Last Tuesday March 31st 2020, GEO began successor contract negotiations with the University as we wait for management to respond to our impact bargaining proposals around the COVID-19 crisis. During successor contract negotiations, we are fighting to keep protections from our current contract and win even more in our new ones. This is different from impact bargaining, in which we fight for security while we are impacted by the pandemic. GEO is now bargaining with the university on two fronts, which makes your involvement and participation more important than ever.
Before the start of the session, management proposed “ground rules” that would disallow rank-and-file GEO members from attending and participating in bargaining sessions. This is completely contrary to our union’s values, in which democracy, transparency, and rank-and-file leadership are paramount. We insisted that GEO members have the right to attend their own contract negotiation sessions, and management backed down.
The GEO bargaining committee presented three proposals to management at yesterday’s session. Successor bargaining involves both large and far-reaching issues like stipends, and a lot of relatively minor but still important articles which are in our contract. The proposals are the first of many to come – we will be seeking member feedback and participation in this process at various times. Here’s what the committee presented in this first session:
Since graduate workers shouldn’t have to pay fees to our employer in order to come to work, we demanded that the University waive fees for graduate student workers, including the engineering fee, lab fees, matriculation fees, and the graduate service fees.
We also proposed an increase in the number of GEO staff and bargaining committee positions paid for by the university, including creating two 20 hour/week bargaining committee positions. This would more easily allow international students to run for paid bargaining committee positions, ease overwork in the GEO office, and allow the union to function more effectively. We also stipulated that each department set aside a large bulletin board for GEO news and updates, so that all members have access to important information about their rights and benefits in easily accessible physical locations once the pandemic is over.
Remember, this is just the beginning of contract negotiations, and there will be much more to come. So join your bargaining committee and fellow GEO members at the next bargaining session, on Friday April 10 from 3-5 PM. Urge your co-workers to come too! The more people show up, the more powerful we are.
[For privacy reasons, we are following UMass guidelines on Zoom calls and will be sharing that link only over email to our GEO listserv]
