GEO is currently bargaining to rollbank mandatory fees for graduate student employees.  The faculty union, MSP, and the Faculty Research Council have also taken positions against certain University fees.  To view and/or sign onto our joint petition, please go to

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/umassfees/signatures-1.html 

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The last few sessions have seen precious little progress in negotiations between your union and the university. In the absence of any word on a financial package, we have been hesitant to proceed to any agreement on substantive issues at stake, such as healthcare, childcare, parental leave, workload or appointment policies.

Thus far, the university has rejected every single substantial proposal that we have put on the table, with little in the way of suggested alternatives. These summary rejections have given us very little room to work with and have made it very difficult and frustrating to achieve any compromise. The administration’s team has rejected our proposals on fees, appointment and reappointment, healthcare and childcare, while refusing to even negotiate MOU 6, that deals with ensuring diversity among the graduate student body.

(Read the article)

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See Springfield CBS 3’s Coverage here

from CBS 3’s newscast:

Members of UMass Amherst’s Graduate Employee Organization, or GEO, are tired of waiting. Made up of more than 2,500 teaching assistants, teaching associates and research assistants the organization has been bargaining with the university for fourteen weeks, without a contract resolution.

There’s more….

For Complete Coverage, Video, and Links to More Video please see:

http://marchonlombardi.blogspot.com

From the Daily Hampshire Gazette:

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Comments Off on TODAY 10:45 AM From Student Union to LOMBARDI’S LAWN

Checkout our Youtube Video…join us on April 19th Student Union at 10:45 AM

(we are working on embedding this into the site, bear with us, for the moment turn up the volume and watch)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFT7tUtkPww

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The eighth bargaining session between your union and UMass still did not see any word on when we will be offered a financial package. Most of the session was therefore taken up with other issues, especially a drawn-out discussion on departments’ appointment policies.

The session began on a positive note, with the University finally providing us with information we had requested about how many members go above their health-insurance co-pay limits. This will help us to formulate a comprehensive proposal on health insurance soon.
(Read the article)

Comments Off on Bargaining Update #8 4/9/2007