Fellow Workers,
As we start to fill our calendars ahead of the semester, please take note of news about our current efforts and upcoming events. As always, please reach out to us if you are interested in planning an organizing event in your department, or if you’d like to get involved in one of GEO’s many committees. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
📣 Our first General Membership Meeting of the semester will be Wednesday, February 8th from 5-7 PM in Campus Center 903 and through Zoom at this cai and thomas if you’d like to add something to our agenda.
🙋♀️ Voting for our next bargaining committee member and interim membership organizer will begin tomorrow! Candidate statements by all those running for positions are attached to this email. You can also view them on the GEO website. Voting will be administered in a hybrid format via the ElectionRunner platform. Everyone eligible to vote will receive a unique voter ID to their UMass email to vote from February 2-8. Additional in-person voting will be made available in Campus Center 915 on the following days and times:
Monday, February 6, 1-3pm
Tuesday, February 7, 11-2pm
Wednesday, February 8, 4:30-5:30 pm (Outside of membership meeting – Campus Center 903)
✊ Prestigious Graduate Fellows (PGFs): If you were on an external fellowship anytime from Fall ‘20 to now, please complete the following geo to let us know that you filled it out and include the following info:
a) name of fellowship
b) duration (starting/ending date)
c) academic department
d) income from fellowship.
We need to make sure that the University is implementing the language of our new contract regarding the "Prestigious Graduate Fellows" (formerly referred to as "Non-Working Fellows"), and that every fellow who meets the income threshold is part of the bargaining unit, protected by the contract, and has access to all contractual benefits (health insurance, dental, vision, etc). Please share this information widely with those affected grad students in your departments. Thank you.
🗳 UAW Run Off Elections: Last week you should have received another ballot for UAW International Executive Board Elections in the mail. This is not a mistake! We will be voting in a run-off election for President and Vice President. As before, this is an important and historic election with the UAW – and our chance to finally have a direct say in our union’s leadership. Information about the candidates can be found here. [Note: we are not in Region 9, and will not be voting for those candidates]. Send your ballots back by Feb 17th!
Events:
🍻 To kick off this semester, the stewards are having a social at Ye Ol’ Watering Hole in Northampton on Friday the 3rd, at 8pm. In case you haven’t been there before, the Watering Hole is a cash only bar but it does have an ATM inside. If you’re not a steward but curious about becoming one, or you just want to hang out, we hope you come out!
🎓 Higher Ed Advocacy Day in Boston: The Higher Education Coalition, an amalgamation of labor unions based at public higher education institutions, has organized an Advocacy Day at the State House in Boston on February 28th from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. This is an important event aimed at increasing funding to public universities and colleges across Massachusetts. There will be a bus leaving UMass-Amherst at 8:00 AM on the day of the event. If interested in catching a ride on the bus, please fill out the following form. While more specifics about the programming of the event will be distributed soon, we ask you to please share this link with fellow workers and undergraduate students you are teaching this semester. Thank you.
🍎 Support for Educators at Amherst-Pelham School District: The Amherst Pelham Educators Association (APEA) is asking for your attendance at the APEA Community Forum at Amherst Regional Middle School on Thursday, February 2nd, from 6:30 PM-8:00 PM to support educators in the district for a fair contract. The union is advocating for a pay rise to keep pace with inflation, increased staffing at schools in the district, and a living wage for paraeducators. Please see the following link for more information about the event and to sign a petition in support of APEA.
🔧 Western Massachusetts Labor Federation (WMALF) Workshops: For members interested in building organizing skills, the WMALF will hold three separate workshops on February 16th, 23rd, and March 3rd, over Zoom. These sessions will offer comprehensive training on the roles and duties of being a steward, the in and outs of Weingarten Rights, as well as how to effectively use the grievance process in the workplace. For union members affiliated with the WMALF—which includes GEO—there is a $50 registration fee, however scholarships are available to attend. Please see the flier attached below for more information, or reach out to geo if interested in attending.
