Our contract with the university administration will expire this
summer. This is our chance to improve the contract for the benefit of
graduate employees, and we are now forming a committee to drive the
bargaining process. This will be done via election, as stated in the
GEO By-Laws. There are 9 positions open, 4 of which are 10-hour paid
assistantships. Bargaining duties will likely stretch from the forming
of the committee through the summer. This is what the By-Laws say
about what Bargaining Committee is and what its responsibilities are:
–Committee consists of 9 members and an unspecified number of
alternate members elected by the membership
–Chief and co-chief will be elected by the bargaining committee members
–Committee members shall serve the duration of the contract
negotiation and are not required to seek re-election provided
negotiations go beyond a year
–If bargaining committee members resign or are recalled, new members
of the committee will be elected by the membership as needed
–All decisions shall be made by consensus and a quorum of 5 is needed
to make decisions
–If no consensus can be reached the question shall be brought to the
membership for final determination
–Bargaining committee is responsible for assessing membership needs
and concerns prior to contract negotiations
–Bargaining committee is responsible for issuing regular written
bargaining updates to the membership during negotiations
–Updates will also be regularly posted to the GEO website

The election for this committee will take place at the next membership
meeting, which will take place Wednesday March 12 at 5:30pm in Campus
Center Room 903.

To nominate yourself for the Bargaining Committee for either the
volunteer or paid seats, please come to the membership meeting and you
will have an opportunity to make a short statement before the election
takes place. If you cannot make it to the meeting, simply send your
statement to your GEO co-chairs, Anna and Eric (anna@geouaw.org and
eric@geouaw.org), and it will be read on your behalf at the meeting.

If you are an international student and are interested in one of the
paid seats, but it would conflict with your current allowable workload
because you already hold a twenty-hour assistantship for the semester,
please nominate yourself anyway. You will be able to begin your paid
bargaining position on June 1.

Bargaining our contract with the university is one of the most
important things that our union does, and we cannot do it successfully
without our members’ involvement. Please consider joining the
Bargaining Committee or volunteering as one of the many alternates. In
any case, your participation as a voting member at our March 12
meeting is important. Please feel free to contact GEO-UAW directly if
you have any questions.
In solidarity,
The GEO-UAW Elections Committee