OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, November 8, 1983 The Michigan Daily 'Yes' on GEO contract a step 4 ahead By Abraham Ehrlich The Graduate Employee's Organization (GEO) and the University recently concluded negotiations toward a new contract. The new agreement culminates two years of effort providing substantial gains over the previous contract. The agreement would give a graduate teaching assistant (TA) or staff assistant (SA) a pay hike of 5.1 percent and an increase in tuition payments credits (up to 67 percent of in-state tuition) for the coming year. It provides for required training sessions to be included in wage calculations (called a fraction, or the portion of hours in a full 40-hour week). The ten- tative pact also protects TAs from un- fair disciplinary action and commits the University administration to promoting the development of class size policies in order to maintain the quality of education at the University and to protect TAs from ever- increasing workloads. MORE THAN just one of the best con- tracts any Michigan Federation of Teachers (MFT) local has negotiated this year, this contract is a significant milestone in the evolution of a stable and effective union. After a seven-year hiatus resulting from the University's unsuccessful legal challenge of GEO's right to exist, the union has come through a period characterized by in- ternal disorganization and lack of con- trol of membership meetings resulting in intensely boring ideological discussions. But GEO has survived that period admirably and developed into an organization able to come back to its membership with a good contract - a contract worth ratifying. The new agreement resulted from pressure placed on the administration on several fronts, the first being GEO's rank-and-file rejection of last year's tentative contract. THAT AGREEMENT was unaccep- table because it contained only a nebulous statement regarding wage in- creases and left TAs.open to losing any wage gain to a tuition increase. The contract would have lasted three years. A mediocre agreement was to be ex- pected, however; the bargaining team was operating in a vacuum without membership support. In the wake of that rejection of a new bargaining team was organized and it was clear that there was an informed and concerned block of teaching assistants backing the new negotiations. Representatives from faculty organizations such as the Graduate Student Assistant Advisory Committee also gave GEO support, arguing for a livable economic package in order to Because one of GEO's most impor- tant functions is to challenge violations of the contract, once the new contract is ratified, the union will be able to attend to these discrepancies. It has been our experience that union presence in a department is usually enough to affect a solution to those problems. From that standpoint, GEO serves as a way for TAs to learn of their contractual rights; and it serves as a channel for complain- ts against the University. With the agreement reached between the University and the union, the negotiation process is at a critical stage.tBallots are now distributed and are to be returned this week. Ratification reiuires the approval of A majority of the total membership - not just the majority of voting members. TAs are strongly encouraged to return their ballots, as a large turnout is essential for acceptance of the con- tract. The future of GEO, let alone its effec- tiveness, depends on continued mem- bership interest and support. Ehrlich is the chief negotiator for GEO. Questions regarding the balloting may be directed to Gene Goldenfeld at 769-6534 or 763-0439. Ballots may be dropped off in the GEO drop box in the LSA building or mailed to GEO, 802 Monroe. attract more of the graduate students for which other top-flight universities compete. The prestigious Dunn Com- mission, constituted by the University administration itself, went even fur- ther, recommending a full tuition waiver for TAs. THE TENTATIVE contract GEO negotiators are bringing before the membership also provides a basis for pursuing economic issues. There are wide disparities between departments in both level and duration of TA fun- ding. There may be up to a $900 dif- ference per term in pay for similar work in different departments. Some; departments give appointments far enough in advance of the fall term to make their TAs eligible for health in- surance over the summer, while others do not. - - ------ ----- LaBan &he fI1tciga n 4 ah1 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCIV-No. 54 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Preventing a real day after 14.WSND FAX TOA HucGE PRoB1M! Auto n~1;wZ 3 WELL. No DOUBT- "7;t W1FFSJUTDN Ate) EMIO IOTAL NW.. -. BUNC1A gu11N 4t . . '' ' 4 O SAY that television is a powerful s and effective medium isn't anything very startling. But the question of just how powerful television can be is only beginning to be answered by the controversy and reaction to a television movie that doesn't air until Nov. 20. It's a credit to the urgency of the topic that the show has raised so much debate and an- ticipation prior to its run. That program is ABC's "The Day Af- ter," a movie exploring the effects of a nuclear war on people in Lawrence, Kansas. Just about everyone who has an opinion on either the nuclear arms race, television programming, or a myriad of related topics has been talking about "The Day After" for months. With all the publicity surroun- ding the film, many experts are predicting an audience that could challenge the final episode of "M*A*S*H" for the largest single television audience ever. Not everyone is so overjoyed by the movie. William F. Buckley, publisher of the conservative National Review, has been ranting about the political nature of the film. Though the producers of the movie say it doesn't take a stand as to who started the war, Buckley argued in a recent column that it does when a radio report in the film says the Soviets responded to American deployment of the Pershing II missiles and that a minor border in- cident in Germany may have triggered the war. But Buckley appears to be more up- set by the unmistakeable anti-nuclear war statement the film makes. "The Day After" ends with the following statement: "It is hoped that the images of this film will inspire the nations of this earth, their peoples and leaders, to find the means to avert the fateful day." And he's upset because anti-nuclear arms groups are preparing to capitalize on the film and television's huge market to push for discussion of the nuclear arms race. And why not? This is television used as it can most constructively be used. All over the nation groups are organizing forums and meetings to discuss nuclear war and "The Day After." ABC will be airing a one hour discussion panel led by Ted Koppel after the film. Groups like Physicians for Social Respon- sibility are planning forums for people to talk about their fears and reactions to the movie. At the University, Students for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) also is arranging a forum. All this to encourage a healthy, con- structive, and necessary dialogue about the most serious threat to our survival - nuclear war. Families are being encouraged to watch the movie together and talk about it afterward. ABC is also distributing 500,000 8-page viewer guides to schools around the country an effort to further the constructive dialogue that will ensue after "The Day After." Such should be the preparation for this most important television program. tWJ TIL SOVIET U(NIOWJ rH 1I *1 ~ VA~V N EPA? FO'a FF cute F Re .. Z WltAuOt At 1 Cl ES ©AL ,PySCfC4 &, QS ltr Y6aQ! -p 4 I7rs CMEAPiR .-~ w *0a LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Protest a trocities instead of m issies 4 To the Daily: I read with interest and ap- proval Bert Hornback's denun- ciation of the emphasis placed on football games at the expense of more relevant issues, ("European protest and American football," Daily, Oc- tober 28). I too have frequently despaired of student indifference toward national and world af- fairs. During these moments it occurs to me that perhaps there is less support or opposition to a certain event than I had an- ticipated. It strikes me as unusual, then, that a man of Prof. Hornback's obvious intelligence should overlook this possibility. Mr. Hornback is apparently assuming a great deal of support for the freeze and anti- Euromissile movements. This support is evidently derived not only from that element of the populace which has provided blind, knee-jerk op- position to every U.S. policy since the late 1960s, but also from the rest of the citizenry of the country .n ~7, nback so emphatically indicates, there is even less opposition to deployment. Even in Ann Arbor (dare I publicize this heresy?) there is little real discord, as manifested in rally turnouts of less than 3 percent, maximum, of the student body. Yet, to conclude, I must con- cur with the professor's condem- nation of student apathy. Instead of attending football games students should be protesting such atrocities as the slaughter of BLOOM COUNTY over 100 elderly and children by the Red Army inAfghanistan. Rather than celebrating their own good fortunes each and every weekend students should be holding vigils for the over 200 , Marines killed by terrorists in Beirut or censuring the loss of Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side of this page represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board. by Berke Breathed hope and freedom in Poland. In- deed, I do not even see Prof. Hor- nback demonstrating against or writing about these horrors. Perhaps he is too busy watching Monday Night Football. -Derek Scissors October 28 4 7 All rV yj I i DAR! WAKE UP, PAL... YO(J'CJ. ENJOY 1M15.. 57EN.. NAV VE YOUHERL ABOUJT ?NOSE NEW CORDUIROY '1 WAKIN6 N H HEADUES. NA!A '/0 OH, I7EW-YA.(4 AROUND WNiTHE1RMISTAKEN CiN5OfR5HIP (5 AN LJC'M~1IN* IN TH(5 COUNTRY. o WHA VIV ' 0 YOU WAN 4 - ~- ° /NE5"? 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