The University of Michigan’s Graduate Employees’ Organization held a vote Monday evening on whether or not to authorize their bargaining team to agree to the University’s “last, best and final” contract offer, which was proposed to GEO over the weekend. According to a GEO press release shared with The Michigan Daily Tuesday morning, GEO voted to authorize the contract, which, if accepted, would end almost five months of striking. GEO will formally vote on the contract later this week.
GEO started striking on March 27 and has previously rejected five U-M contract offers. In their bargaining platform, GEO called for expanded health care for graduate student employees, including gender-affirming care as well as pay parity for those working at all three U-M campuses. The University’s latest offer made some concessions in these areas, though in discussions last night, some graduate students were unsure if the University’s final offer sufficiently met their demands.
In the press release, GEO President Jared Eno said the University’s willingness to include some of GEO’s demands in their final contract offer is a result of the strike and GEO’s continued advocacy for the past several months.
“Members’ decision to authorize the bargaining team to reach a tentative agreement reflects the major gains we’ve won in this campaign,” Eno said.
With classes starting Monday at the University, both GEO and the University have been meeting throughout August to come to an agreement and find a way to end the strike as quickly as possible. Graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants lead some undergraduate classes and provide administrative support throughout campus. In the winter semester, the strike led to some grade delays for undergraduate students and earlier this month the University communicated that graduate students who continued to strike into the fall semester would be subject to replacement for the semester.
University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald wrote in an email to The Daily that the University is pleased to hear GEO is moving toward ratification of a contract and looks forward to a smooth start to the academic year.
“We are extremely pleased that GEO members have voted to sign a tentative contract agreement with the University and move this matter forward for ratification,” Fitzgerald wrote. “We look forward to learning the outcome of the contract ratification vote later this week and a smooth start to the academic year next week.”
The contract cannot be officially adopted until GEO votes to ratify it. The ratification process for the contract is already underway and will continue through midnight on Thursday.
The Michigan Daily News Staff can be reached at news@michigandaily.com.