Bargaining Session #11 - Summary
~A quiet moment before bargaining began~
Days working without a contract: 62!
What does this mean? When the contract expires, its rules stay in effect so long as we are in negotiations. This means that contract wages will not increase until a new contract is in place. The new contract only applies once the entire contract is agreed upon and members vote to accept it.
Bargaining Session #11 on October 1st was highly productive. 93 GEO members attended, and the two bargaining teams (BTs) worked toward and reached a tentative agreement on three articles:
Appointment Terms
Distribution of Information
Health & Safety
GEO’s BT made substantial revisions to our proposal on these articles in an effort to move toward an agreement and secure a fair contract for grad workers. The Tentative Agreement includes three key wins for GEO:
It clarifies when offer letters are considered late–GEO’s goal is to help more members get paid $100 when they receive a late offer letter.
It states that the University will provide TAs information on the course they’re teaching before the start of the semester, preferably with at least 10 days' notice.
It states that a grad worker can refuse to work in environments that they believe are unsafe if the issue cannot be addressed quickly by the University.
The University Admin, themselves, described the Tentative Agreement as “a package I never thought we would agree to." Admin’s agreement demonstrates GEO’s power when we show up and speak out.
GEO presented two additional package proposals. The first package included Summer Automatic Waivers, Healthcare, and Childcare. GEO’s BT emphasized that healthcare is a question of access for disabled and chronically ill members and parents. One member gave a testimonial describing how their September paycheck could be completely eaten up by taxes, fees, the health insurance premium, the healthcare deductible, and rent and utilities. This would leave them with only $19 per day to spend on food, transportation, and every other expense for the month.
The next package included Nondiscrimination and Miscellaneous Provisions. GEO held firm to our proposals about artificial intelligence (AI) protections, and GEO members gave testimonials demonstrating how AI impacts the work we do as researchers and teachers. One RA described how they spent nearly two days checking and fixing AI-generated hallucinated and incorrect references that their co-advisor had added into a paper they were writing together.
Toward the end of the session, both BTs met in a “Sidebar” (a private, informal discussion that is “off the record”) to discuss how to reach agreement on Appointment Terms, Distribution of Information, and Health & Safety. Afterwards, the GEO presented their revised package on these three articles, which Admin agreed to. At the bargaining table, GEO asked Admin whether they would offer financial support to PGAs and GAs for the taxes they have to pay on tuition waivers, and Admin replied: “we’re going to do a review of the positions in order to highlight the teaching component of those positions” in an effort to provide PGAs and GAs with “tax relief.”