Bargaining Session #2 is over and turn out was great! Over 3 dozen of you attended, and considering it was the last day of finals week, that’s more than we could ever hope for! On our side of things, your GAU time presented a pile of Articles to the University: Articles 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 18, and Appendix A. What these articles amounted to was GA RIGHTS. From everything from being notified that you’re entitled to an evaluation of your job performance every year, to what supplies need to come standard in your offices, this week was all about securing the things YOU deserve as the backbone of this University to do your job well.
On the University’s side, they have not responded to our Articles 8 and 19, on Harassment and Discipline respectively. However, they DID offer a counter on Article 6, Workload. The University struck much of our job definitions language amongst other things, but they did agree with us that workload audits should be allowed to be conducted at ANY point in the semester. AKA, if after week 2 of classes you’re already working more hours per week than you should be, we can get in there and get that fixed for you.
Of course, there’s much work to be done rewriting Article 6 and countering their initial offer. That brings us to…
Bargaining Committee
If you’re interested in rolling your sleeves up and helping out with bargaining, you’re in luck! Bargaining committee is meeting TODAY, April 26th, 3-5PM. Besides the obvious task of working on writing fresh legalese to give back to the University, some jobs we’re looking to fill include:
Copywriter Social Media Manager Chart Maker Researcher Impact Statements
Finally, one of the biggest ways you can help is to send me your impact statements. This week, we are looking for stories specifically concerning:
Office Woes: Don’t have a dedicated desk and chair in your office to call your own and instead have to “hot desk” with other office mates? Unable to schedule your office hours without a battle royale every semester because there’s so many of you in your office? Problems with ethernet access, shoddy WiFi, or a dearth of outlets? Unable to bring food and drink into your office, even when you’re expected to be there long hours?
Harassment, Discrimination, or Abuse: We are still looking for stories dealing with this as we try to convince the University that their current systems do not protect their GAs. We know what a difficult subject this is and want to reassure you that your anonymity on this will be maintained, if you want it to be.
Evaluations: Do you receive a yearly evaluation on your role as a GA (NOT your grad STUDENT progress, but your WORK performance)? Did you know your department is REQUIRED to evaluate you once a year as a worker, and then have you sign that evaluation and put it in your Graduate Assistant File? Were you entirely unaware you even HAD a Graduate Assistant file, because your department never does ANY of this? Yeah, please: tell us about this. The University is unconvinced we need to implement a procedure to make sure ALL GAs are aware of their right to a yearly evaluation… are they right? Or is all of this news to you? If it is: email us!
Zoom link for Bargaining Committee meeting is below, as well as some upcoming events! Look out for the next bargaining email about when Session #3 will be!
In Solidarity, Vincenza Antonetta Berardo Chief Negotiator, UFF-FSU-GAU