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On Wednesday, members voted overwhelmingly to continue striking until we get real movement from HR. Gathered in Angell Auditorium and on zoom, grads agreed: we have the power to win a fair contract if we stick together. Ariana, a grad in Environmental Health Sciences said, “the first week of this strike showed that we have numbers and we have power. Members voted to continue to strike because we know we have what it takes to win. We will continue to fight and our power is going to continue to build.” Grads are going into the second week of our strike with open eyes. We know that the university will try to intimidate and threaten us. We also know that what we are fighting for is too important to back down. Nico, a social work grad, reminded the room of what is at stake: “People are selling blood to pay rent. People can’t pay for childcare. People are denied life saving healthcare. They are rationing their medicine and their food to survive. This is not a question of whether or not we want to strike. We need to strike. When we fight, we win!”
From the Bargaining Table
Today’s extra bargaining session failed to produce results for grad workers. Grad workers passed back proposals on a host of non- economic issues, including parking passes, class size, late work, union orientations, and more. Management offered no movement on any of the proposals they passed back – except for slightly decreasing the amount of time they claim they would need to send an email explaining the disability accommodations system. Now they say they only need 5 months to write this email.
Meg, Political Science
“Any reasonable person knows that international GSIs shouldn’t be punished at work for immigration issues beyond their control. But HR at the table today showed absolutely no reason, much less compassion or empathy, on this issue by refusing to move on it. It seems that HR doesn’t understand why grad workers want protections codified in our contract, and expects us to be satisfied with verbal promises from our departments. It’s extremely frustrating.”
Lauren, SW & Anthro
“It’s so infuriating to see UM treat things like disability accommodations as a game rather than the actual lives of graduate student workers. They should be so ashamed of themselves.”
Finish the Week Strong: Join the Fight!
GEO members and allies will be on the picket lines on until our demands are met (bit.ly/PicketShift). On Thursday after picketing, join fellow workers for a strike seder (bit.ly/StrikeSeder). We’ll also continue to bargain on Thursday and Friday (bit.ly/bargsesh).
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