FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Graduate Employees’ Organization 3550
April 28th, 2023
University of Michigan Administration Withholds April Pay from Grad Workers
On April 28th, the University of Michigan Administration officially withheld pay from graduate workers for the entire month of April. This move is unprecedented, marking the University’s first known decision to withhold pay from graduate workers in the Graduate Employees’ Organization’s nearly 50-year history.
This decision continues the Academic Human Resources team’s sloppy and distasteful management of the bargaining process, as they have withheld pay from all workers who failed to fill out attestation forms – regardless of whether or not they are actually on strike, ignoring all additional evidence of completed work. At the time of writing, we are aware of at least 700 workers who have had their pay withheld this month.
Perhaps most abhorrent, Management also withheld pay from workers who were on paid, medical leave during the strike. Neither our contract nor precedent require documentation for graduate workers seeking paid medical leave; however, earlier this year, the University moved to require significant evidence of “need” in order to undermine workers’ rights to medical leave during our strike. As a result, one such graduate worker preparing to undergo chemotherapy for a brain tumor was told that their medical charts, exam orders, and doctor appointment dates were insufficient documentation for medical leave. This worker, among others, had their pay withheld despite legitimate need for our contractually-bound medical leave – continuing the callous actions by University Management toward graduate workers throughout our six-month contract campaign.
Management’s decision to withhold pay based solely on whether a worker filled out an attestation form is a clear violation of our contract and likely illegal. Despite evidence that such attestation forms went to spam folders, had inconsistent timelines, and were irrelevant for graduate workers on medical leave, Management has indicated that they have no intention of actually verifying whether someone was striking or how many hours of work they missed. In our contract, the University acknowledges that the work we do “cannot be precisely standardized or measured in relation to a given period of time.” As such, graduate student instructors are paid based on an average weekly work expectation over the course of the term. Many graduate students are so overworked that they have already completed all hours required of them this term. Even so, for these graduate workers, Management appears to be docking pay for hours already worked.
Graduate workers at the University of Michigan, organized in the Graduate Employees Organization, American Federation of Teachers local 3550, have been on strike for over five weeks over issues of affordability and workplace dignity. This is only the latest in a series of underhanded strikebreaking tactics that Management has used to try to circumvent the bargaining process and impose an unfair contract on some of its lowest paid workers. From refusing to participate in open bargaining in December, to detaining protesting graduate workers earlier this month, to spreading misinformation about the consequences of withheld grades throughout this week, the University Administration continues to poster diversity, equity, and inclusion values while undermining graduate workers’ fight to put such values into practice. Graduate workers have already filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, and a grievance on this particular issue is also pending.
Although the University is choosing to abandon its second-largest teaching population on campus, the wider community has stepped up to support graduate workers’ needs in the face of financial hardship. Please consider contributing to our strike hardship fund, which will offset the immediate cost burdens of striking graduate workers: https://givebutter.com/GEOStrikeFund.
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