3
NEWS

Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Following intense bargaining, 
GEO contract ratified with U

According to the 
GEO website, the 
contract went into 

effect May 1

By MATT HARMON

Daily Staff Reporter

After months of sit-ins, walk-

out speculations and negotiations 
with the University of Michigan, 
the Graduate Employees’ Orga-
nization officially ratified their 
new contract April 15; according 
to the GEO website, the contract 
will go into effectMay 1 and last 
until 2020. Advances in Diver-
sity, Equity and Inclusion for 
Graduate Student Staff Assistant 
positions and protections for 
international Graduate Student 
Instructors, among other chang-
es were included in the final con-
tract.

A sit-in occured at the Michi-

gan Union April 10. Though GEO 
members had voted to authorize 

a walkout the night prior, the 
event was called off when the 
organization announced a ten-
tative agreement was reached 
between the graduate students 
and the University.

According to former GEO 

president John Ware, about 400 
members attended the first meet-
ing after the contract announce-
ment. They then voted to send 
the contract out to all GEO mem-
bers for electronic ratification. 
GEO members — GSIs or GSSAs 
for the winter 2017 semester — 
received the contract and on 
April 15, 72.9 percent of eligible 
voters participated in the vote 
and 98.6 percent of those voted 
yes for ratification.

According to the GEO web-

site, 27 bargaining sessions for 
the contract resulted in approxi-
mately 130 hours at the bargain-
ing table with the University.

New GEO president Rachel 

Miller, who was voted in on Sun-
day, said the bargaining process 
as a whole resulted in a lot of 
wins for the organization.

“(Bargaining) 
was 
incred-

ibly successful from our point of 
view,” she said. “I think it really 
demonstrated how committed 
graduate student workers are to 
solidarity and to supporting each 
other and it really showed we are 
able to get a really good contract 
when we work together.”

In a statement from the Uni-

versity, Melissa Sortman, the 
lead negotiator for the University 
during the bargaining process, 
said the contract brings in all 
three University campuses and is 
a good compromise for everyone 
involved.

“This is a fair contract that 

recognizes the important con-
tributions that GEO members 
make as part of the community 
of scholars on our three campus-
es,” she said. “We will now work 
closely with University Human 
Resources and the schools and 
colleges to implement the terms.”

Two highlights of the contract 

include the creation of six con-
tractually guaranteed GSSA DEI 
positions and an annual $700 co-

HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

Members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization host a sit-in at the Fleming Administration Building.

pay cap on mental health visits. As 
far as GEO knows, Ware said, these 
contract provisions are the first of 
their kind in the country.

A cap of approximately 20 hours 

per week for international GSIs to 
make sure they don’t violate their 
visas was also included in the con-
tract.

According to the GEO website, 

GEO meetings in the past year 
have resulted in a future focus on 
furthering the strides made in the 
contract pertaining to internation-
al GSIs and DEI initiatives. Miller 
said GEO will use their new con-
tract to push for more protections 
against international discrimina-
tion and more paid positions for 
graduate students doing DEI work.

“This new hours cap is some-

thing that we really have to be 
vigilant about enforcing to make 
sure that international gradu-
ate students aren’t discriminated 
against,” she said. “I think we also 
are very committed to expanding 
the role that graduate students play 
in the implementation and design 
of DEI. The six positions that we 

won are only really the beginning 
of a sort of longer, more-sweeping 
campaign.”

Along with enforcing the hours 

cap, Ware said GEO is going to be 
watching for grievances from grad-
uate students and following up on 
those cases to combat discrimina-
tion.

“We’re going to have a very 

active grievance committee over 
the next year,” he said. “They’re 
going to be working very closely 
with the International Student 
Caucus and they’re going to be very 
vigilant for cases where there may 
be discrimination or unfair shift-
ing of work.”

Miller said another focus of GEO 

will be on the Lecturers Employee 
Organization’s contract bargaining 
discussions next school year. She 
said they will stand by LEO and 
support their efforts.

“LEO … are bargaining a new 

contract this year, so just because 
our contract campaign is over 
doesn’t mean the fight for making 
U of M a more equitable workplace 
ends,” she said.

important, challenging work of 
State of Opportunity for the past five 
years and am incredibly excited to 
join the next class of Knight-Wallace 
Fellows and to focus my energy on 
what’s next,” she said. “We know 
our nation is intensely divided, and I 
believe public media now more than 

ever has a responsibility to cover 
communities in ways that expand 
our understanding of one another. “

A Fellow from Nigeria, Dayo 

Aiyetan, the Executive Director 
of the International Center for 
Investigative Reporting, shared 
on Facebook how excited he is to 
join the program.

“Nothing like waking up to 

such exciting news,” he wrote. 
“Congratulations to all fellows.”

KNIGHT-WALLACE
From Page 1

Following Schlissel’s opening 

remarks, several faculty members 
explained 
their 
research 

projects during the “Lightning 
Talks,” 
a 
series 
of 
seven-

minute 
presentations. 
These 

presentations 
covered 
topics 

ranging from air pollution in the 
city and its correlation to poverty 
levels in the city’s neighborhoods, 
to studies of Detroit’s post-crisis 
housing markets.

William 
Collins, 
Executive 

Director 
of 
the 
Center 
for 

Educational Outreach, discussed 
the breadth of research being 
done at the University, and how it 
contributes to innovation.

“We are a very large University, 

very dynamic in innovation, very 
decentralized University, so it is 

very easy for a lot programs to be 
created, developed and authored, 
but not easy to know about them,” 
Collins said. “So the opportunity 
to learn about the extent of these 
programs and activities, to share 
information 
about 
them, 
to 

collaborate, meet people, these 
are the types of things that are 
valued in events like this.”

Additionally, 
speakers 
also 

emphasized the shared efforts 
between the University’s three 
campuses and the city. This 
theme was furthered by flyers 
which stated “three campuses 
researching and learning in and 
with Detroit.”

Little 
spoke 
about 
the 

unprecedented 
success 
of 

um3detroit in connecting leaders 
who are committed to making 
positive changes in the city.

UM3DETROIT
From Page 1

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

