The Bargaining Committee has great news for you: we have reached a tentative agreement on our GEO contract and we recommend that the membership vote to ratify it! We thank you all for your support, solidarity and dedication in this year-long struggle for improved working and living conditions. While not a comprehensive list of our contract wins, what follows is a brief breakdown of what this successor contract means for GEO members.
–A freeze of any increases to the graduate service fee for the life of the contract (2017-2020). This is especially good news because the University had planned fee increases for next academic year.
–Wage increases of $1.00 to the GEO minimum (currently at $25.23/hr) each year for the life of the contract for those paid at or within a dollar above the minimum. On top of that, all GEO members will also receive a wage increase of 7.5% over the life of the contract. This equates to an average raise of $3000 for those on a 20-hour two semester contract. Wage increases are retroactive to September 2017.
–Family health insurance and health fee waivers increase from 90% to 95%.
–Decrease in healthcare costs: lower prescription drug prices and lower medical procedure costs. Out of pocket maximums reduced by $200 for individuals and $2,000 for families.
–Mechanism to include non-working fellows in the GEO bargaining unit on a rolling basis before, and no later than, Fall 2019.
–Extension of benefits and protections to non-working fellows under grants which otherwise restrict them from the bargaining unit.
–Unused vacation time will be paid out to graduate workers at the end of their contract.
–Increase in paid family and medical leave from 60 hours to 100 hours per year. All FMLA qualifying events will now be paid in addition to the parental leave that we won in 2015.
–UMass will increase its current contribution for childcare reimbursements from $15,000 to $115,000 per year alongside general increases to the university’s contribution to our Health and Welfare Trust Fund.
–Significant improvements to our non-discrimination article, including institutional protections in the form of specialized legal aid, paid for by the University, and employment-seeking support for international students.
–GEO will now have five full time staff positions paid for by the University, instead of four.
–Stronger anti-harassment protections.
–Guaranteed access to all-gender bathrooms for all graduate student workers, not just the TAs and TOs that we won in 2015.
In Solidarity,
The GEO Bargaining Committee
For a comprehensive list of changes go to https://www.geouaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Comprehensive-Contract-Changes-2017-2020.pdf