“One-two-three-four we won’t take it anymore; five-six-seven-eight sit down and negotiate,” the University of Michigan Graduate Employees’ Organization chanted outside of the Michigan Union Tuesday afternoon.
Inside the Union, U-M President Santa Ono, along with Tabbye M. Chavous, the University’s vice provost for equity & inclusion and chief diversity officer, hosted an information session about the University’s initial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion five-year Strategic Plan, DEI 1.0.
At the rally, GEO handed out flyers detailing their goals and demands. According to the flyers, the organization is calling for an increase in wage for graduate employees from $24,500 to $38,500 and the implementation of a $20-per-hour minimum wage for School of Social Work students in their required field placements.
Amir Fleischmann, Rackham student and chair of the Contracts Committee for GEO, told attendees the demonstration was held outside the DEI event because the organization feels DEI is an important topic in their current contract negotiations with the University.
“We’re out here demonstrating in front of Santa Ono’s DEI talk, because right now the University is refusing to negotiate with (graduate) students over issues that are really all about DEI,” Fleischmann said.
Rackham student Garima Singh is on the GEO bargaining team and serves as the co-chair of the feminist caucus. Singh said the demonstration aimed to draw attention to GEO’s current negotiations with the University.
“We are trying to create as much noise around this cause so that (the University) agrees to come to the table and bargain with us,” Singh said.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, University Spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen said the University has been actively working to negotiate with GEO.
“University negotiators have been actively engaged with GEO throughout the bargaining process, as documented in updates from Academic Human Resources,” Broekhuizen wrote. “In fact, it was the University that requested a state-appointed mediator to work with both negotiating teams on current areas of disagreement. Claims that the University is refusing to negotiate are simply false.”
Kathleen Brown, Rackham student and solidarity and political action chair for GEO, also said the informational rally aimed to draw attention to some of the proposals GEO is making in their negotiations.
“(This event is) to draw awareness and bring information to people about what’s happening at the bargaining table,” Brown said. “We graduates are negotiating our union contract, and we have some really important and exciting proposals that we’d like to talk about with the University.”
According to Fleischmann, GEO wants to make being a U-M graduate student more equitable and accessible.
“We’re fighting for a living wage for all (graduate) students,” Fleischmann said. “We’re fighting for a transitional funding program for graduate students who’ve been harassed. We’re fighting for better access to trans health care. We’re fighting for rights for parents, and for international students, and on and on. So if the University is serious about its DEI commitment, it needs to come to the table and negotiate a fair contract for grad students.”
Singh said it is important for GEO to negotiate benefits not just for union members, but for the whole campus community.
“When we get a fair contract, the University sort of implements that same contract for people who are not (graduate student instructors),” Singh said. “So the health care that we get implemented helps other people, other sections on the campus get similar healthcare. So one union’s victory helps other unions to get similar victories.”
In addition to increased pay, Brown said GEO advocates for many other services and changes aiming to support graduate students at the University.
“We want to see improved transgender health care, not just for our members, but for anyone who accesses gender-affirming services at Michigan Medicine,” Brown said. “We want to reduce childcare costs for parents to help people with children afford (graduate) school. And then finally, probably the most important one is funding a non-police emergency response (team) that can go in when people are in crisis to reduce the risk of police violence.”
Brown said GEO wants to ensure that people who want to go to graduate school can do so and still afford to live.
“We only get paid around $24,000 a year, and that just isn’t enough to survive on,” Brown said. “It means that people have to either go into debt to pursue graduate school or they rely on family money, family contributions, which skews the population of (the University). Basically, people can’t afford to pursue graduate school, and we want to change that.”
In her email to The Daily, Broekhuizen wrote that some of the allegations made at the rally about compensation paid to graduate student employees were misleading.
“While it is true that our graduate union employees earn $24,050 annually under their current contract, this amount is for roughly eight months of part-time work,” Broekhuizen wrote. “Most GSIs work 16-20 hours per week for the two, four-month semesters. This is equivalent to a wage of roughly $35 per hour.”
Broekhuizen also noted that, in addition to their compensation, graduate student employees receive health insurance and tuition waivers up to $12,947 per semester for in-state students and $26,062 for out-of-state students.
Broekhuizen wrote that the University looks forward to continuing their bargaining process with GEO.
“The University looks forward to working with GEO leaders through efficient and constructive bargaining sessions in the weeks and months to come,” Broekhuizen wrote.
Update 1/11: This article has been updated to include a statement from University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen about the ongoing negotiations between the University and GEO.
Daily News Reporter Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.