Fellow members,

The first bargaining session of the season happened this Monday afternoon as both union and admin bargaining teams sat down at a table in Worcester Dining Commons to kick-off negotiations. Over 40 rank-and-file GEO members joined us at the bargaining table as we went over our proposals and outlined our vision for a fair contract that can meet the needs of graduate workers at UMass. The Bargaining Committee presented an opening statement that addressed the harsh realities we currently face, such as lack of access to housing, exorbitant cost of living, harassment in the workplace, systemic racism, discriminatory policies preventing some grad students from applying for GEO jobs, and more. We attach our statement to this update. As you’ll see, we outline what you all already know: UMass is directly implicated in manufacturing our problems, and therefore has a moral obligation to negotiate with us over the implications of them. We also took the opportunity to remind UMass that the university only works because we do. Graduate workers are this university, and we need a contract that reflects the extent of the value we produce.

After reading our statement, GEO presented UMass with a package of proposals designed to get support and relief for grad workers as quickly as possible. Borrowing the framework from other public-sector collective bargaining that has been taking place, we proposed extending our contract for one year rather than starting with a full, three-year successor agreement. We made the following key demands:

• 15% wage increases across the board

• $400/month housing stipend to be paid to all graduate workers for 12 months out of the year (as opposed to being confined to the nine months of the academic year)

• Removal of all fees paid by graduate workers, including the rest of the graduate service fee (currently only 50% is waived), the predatory Engineering Fee, and any and all lab or other fees paid by graduate employees to the university

• Increases to the university’s contributions to the Health and Welfare Trust fund that provides us with free dental and vision insurance and our wellness reimbursement

• Even more explicit language regarding inclusion of non-working fellows and trainees in the bargaining unit (already a win in our last round of negotiations, but one that the university has tried to avoid implementing in full)

• Stronger protections against overwork, and more explicit inclusion of RAs in existing workload protections

• Stronger protections from discrimination, sexual harassment, and harassment/bullying more broadly

• Explicit language preventing departments from not hiring terminal masters’ students

• The ability to grieve appointment/reappointment procedures, as well as the ability to grieve inaccurate notices of appointment/reappointment

The administration did not pass any proposals of their own. Instead, they told us they were happy with our contract as it is, and that they wanted to wait to hear from us about what isn’t working in our contract before drafting anything. After several lines of questioning from the union, admin told us they would have written counter proposals in our next session.

The next bargaining session is August 28th, 1-4pm, where we expect to see admin’s responses to our proposals. All members are strongly encouraged to join us at the table to show admin our strength and make sure they actually take our demands seriously! Sign up here to get updates about our plans for the session and stay in the loop of bargaining more generally.

The Bargaining Committee’s next meeting will be tomorrow, Wednesday 8/9 from 10am-12pm. The meeting will take place over Zoom; meeting link is here. These meetings are open for all members in good standing, and a great place to find out how to get more involved.

Can’t make a meeting but want to help out? Email bargaining or any of the members of your elected bargaining team!

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee, bargaining

Danielle Bradley, MFA Candidate for Poets and Writers, danielle

Jessica Antonia Casillas Scott, PhD Student in History, jessica

Andre Kenneth Chase Randall, PhD Student in Computer Sciences, chase

Chris Claypool, PhD Candidate in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, chris

Brenda Quintana, Masters Student in Labor Studies, brenda

Kaleb Karolak, PhD Student in Economics, kkarolak

Shady Lawendy, PhD Student in Economics, shady