The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
4 — Wednesday, June 22, 2022
LEO-GLAM demonstrates on the Diag to raise support
during ongoing negotiations
The LEO-GLAM union at UMich gathered on the Diag on Thursday to rally support during ongoing contract negotiations
Members
of
the
Galleries,
Librarians, Archivists and Museums
(GLAM) subunit of the Lecturers’
Employee Organization (LEO) at
the University of Michigan staged a
protest on all three U-M campuses on
Thursday afternoon. Approximately
100 LEO-GLAM members gathered
on the Diag to rally support for their
ongoing contract bargaining process
with the University.
LEO-GLAM was first recognized
as an independent bargaining unit
within LEO in August 2021. From
there, they sent questionnaires out
to their membership to understand
what issues to bring to the bargaining
table. They have been in negotiations
with the University for their first
contract since December 2021, during
which there have been 24 formal
bargaining sessions.
SAMANTHA RICH
Summer News Editor
ANN ARBOR
In an interview with The Michigan
Daily, Meredith Kahn, a librarian
on the University’s Ann Arbor
campus, said a driving force behind
the demonstration was not only the
prolonged bargaining period, but
also the University’s inflexibility on
specific proposals.
“We have already reached a
tentative agreement on most of the
contract, and all that’s left on the
table are salary and professional
development,” Kahn said. “Those
are both things that will cost the
University money, so that’s why
they’re still on the table.”
LEO-GLAM
sent
its
initial
salary proposal to the University in
February of this year and did not
receive a response to the proposal
for two months. LEO-GLAM’s most
recent salary proposal asks for a
41.5% salary increase over the first
three years, with 60% of this increase
in the first year.
To date, the University has offered
to raise the minimum salary by
The University of Michigan Board
of Regents met at the Alexander
G. Ruthven Building to discuss the
budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which
includes an increase in tuition and a
$15 minimum wage for all workers
across campuses.
Interim University President Mary
Sue Coleman opened the meeting by
announcing that Regent Jordan Acker
(D) will be succeeded by Regent Paul
Brown (D) as the new chair of the
Board. Acker will continue to serve
on the Board of Regents until his term
ends in 2027.
Regent Sarah Hubbard (R) shared
updates
about
the
Presidential
Search Committee and the process
of selecting the University’s new
president. In February, the University
announced the Presidential Search
Committee, led by regents Sarah
Hubbard and Denise Ilitch, to find
a replacement for former President
Mark Schlissel, who was fired
in January for engaging in an
inappropriate relationship with a
subordinate. The committee, which
solicited feedback from the campus
community through virtual learning
sessions and an online survey,
ANNA FIFELSKI
& IRENA LI
Summer News Editors
Read more at michigandaily.com
UMich Board of Regents approves $15 minimum wage, tuition
increase at June meeting
NEWS
The Board of Regents met Thursday to discuss the 2023 budget, which includes a tuition increase and a $15 minimum wage for all workers
roughly $2,000 to $48,000 with
a 2% increase after the first year
of the contract, a 2.25% increase
in the second year and a 2.5%
increase in the third. They have also
proposed a minimum of $700 per
year per employee for professional
development opportunities, including
attending academic conferences and
pursuing continued education.
In an interview with The Daily,
Sarah McLusky, lead archivist for
reference at the Bentley Historical
Library on the University’s Ann
Arbor campus, said she believes
the lack of initial response on this
issue contributed to the slow pace of
bargaining.
“When it comes to salary, that’s a
proposal that they’ve had for a pretty
long time and just didn’t do anything
with it, at least that we could see,”
McLusky said. “It was returned back
to the union pretty late in the process,
which is part of why we haven’t come
to an agreement about that yet.”
In her speech on the Diag, Zia
Davidian, an assistant librarian on
the University’s Flint campus, said
she believes the University’s salary
offer is unacceptable, particularly for
LEO-GLAM members with financial
and familial obligations.
“I am fortunate to be able to just
make ends meet as a young, healthy,
single, childless adult,” Davidian said.
“I can’t imagine trying to support
a child or a family on this income
— which many of my colleagues
actually do. As faculty at one of the
most
well-respected
institutions
of higher education in the country,
with an endowment of $17 billion, we
deserve better.”
Summer News Editor Samantha
Rich can be reached at sammrich@
umich.edu.
KEITH MELONG/Daily
consists of representatives from
all three campuses and Michigan
Medicine.
“We continue to be on track
to complete the search for a new
president this summer,” Hubbard said.
“We’d like to have an announcement
sometime soon. The interest is very
high. We’re interviewing a diverse
pool of candidates.”
Following
Coleman’s
opening
remarks,
Laurie
K.
McCauley,
University Provost and Executive
Vice President for Academic Affairs,
presented the Fiscal Year 2023
General Fund Budget for the Ann
Arbor campus. The budget outlined
an increase in the minimum wage for
students and temporary workers of
the University to $15 an hour, up from
$9.87 per hour.
“This change will assure that all
employees, including students and
temporary staff, are compensated
in a manner consistent with the
institutional values, regardless of
how many hours they worked at the
University,” McCauley said.
The budget presentation detailed
an increase in tuition for all paying
students. For the 2022-23 school
year, tuition will increase by 3.9%,
amounting to $2,102 per year, for
undergraduate out-of-state students
and will increase by 3.4%, or $558
per year, for in-state students. The
increase in the cost of tuition amounts
to over double that of last year’s, with
tuition increasing by 1.8% from the
2020-2021 to 2021-2022 school year.
Tuition will not increase for in-state
students who receive need-based aid.
The budget also includes support
for community college students in
the humanities who aim to transfer
to the Ann Arbor campus through
the
Bridges
Program,
renews
support for Living Arts Engine
—
an
interdisciplinary
learning
community on North Campus — and
funds increased access to a program
called Mental Health First Aid, which
equips faculty staff and students
with more tools to identify and help
students who may be struggling.
The U-M Biological Station will also
receive infrastructure upgrades.
Regent Denise Illitch (D) was the
only board member to vote against
the proposed budget. Illitch said
continuing tuition increases would
make a U-M education inaccessible to
more students.
JULIANNE YOON/Daily
Daily News Contributor Camryn
Reitzel also contributed to reporting