After 15 hours of bargaining, negotiators from the Graduate Employees’ Organization and the University reached an agreement on a new contract for graduate student instructors early this morning. The tentative contract resolved two of the most contentious issues between the two parties and averted an open-ended strike that was tentatively scheduled to begin Monday.
The agreement, which still needs to be voted on and approved by GEO sometime in the next few days, includes increases in salary and health care coverage. It comes more than a week after GEO’s GSIs and their supporters staged a one-day walkout.
Under the contract, GSIs will now receive annual salary increases “equal to the average salary increase for faculty in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts,” University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said.
The agreement, which runs through March 1, 2008, guarantees a minimum increase over the next three years of 2.5 percent and 3 percent the last two years.
Originally, GEO asked for increases of 5 percent for the first year and 3 percent for the next two years, while the University wanted a four-year contract with an increase of 2 percent for the first year and 2.5 percent for the following three.
The two parties also agreed on substantial salary increases for low-fraction GSIs, or GSIs who work less than part-time.
When it comes to benefits, the University says it will pay half the health insurance premiums for GSI who work less than 10 hours a week. This is a net increase in compensation over the University’s previous payment plan, Peterson said.
The University initially offered to pay full health care premiums as long as GEO acquiesced to a four-year contract. The duration of the contract is now three years. In a previous interview, GEO President Dave Dobbie said tying together the issue of premiums and contract length was unfair.
The other agreements in the new contract include extended no-cost dental coverage, as well as life insurance plans and summer health benefits for GSIs employed in the winter and fall terms. Many of these stipulations had been agreed upon prior to last night.
In accordance with another of GEO’s demands, the University included a written commitment to “defend vigorously against any legal challenges to benefits for the same-sex domestic partners of (its) employees,” Peterson said.
Along with the new categories of protection regarding gender identity and gender expression that will be added to the anti-discrimination clause of GEO’s contract, the University also agreed to return to the bargaining table if Michigan courts rule that same-sex partner benefit plans similar to the University’s are unconstitutional under Proposal 2.
Since last Thursday’s walkout, the University accepted GEO’s proposal for instituting an English-language pre-test to more accurately assess international GSIs’ communication abilities.