Fellow Workers,

GEO’s bargaining committee met with the university yesterday to continue negotiating our next contract. We reached tentative agreements on several proposals, including some big wins for GEO.

We agreed to language that guarantees access to pregnancy-related accommodations, including lactation spaces, for graduate workers on-campus. The new language commits the university to providing lactation spaces, as well as break time for graduate students needing to express milk. We won a commitment to improving and standardizing existing lactation spaces, and the university has agreed to work with the union to increase transparency so graduate workers (and other student and staff parents) who need these accommodations know where to find them and how to access them. This is a huge win, the result of many years of organizing and advocacy by graduate student parents in GEO, and another instance of GEO taking the lead on a campus-wide issue. It’s a key step toward making UMass safer and more accessible for the entire UMass community. And we intend to make sure the university delivers on its promises in the months and years to come.

The university also agreed to create another full-time (20h/week) GEO officer position, paid for by the Provost’s Office. This is another victory for GEO. It increases our capacity for organizing, mobilizing, and enforcing our contract considerably. The position will allow more GEO members to get involved in leadership and to take ownership of the day-to-day functioning of the union. What this new officer does (and who is elected to the role) is something the rank-and-file of GEO will determine democratically after our contract is ratified.

We also continued our discussion of economics at the table. GEO passed a new comprehensive economic package, in response to the unacceptable university proposals on the table. We asked for a 10.5% raise—3.5% per year of the contract (2020-2023)—along with full retroactive pay for all graduate student employees who worked during that time. We also asked for increased contributions to the Health and Welfare Trust, through which we receive our free dental and vision coverage, as well as the wellness reimbursement. We want to keep the trust solvent, whereas the university has indicated they would allow it to operate at a deficit. Finally, we reaffirmed our proposal to remove fees for graduate student employees.

The university’s team seemed tired today, and asked only a few questions about the substance of our economic proposals. However, we expect that next time they will come prepared, and that the gloves will come off. We anticipate that they’ll try to paint us as “unreasonable” and “privileged” like they have throughout this cycle of bargaining. But what’s really “unreasonable” in what we’re asking for? We deserve the same basic dignity that administrators are able to take for granted. We’re not asking for six-figure salaries (which most of the admin at the table make). All we want is to be able to live in the Pioneer Valley without starving or taking on mountains of student debt. And in response, the UMass bargaining team—representatives of a university that made more than 100 million dollars during the pandemic—has proposed that we take a functional pay cut because they’re “not authorized” to give us anything more.

It’s clear that the movement we’re making at the table is all thanks to the collective actions GEO has taken recently to show the university we’re serious about a fair contract for ALL graduate workers. If we want to keep up this momentum, we have to keep the pressure on! Our next bargaining session with the university is Tuesday, May 24 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in Campus Center 163C (note the room change). We want to bring as many GEO members as possible to the table so the university is directly accountable to the workers whose livelihoods are on the line in these negotiations. If you’re in the area, join us at the table!

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

• JOIN US AT THE TABLE: Come to bargaining on Tuesday, 5/24 from 10-12! Join us in the GEO office (campus center 917) at 9:30; we’ll all head downstairs together.

• JOIN THE COMMITTEE: The Bargaining Committee has weekly working meetings over Zoom. These meetings are open to all GEO members and we encourage everyone to attend. Write to bargaining for the zoom link or for more information about how you can get involved.

In Solidarity,

GEO Bargaining Committee