Bargaining Update
November 9, 2010 Leave a comment
On Thursday October 21, GAU leadership held a general membership meeting to give the state of the union and bargaining to our members. The meeting covered some background information on the union but the major focus of what the meeting was about dealt with bargaining.
GAU is currently bargaining our second contract. As employees, our best protection and way to gain quality benefits and pay is through a strong contract. We negotiate a strong contract by showing strong union membership numbers and by putting pressure on the administration through collective action.
The leadership team and the bargaining committee conducted surveys of the teaching, research, and administrative assistants we represent. We also examined contracts of other graduate assistant unions across the state, in neighboring states, and across the country to try and see the best ways we could make our contract stronger. Finally, using the member surveys as a guide, we began going through our own contract to identify problems and find solutions.
We found several issues that affected graduate assistants which we made a priority to fix:
- Rising fees
Every time the fees rise, we are TAKING A PAY CUT. - Inadequate stipend
Our stipends do not provide a living wage that allows graduate assistants to pay bills; many assistants graduate from SIUC with enormous loan debt. - Inadequate health coverage
$1000 deductible; no partner or family benefit; no prescription coverage; no vision; no dental - Assistantship length is too short
Assistants want guaranteed funding for their length of stay at SIUC; Master’s candidates should have funding for TWO YEARS and doctoral candidates should have funding for FOUR YEARS when you START. - Earlier notification of having an assistantship
Many assistants spend months waiting on notification of whether or not they have funding. - Earlier notification of actual assistantship assignment
Not only are assistants waiting longer and longer to find out if they have funding, they are also waiting to find out what they are being doing; this leads to trying to prepare a week before the semester begins. - Clarification of what “work” means
Many assistants were being asked to do jobs and duties outside of their job descriptions; assistants should not be asked to pick up dry cleaning, get faculty or staff coffee, mow lawns, or other tasks; research assistants should not be asked to help faculty prepare a class; teaching assistants should not be asked to perform administrative tasks in department offices. - Clarification on when assistants are allowed to take holidays, vacations, and paid leave
Assistants wanted to know if the student calendar – and student breaks – applied to them.
Taking these issues as guides, GAU presented the administration with a list of issues we planned to bargain in our first meeting on April 8. You can read that document here.
Since then, we have managed to fix and clarify several issues but we still have UNFINISHED BUSINESS!
The administration presented an offer to us on Wednesday October 20th. You can read the contract offer in its entirety here. This is what the administration wants us to have:
Article 3 Definitions:
Added a new definition of supervisor – The term “supervisor” shall mean the individual designated by a Department Chair/Unit Director with the authority to direct, assign, and evaluate the non-student work of the Assistant, e.g. Fiscal Officer, Principal Investigator, Faculty member who is instructor of record, Director of Graduate Studies, etc.
This new language clears up some of the problems graduate assistants have been having when they ask who to report to.
Article 5 Appointment Terms:
Change to section 5.3 Term of Appointment - The term of any appointment and assignment shall be at the sole discretion of the employing unit. An assistant’s appointment shall be for a specific period, generally not less than one academic semester but may be for a special limited purpose as approved by the Graduate School of shorter duration provided that the FTE appointment shall be at least .25 FTE and no more than .75 FTE. The Board, at its sole discretion, may elect to permit an Assistant to hold a 1.0 FTE assignment for a limited period of time during intersession periods.
This language REMOVES the language that restricts the length of an appointment to one year, opening up the possibility of multi-year appointments. However, this removal is not strong enough. We need language that guarantees funding to graduate assistants for their length of time at SIUC.
Change to section 5.5.1 Minimum Credit Hours:
Only degree-seeking students are eligible to hold an assistantship. During fall or spring semester, an assistant must be enrolled as a student for at least eight (8) graduate level credit hours and be in good academic standing in a graduate program at SIUC, and meet all other applicable requirements. Doctoral students who have achieved candidacy and master’s students in their last semester shall only be required to register for six (6) graduate level credit hours. For summer assistantships, a TA, RA, or GA must be enrolled as a student for at least three (3) graduate level credit hours. Assistants with fiscal year appointments must be enrolled for three (3) graduate level credit hours in either the preceding or trailing summer semester. Exceptions to this subsection may be granted upon recommendation of the department’s Director of Graduate Studies and confirmed by the Associate Dean and Director of the Graduate School.
This new language highlights that students can obtain an exception to the 8-credit hour rule. However, we asked to bargain the 8-hour rule down to 6 hours.
Change to section 5.8 Notice of Appointment:
A newly appointed or re-appointed TA, RA, or GA shall receive a copy of his/her Notice of Appointment which specifies the appointment title, stipend amount, effective dates (duration) of service, and the full-time equivalency (FTE) of the appointment and, if known the general hours of work and specific work assignment. The signed and completed Notice of Appointment shall be issued as early as practicable. Specific work assignments may be changed at the discretion of the department or program with notice to the assistant.
For teaching assistants who are instructors of record for a course, the Department shall provide a tentative workload assignment by July 1 (for fall semester classes) or December 1 (for spring semester classes), provided however that the Department may, in its sole discretion, thereafter amend the tentative workload assignment if the departmental needs or funding require it.
This language does give earlier notification of specific assignment to teaching assistants who are instructors of record for classes but has no provision for anyone else. You can still receive notification of an assignment the week before – or even the week of – classes begin.
Article 10 Hours of Work:
Change to Section 10.1 Expectations – Assistants’ hours of work are reflected in their percentage of appointment. Such hours of work are separate and distinct from the time required for an assistant’s own academic coursework and research. When an assistant’s work assignment involves teaching or research that the assistant must perform to fulfill her or his academic requirements, then the direct supervisor shall provide clear guidelines for paid work hours consistent with the paid duties as outlined in Section 2.2 [Teaching], or Section 2.3 [Administrative], or Section 2.4 [Research]. It is understood that assistants in this bargaining unit are engaged in professional activities of such a nature that the output produced, or the result accomplished, cannot be precisely standardized or measured in relation to a given period of time, and that the time necessary to accomplish an assignment may vary.
This adds language to further link the duties of an assistant to what they should be doing under the contract!
Article 12 Employee Rights:
Change to section 12.3 Instructional Materials - Any instructional materials, including grade books, required by the University for a course taught or materials for any other job performed by the assistant will be provided at no cost to the assistant. Further, the Board shall provide access to software that the Assistant is required to use as part of his/her assistantship at no cost to the Assistant.
No assistant should be required to by software with their own money so that they can complete their assigned work.
THIS IS WHAT THE UNIVERSITY DOES NOT WANT YOU TO HAVE:
NO CHANGE to section 5.4 Re-Employment Notification. The university does not want to give earlier notification of assignment and wants graduate assistants to wait later and later in the year to know if they will have an assistantship.
NO CHANGE to section 13.1 Stipends. The university does not want to give you a raise for TWO YEARS.
NO CHANGE to section 13.2.1 Student Medical Benefit Primary Care. The university does not want to further reduce the fees you pay for medical coverage.
NO CHANGE to section 13.2.2. There will be no change at all to the coverage you get. The $1000 deductible, lack of family benefits, no prescription coverage, and no vision/dental will stay in place.
NO CHANGE to section 15.1 Paid Leaves and Holidays. The administration’s bargaining team told us that for teaching and research assistants on an academic (9-month) appointment generally follow the student calendar and would have all student breaks off. Assistants on fiscal appointments (12-month) usually follow the staff calendar. However, they do not want to put this in writing. They do not want the practice to go into the contract so they can change it without notice if they want to.
NO CHANGE to the university fees you pay. Not only does the university not want to pay us a living wage, they want to continue to TAKE MONEY out of OUR POCKETS through the rising fees.
NOTHING in the contract about ADMINISTRATIVE CLOSURES. While the university has promised not to force the closures on graduate assistants, why are they not including this in the contract? Why are they not guaranteeing their word in writing?
GAU has to submit a counter proposal to the administration soon and we need your help:
- Volunteer to help GAU spread the word (contact Jim Podesva – jpodesva@siu.edu)
- Tell a friend
- Volunteer to assist the bargaining team in writing a proposal the benefits graduate assistants (contact Jim Podesva – jpodesva@siu.edu)
- Come to GAU meetings and events
- BECOME A MEMBER (membership forms available here)
