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International GSIs and other grads gathered to picket on North Campus, highlighting the unique challenges IGSIs face, and the proposals put forward to remedy them. The University wants a ‘global campus.’ This is impossible to achieve without our international grad workers, who provide quality instruction in countless departments, and are the majority of language instructors to UM students. With signs and chants in more than nine languages, grads highlighted the demands that will make this campus truly global: a fund to ensure that international grad workers are no longer forced to pay extra expenses out of pocket, robust sanctuary campus policies, and the living wage and dignity that we all deserve.
At Wednesday’s GMM, grads voted to extend our strike to the end of term, making this the longest strike in GEO history. Nico, a grad in anthropology and social work said, “we have no reason not to continue striking. The university is losing leverage every day. They’ve already docked our pay, and our power is growing as we continue to withhold grades. This strike has implications for every other academic strike in the country. We need to keep going until we win.” Workers heard about the international media coverage the strike has garnered (The Guardian, Democracy Now!) showing the world is watching as Ono embarrasses himself. In analysis from the Organizing Committee, grads saw that more than 15 thousand grades will be affected by our strike. We have the power!
Update from the Bargaining Table
Wednesday was another frustrating day at the bargaining table. GEO made significant movement in our proposals, while HR passed back the same language as previously for a host of proposals: employee training, leaves of absence, policies for periods of unpaid leave, and benefits. They refused to adapt Dental I to cover minor restorative procedures, as well as refusing to adopt up-to-date standards of care for transgender healthcare. GEO then repassed an updated version of the Reproductive Healthcare MOU.
When asked to justify crossing out entire sections of our trans healthcare proposal, HR responded that they weren’t interested in making trans healthcare more accessible, and refused to elaborate. It’s outrageous that the University shows such little care for this critical issue. It’s obvious that HR is unmoved by our well researched proposals and the countless hours grads have devoted to restructuring our proposals so that we can make movement at the table. Our power is in the continued withholding of our labor and our grades
Rhiannon, B-Team
“The university is able to change these things, but they’re unwilling to. I’ve made it abundantly clear that the trans health policies as they exist are killing people. HR won’t even tell us what’s wrong with the proposal when we try to change things on our end.”
Sign Up for Crucial Commencement Pickets
As the semester draws to a close, it’s critical that grads continue to make our strike visible by picketing. Grad workers will be holding friendly informational pickets at commencement ceremonies this week – including at the Big House Saturday morning. You can sign up for picket shifts at .
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