Fellow workers,
We hope your semester is off to a wonderful start! It has been wonderful to meet so many new graduate student employees in departmental orientations. We’re looking forward to a year of building worker power, solidarity, and community together! Read on for some important announcements and to find out some ways to get involved in the next few weeks.
BARGAINING SESSION TOMORROW: CAMPUS CENTER 804
GEO has been bargaining over our next contract with the university for nearly 11 months. Our next meeting with their negotiating team is tomorrow, September 9, from 10-11:30am in Campus Center 804. GEO practices open bargaining, meaning any and all rank-and-file members in good standing are welcome to attend and participate in the process. Join us at the table! Even if you’ve never been to a bargaining session before, that’s OK! This is a great way to get some insight into the process and find out how we settle on a contract. No participation or special training required–just show up to the GEO office (Campus Center 917) around 9:30 a.m. to prep with the Bargaining Committee, then we’ll walk over to the negotiating room together. There will be a Zoom option available here, though we strongly encourage everyone to join us in the room itself!
Got questions? Want to get involved? Email bargaining!
FIRST GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
GEO’s first membership meeting of the semester will take place on Tuesday, September 13 from 4-6pm. The meeting will be held in Herter Hall, Room 601.Food and refreshments will be served. The members are the highest authority in GEO, meaning this is the space where all of the most important decisions about the direction of the union and our plans for the semester will be made. It’s also a great place to meet new and returning GEO members and learn about ways to get more involved.
A draft agenda for the meeting is attached to this email, along with a document that the Progressive South Asian Students’ Forum has asked GEO to endorse. They will also be coming to the meeting to speak to members, along with organizers supporting the Fair Share Amendment in Massachusetts.
If you’d like to put something on the agenda, write to us at geo!
Note: there will be a zoom component for this meeting. You can register for that here.
We hope to see everyone there!!
ON-CAMPUS PARKING
As GEO members, you receive a discount on parking passes from UMass Parking Services. To access this benefit, you need only bring your GFAF (the contract you signed through SPIRE to secure your assistantship) and your car registration to Parking Services. If you are experiencing difficulty getting parking or encounter long waitlists, you can reach out directly to us and copy Jon King, director of Parking Services, on the email.
Remember: our labor helps run this university and we have a right to park close to our workplace.
FIRST PAYCHECK OF THE SEMESTER
All GEO members on 19-week (semester-length) contracts will receive their first paycheck on September 16, 2022. This paycheck will be for one week of pay only; your next check on 9/30 will be for the full biweekly stipend amount. If you don’t get paid on September 16, reach out to us right away! Our contract has clear language regarding timeliness of pay and you have a right to be paid when you are supposed to get paid!
DELAYED APPOINTMENTS
Additionally, we’ve heard from a number of members (new and returning) about delays in processing appointments by the university. This has led to some delays in benefits like the tuition credit and health insurance cost reduction appearing on members’ SPIRE accounts, and has also held up the process of confirming applications for vision, dental, and the wellness reimbursement being processed through the HWT. (Which, if you haven’t signed up for yet, you should do so here!) If you are experiencing any issues in this regard, let us know right away!
In the meantime…we encourage everyone to get acquainted with GEO! Follow us on Twitter, join our GEO members’ public Slack, and stop by the office to meet your elected leadership and grab a t-shirt–FREE for all GEO members.
In solidarity,
GEO leadership
Sri Lanka_Statementbystudents_StateRepression.pdf
9 13 2022 GEO membership meeting agenda.pdf
