On October 24 and 25, we went to arbitration over two grievances about LSA’s discriminatory Allocation Guidelines and Hiring Priorities for GSIs. This was the final step of the grievance process. Members from several departments and professional schools most impacted by these unilateral policy changes mobilized to fight them. During the arbitration, we presented research that showed that LSA wanted to reduce its tuition payments without notifying grad workers, even as UM withheld relevant documentation. One arbitrator ruled that the University violated the contract in failing to notify us of these policy changes. This ruling strengthens our ability to push back against future policy changes, making it more difficult for UM to force through new policies without the input of workers.
However, the other arbitrator denied our second grievance, which purported that the Hiring Priorities discriminated against professional and masters’ students based on the cost of their tuition. We are disappointed by this outcome, and we believe that the arbitrator of the second grievance was wrong in this decision. The arbitrator released a shockingly short opinion that did not engage with most of our arguments. We maintain that while individual departments may prioritize GSI and GSSA positions for their own students with funding guarantees, our contract does not allow LSA to prevent departments from hiring graduate students in other colleges.
While this outcome was not the one we had fought and hoped for, we know that our power as a union lies not in the arbitration process but in our ability to act collectively as workers. In 2023, we wielded our power as a well organized, rank-and-file union to win a historic contract, one which included language clarifying the hiring process for GSI and GSSA positions. Now, the University is undermining this contract language. It is up to us to show them that grad workers won’t stand for this. We must stand together and, once again, wield our power as workers as we continue to fight UM’s imposed austerity measures, which they are using to target the most vulnerable grad workers across the University. This is a fight that will take each and every one of us. We urge those frustrated by this decision to deepen their involvement in their union in their departments, and by getting more involved with our contract and organizing committees.
If an arbitrator decides that our contract was not violated, we need to implement changes to our contract. Arbitration began as part of our fight against UM’s concerted effort to eliminate instructor positions, increase workloads by raising enrollment minimums and course caps in the classrooms, and unjustly exclude graduate workers from consideration for positions. Together, we will show the university the full power of a rank-and-file union that is ready to fight for the contract we all deserve. Fight, fight, fight!
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