ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Graduate Employees Organization represents 4,000 members at the University of Michigan. And most of them are excited about the new three-year contract, which is expected to be ratified this Friday with overwhelming support.
"This is a historic win for us, especially since the University kept calling us part-time workers," said Garima Singh, GEO bargaining team member and Ph.D. Student at U of M.
Singh says today's tentative agreement between the union and the University came after nine months of bargaining and six weeks of picketing.
"We were able to achieve around 80% of raise for some sections of our membership," said Garima.
Here is the breakdown:
- Annual salary increases of 8% in 2023, 6% in 2024, and 6% in 2025 for Ann Arbor campus employees (20% over three years).
- Annual salary increases of 3.5% for Dearborn campus employees (10.5% over three years).
- Annual salary increases of about 9% for Flint campus employees to align its minimum stipend to that of UM-Dearborn at the end of the contract term.
Other benefits include:
- A $1,000 bonus to employees on all campuses.
- Up to 12 weeks of paid leave for employees who are birthing parents.
- Expanded gender-affirming benefits.
- The creation of a three-year pilot program, providing up to one semester of funding for an employee to transition out of an unhealthy working relationship, including an abusive, discriminatory, and/or harassing relationship. The pilot program does not require the employee to report the situation to U-M’s Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office, a sticking point that union leaders have continually identified as a priority in bargaining.
- The creation of a $20,000 per year International Graduate Workers Assistance Fund.
- New requirements for academic units to publish GSI class-size policies.
- The creation of a dedicated GSI/GSSA employment website.
But the union was not able to get certain things. University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald says equal pay across all three campuses is hard to achieve.
"We have to look at it for the long term. You know Flint and Dearborn, they have been losing students at a rapid rate, and we've been trying to turn them around. So our focus is to make them sustainable," said Fitzgerald.
For Singh, open bargaining was another big win.
"We fought for two months to make our bargaining open. So we put a Zoom option for those who were not in Ann Arbor or who were immune compromised, and then we had three sessions open to the public. We wanted to make this process as democratic as possible," said Singh.
But Fitzgerald believes open bargaining only complicated things.
"These contract talks took a long time, and we finally got there, we got there ahead of the start of the fall term, and that's the most important thing right now," said Fitzgerald.
With the tentative agreement signed, all GEO members have time till midnight Thursday to place their final vote.
"It's a union we have been negotiating for 50 years, and this was clearly one of the tougher ones," said Fitzgerald.
The new contract is expected to be ratified this Friday and kick in from next Monday. But Rick also says just in case if things don't go as planned, the University has a back plan, and classes at all three campuses will start as per schedule.
