The Graduate Employees Organization will strike Monday, after membership voted by an 81 percent margin to approve the walk-out.
- Paul Wong
- GEO member Dan Shoup tallies votes last night to determine if graduate student instructors will strike Monday.<br><br>PATRICK JONES/Daily
The results of the election, which were tallied last night, were 462 votes in favor of the one-day strike and 106 against.
“That”s an overwhelming endorsement of the strike package and of the willingness of the membership to go on strike,” Dan Shoup, a Rackham student and member of GEO”s organizing committee said.
“The margin was higher in favor than I thought it would be,” he added.
Shoup said he was happy with the voter turnout in the election. Of the 1,033 GSIs eligible to vote, 55 percent returned their ballots. GEO expects to receive many late votes possibly as many as 100, Shoup said.
Ballots that arrive in the future will not be added to the tally.
GSIs who participate in the strike will not teach classes or enter University buildings Monday, and many will form picket lines in high-traffic campus areas, including Angell Hall, the David Dennison Building, the Modern Langauges Building, the Frieze Building, East Hall and the Life Sciences Institute.
Based on the widespread support for the strike shown in the election, Shoup said it will not be difficult to find the manpower needed for good visibility.
“We will be able to staff our pickets pretty well,” Shoup said.
Standing with GSIs on the picket lines will be about 400 undergraduates, GEO organizer and Rackham student Mark Dilley said.
Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality has pledged to recruit those students, he explained.
SOLE members are also speaking to undergraduate classes to tell them why they should support GEO, upon requests from instructors.
Another strike of indefinite length could be held as soon as March 19. The progress of negotiations between the University and GEO and a new vote by membership will determine whether an extended strike will take place.
Negotiation results center on GEO”s strike package, a list of core issues approved by membership. The package focuses on pay, training, child care and harassment prohibition.