a tentative agreement that met graduate workers’ needs for affordability and dignity. Even during a strike, graduate workers remain committed to negotiating in good faith with the University.
“Graduate workers know what our work is worth, and we hope that every member of our campus community will stand with us as we fight for a fair contract, equity, and dignity. Walking out of our classrooms is a decision no graduate worker takes lightly,” says Conrad Kosowsky, PhD candidate in Economics. “We would much rather resolve our disagreements with the University at the bargaining table, but HR made it clear they won’t engage with us in a good-faith attempt to meet graduate workers’ needs. At this point a strike is our only option left to get the University to take us seriously.” In recent weeks, GEO has filed several unfair labor practice charges against the University for negotiating in bad faith. Weekly negotiations will continue during a strike as the bargaining teams attempt to reach agreements that satisfy both graduate workers and the University.
“Graduate school should be accessible for everyone. Graduate workers deserve a baseline living wage of $38,000 as well as additional supports like an accessible child care subsidy, an emergency fund for international workers, and caps on co-pays for those who need it. assistance for those that need it,” says Karthik Ganapathy, secretary for GEO. “We are more united than ever before and will not accept a deal that leaves any member behind.”
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