Bargaining Session #3 - Summary
Amid finals week and the transition from spring to summer…
We packed the room AGAIN!
On May 12th, 116 GEO members showed up, and many actively participated in the in-person and online Slack caucus!
What happened at the session?
The GEO Bargaining Team (BT) brought a ground rules counter proposal that the university administration agreed to.
Then, the administration asked more questions about GEO’s proposal, which our BT answered in good faith, advocating for Financial Wellbeing, Protections, and Respect for our graduate workers.
Finally, University administration presented a partial non-economic proposal. Members were dismayed that the counterproposal was worse than the status quo, did not cover all non-economic articles, and ignored the vast majority of our initial proposal. The proposal even rolled back McKinley access for dependents.
ℹ️ The status quo is the current contract, which expires in August, 2026.
In response to the university’s proposal, GEO’s BT asked about important issues:
Protections for International Workers: The university’s proposal did not address protections from immigration enforcement for international workers. The GEO BT asked whether the university would engage with proposals that protect international workers and, more specifically, asked whether the university would comply with administrative warrants provided by ICE (which are not legally binding). The university’s negotiator refused to commit to not accepting administrative warrants, and said they did not want to put these protections in the contract.
Summer Funding: The university administration’s lead negotiator undermined our summer funding proposal by claiming it is a permissive subject, even though paying rent over the summer is an essential issue for our members. The GEO BT reminded the university that assistants exist, have bills to pay, and often work year-round, and we are bargaining for the financial wellbeing and dignity of our members.
ℹ️ Permissive subjects are topics which both sides can discuss but neither side is required to do so.
When will the university provide a full proposal?
Toward the end of the session, GEO’s lead negotiators expressed how frustrated membership was about the university’s proposal but kept their cool. Even though the administration said they want to come to an agreement before the current contract expires, they refused to meet until over a month after session #3. When the GEO team asked when we might receive a full response, the administration said they may bring more non-economic proposals at the next session in June and they “might” have an economic proposal in July.
“It was the sexism for me,” GEO member Kit Carter said in response to the session.
“The administration’s lead negotiator specifically talked over female-presenting members of the bargaining team, being condescending and dismissive. Women in academia in particular deal with this. To have this thrown in my face when I’m doing the University’s job for them, when I spent all weekend answering student emails about Canvas, was so frustrating.”
What’s next?
Bargaining Session #4 is scheduled for Thursday, June 18th (time and location TBD).
Show up to the next session to show the university that grad workers need dignity now, not in however many months it takes for admin to project the cost of our proposal.
The Slack #caucus chat popped off AGAIN this session! 🎉 Let’s keep up the energy!
Email GEO@uigeo.org to join the GEO Slack.
