Filed under: Get Involved
Is “Solidarity Forever” still stuck in your head? Then come to the membership meeting on Monday! Get a behind the scenes look at bargaining, hear about developments in the new contract, nominate new people to the GEO leadership, and send our contract out for ratification! You don’t have to be teaching right now to vote, associate members are welcome too!!!
Membership Meeting – Monday March 31st
7:00 pm – Michigan League Ballroom
This is also your chance to get involved on still unresolved issues like the 10 term rule, and to help us sort out domestic partner issues. Come join the fun!
Filed under: Get Involved
GEO and the administration have tentatively settled on an agreement, we will not be walking out tomorrow! Here are the highlights:
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6.2 in year 1, 3.5 in year 2 and 3
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Full tuition waiver for 0.2 and above
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Wage parity for low fractions
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No premium health care for all fractions
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An additional 5 mental health care visits (from 25 to 30)
- 6 weeks parental leave for birth moms, and 3 for non birth parents
Good work everyone! We have a mass membership meeting on March 31st at 7:00 in the Michigan League Ballroom, where we can discuss the offer and decide whether to send out a ballot for ratification. I’m so proud of everyone who participated in the walk out, especially in SNRE. In a department with little job security, we were well represented on the picket line!
I’m a picketer signed up for a shift. Where do I go? What
do I do?
GEO will set up a Strike Central Nervous System (Strike CNS!) on
the Diag outside of Haven Hall. You’ll see a table full of
supplies, picket signs, and volunteer staffers. Please come to
this location TEN minutes before your shift begins. You’ll sign
in, get a picket sign, a name tag, and some other supplies. Then,
we’ll either have you wait until a critical mass of picketers
arrives and send you off to a picket line, or simply send you as
soon as you arrive. Once you arrive at your picket line, you’ll
check in with the GEO Strike Captain (look for someone wearing a
funny hat), who will make sure you have everything you need to get
started. And then, join the line!
If you want to picket at a particular place, let us know that when
you arrive, and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
I don’t remember my shift. Can you remind me what it is?
We actually have too many picket commitments to get our data entry
done for this task (a very good problem to have!), so we ask that
if you are in doubt, please consider the 8am shift on both days,
as these are the shifts with the fewest commitments at this point.
I’d like to picket with people I know. How do I accomplish
this?
Picketing with friends is a great thing! Our best advice is to
show up at Strike CNS at the same time as the people with whom
you’d like to picket. If you are joining someone who is already on
a picket line, show up at Strike CNS and we’ll do our best to
accommodate sending you there. We’re trying to keep track of who
is where so we know the strength of each line at any given time;
coming to our central location will help us out, but if you just
end up on a line, no one will turn you away!
I’m picketing all day! Won’t I get hungry? Thirsty? Cold?
Rained on? A Sore Throat?
We thought about all of these things!
FOOD AND DRINK:
On the lines, we’ll have snacks available – fruit and trail mix –
as well as water bottles, coffee and hot water for tea. For lunch
during the Tuesday’s midday shift, thanks to a generous donation
of food and cooking power from a member of a UAW local union,
we’ll be bringing hot food to the various picket lines (awesome
rice and beans in pitas), and to the Diag for the midday rally. Of
course, you should feel free to bring what you need to keep
yourself full and powered up!
BAD WEATHER, SORE THROATS, and FEET!
Please prepare for rain and snow. We’ll have trash bags to keep
people covered up from rain. We also suggest wearing layers, hats,
scarves and gloves, as well as very comfortable shoes. We’ll have
water bottles to keep your throats lubricated, but again, feel
free to bring your own as well. We’ll also have lozenges, pain
killers, and band-aids on hand.
REST:
Take breaks if you need to. The most important thing you can do is
rest your voice and feet if you over overexerting yourself. Let
your strike captain know that you need a break; you could
volunteer to pass out handbills to those going into buildings.
If you need an indoor break, you may also head to Café Ambrosia,
located at 326 Maynard Street (between Liberty and William, a
block west of State Street), where the owner Ed has generously
lent the entire basement to GEO for this very purpose.
BATHROOMS:
We’ve got portapotties scattered near picket lines for people to
take bathroom breaks; Café Ambrosia is also an available spot.
What are other ways I can show my support?
One really important thing you can do is thank the folks at Café
Ambrosia for being an integral, crucial part of this walkout. Ed,
the owner, as well as Jimmy, Matt, and other staff at the café are
giving us the entire basement of the cafe to use for whatever we
need- making coffee, providing storage, keeping phones charged,
warming food and picketers up on a regular basis, and providing
general moral support. PLEASE stop by Ambrosia whenever you can to
thank Ed and others, and leave a generous tip if you are able to.
AND, make Ambrosia your exclusive coffee source for the rest of
your time in Ann Arbor.
Other things you can do?
Bring friends with you to the walkout.
Encourage those who are leaving the lines to stay! Talk to
everyone you know about why you’re participating and welcome
people to be part of the fight.
Get Out On the Picket Line!
Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, there’s a picket shift for you (Morning, Lunch, Afternoon). If you are super awesome, you can join us ALL DAY LONG! Sign up using the Online Sign Up Sheet
If you’re feeling spontaneous, you can just report to the GEO command center in the Diag, and they will hand you a picket sign and send you where you are needed most.
GEO Headquarters has put together a comprehensive Walk Out FAQ about job actions, bargaining, etc. Follow the link for the full document. Below are the highlights and SNRE specific questions.
What is a job action? Is it different from a strike?
Any action in which we use our labor power to put pressure on the Administration is a job action. A strike is a job action in which we walk off the job and withhold our labor for an indefinite period of time. We sometimes use terms like “strike ballot”, “strike platform”, and “strike vote” even when the job action being considered is very different from an open-ended strike.
What’s this about violating our contract? I’m scared…
We had a contract which expired March 1st. We extended it to March 17th, and finally to this Monday March 24th. GEO wanted to keep the contract in place until the very last moment, so that employees would have security as long as possible. However, negotiations have reached an impasse, and so we will likely let the contract expire on Monday, March 24th. so that we can begin a job action without being in violation of our contract. You can’t violate a contract that is expired!
If there is a walkout, will we get paid?
The university does not have to pay us for hours not worked. Legally, they can withhold a day’s pay for every day not worked. But in the past they have NOT done this, we have been paid even for days on strike. It is VERY difficult for the university to figure out who exactly missed how many days and to calculate the amount to be deducted from a thousand or more paychecks at different fraction allocations. For a two day walk out, it would probably not be worth it.
What about job security?
Hundreds of GSI’s cannot easily be replaced, and we would also demand that our new contract include a ‘no reprisals’ clause, meaning members can’t be penalized for participating in the job action. The university honored this clause in the 1991 contract after two job actions.
But SNRE has no job security to begin with?!?
In SNRE we have a unique situation – we have many more applicants than jobs, and our department will not guarantee funding. Because people have some very legitimate concerns about job security, we encourage everyone to do as much as they feel comfortable with. Talk with your supervising faculty member about how you will handle a walk out. They may want to support GEO, and a compromise can make you both look good!
Here is a list of things that GSIs can do:
- A full walk out
- Hold classes off campus
- Devote part of your teaching time to explaining the strike
- Move your office hours off campus
- Hold discussion section on c-tools (directions for chat rooms and discussion boards)
- Let your students leave early
- Don’t answer e-mail during the walk out
- TAKE A SHIFT ON THE PICKET LINE
The last one is most important. The University will not know if you meet students at Pizza House, it will look like class is canceled. But showing support on the picket line is very visible and will affect the negotiations.
I’m a GSRA, how does this affect me?
GSRAs and students on fellowship buy into the same group health care plans that GSIs do. The same benefits that GSIs get are usually extended to GSRAs and fellowship students. GSRAs aren’t represented by a collective bargaining unit. However, they have usually benefitted from GSI contract negotiations. If you are a GSRA, you’re support is valuable, and you stand to gain from this negotation too.
SATURDAY, MARCH 21:
- GET THE REST OF THE PICKET SHIFTS FILLED! Stop by after 1pm to make calls to supportive members about signing upfor a picket shift. We’re doing well, but could use even more peopleout for even one shift. Please take a few calls!
- STRIKE PREP! from 12 noon into the night! Please come by any time after 12pm to make picket signs, buttons, noisemakers, nametags, bags of food, handbill/chant packets, boxes for strike captains, and even spray-painted canvas cloth badges! It is going to be so much fun.
- STRIKE CAPTAIN TRAINING! 6pm. Sounds like fun? That’s because it’s gonna be. Come by and learn what it’s like to run a picket line, welcome people to the action, get folks walking in a circle, and be an integral part of the success of this action! You’ll also get to wear a hat. And, if you don’t want a plain vanilla baseball hat, we’re shopping for crazy hats at the costume store on Sat AM- let me know!
MONDAY, MARCH 23:
- STRIKE CAPTAIN TRAINING. 5pm. (see above) This session is for those who missed it on Sunday!
- OPERATION FAILSAFE SPECIAL MEETING! 7pm. This is the meeting at which we’ll look at the final offer from the administration and the last chance we have to call off the strike!
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Spam should be in a can, not in your inbox. To reduce the amount of spam reaching our fellow SNREds we’re putting together this blog to keep folks informed about the GEO contract negotiations and potential walk out. Check it for updates and resources, and we’ll do our best to keep you informed. The GEO official website is also a great source for information and resources.
