GEO members,
On Thursday, February 3, GEO’s Bargaining Committee met once again with University representatives for contract negotiations. During this session we finally received management’s written responses to our proposals. We didn’t have high hopes for this—not after the university’s chief negotiator Michael Eagen called us “privileged” and “outrageous” for trying to end hunger among grad workers. But it turns out his personal scorn was just a glimpse into what UMass admin thinks of us as researchers and workers.
Frankly, the response to our proposal package was nothing short of insulting. Management rejected most of what we put forward without comment. They’re completely uninterested in talking about many of our major proposals including: food security provisions, visa reimbursements, flexible remote work or even modern lactation spaces to name a few. They don’t want to discuss increased protections from overwork, discrimination, and harassment in the workplace; in fact, they’ve indicated their priority is scaling back our existing protections to decrease their own liability when graduate workers are mistreated and our contract is violated. The admin’s bottom line is clearly making our lives harder and less safe—and lining their own pockets even more.
The administration’s economic counters were particularly egregious. They didn’t speak at all to our proposal to abolish fees for graduate student employees—a practice that sometimes forces GEO members to give back an entire paycheck, if not more, to the university each semester. And they offered us a paltry 6% raise for the life of the contract—which is already two years expired. This is not even enough to keep up with inflation, which reached 7% last year alone. In effect, UMASS WANTS US TO TAKE A PAY CUT. And to add insult to injury they don’t even want to give us retroactive raises once the contract is ratified, just issue lump sum payments to people who still have assistantships (not even everyone currently in the bargaining unit). That is the extent to which they are willing to address the very immediate needs of graduate students who have broken their backs over the last two years to keep the university afloat during the pandemic.
But they did not stop there! They verbally noted that they do not intend to increase contributions to the Health and Welfare trust, as they always have, and are willfully forcing the fund that administers our vision, dental, wellness and childcare benefits to run at a deficit. This will have quickly cascading consequences on us all.
BUT THEY DID NOT STOP THERE! They also proposed significant cuts to how we use our FMLA benefits, a restricting of our paid time off, the weakening of our grievance procedure and even restrictions on how we secure our funding. This is indicative of what the administration’s bargaining team thinks of graduate workers on campus and how they envision repaying us for all we bring to the university.
GEO members are hungry, rent-burdened, and struggling to survive. We pay back half our wages to our bosses as fees; most of which go to pay their debts or even benefit graduate students. The cost of living in the area has soared. Our working conditions are less safe than ever before, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and UMass’s seeming inability to keep its buildings from falling apart or seeping sewage into offices. Childcare is scarce, and barely affordable where we can find it. And yet we continue to go to work. We continue to teach and research with almost no support from the university. We continue to do the labor that makes UMass a world-class institution. And when we have the audacity to ask for a little dignity, UMass calls us privileged and acts like we’re being unreasonable.
The university team has indicated they want to finish negotiating this contract as fast as possible. We think that’s unreasonable unless they start working with us and taking the needs of GEO members seriously. To settle this contract we’re going to have to do much more than just cut costs and reduce “administrative burdens.” We need to address the real burdens graduate workers face. We need to combat poverty, hunger, homelessness, racism, and sexism. We need to take a strong stand against exploitation and oppression. We need a fair contract—and we needed it yesterday!
Most importantly, we need you! More and more GEO members are getting involved in the bargaining process and are willing to fight for what we know we deserve. But, we need each and every one of you on board to ensure that we crush these concessions and achieve contract wins that reflect the dignity we deserve.
If you would like to get involved in bargaining, reach out to the stewards in your department and talk to them about your key priorities. You can also always reach out to the bargaining committee (at bargaining)—there is space for all members to contribute to the fight even if you don’t have significant free time.
United we Bargain, Divided we Beg!
