Tuesday, April 14 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center room 162-175 This panel will feature: *Acting Director of the UMass-Amherst Labor Center Stephanie Luce *UAW Local 2322 President Ron Patenaude *Western Mass Jobs with Justice President Jon Weissman *and other labor activists and organizers. The panel will discuss recent labor history in relation to neoliberal restructuring, connect labor organizing to the current economic crisis … Continue reading
Upon ratification, the contract will be in effect from August 30, 2009 to August 31, 2012. The contract will cover all UMass graduate students who are employed as Teaching Associates (TO), Teaching Assistants (TA), Research Assistants (RA), Project Assistants (PA), Assistant Residence Directors (ARD), and Graduate Interns.
None of the following changes [ratification-announcement summary] take effect until the contract is ratified by a majority of GEO-eligible employees casting valid votes. Voting will occur at two special meetings described below. To help inform you about the proposed contract and prepare you to vote we have included a detailed list of the proposed contract changes that will affect graduate student employees, listed by article. Also there will be two informational meetings held prior to ratification (see below for details).
VOTING INFORMATION:
Voting begins on Tuesday, March 31st, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and continues on Wednesday, April 1st, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., both in Campus Center Rm 177. Voting closes at 5:00 p.m. on the 1st and a public counting of the votes will begin at 5:01 in the same location.
Pre-Vote Informational Meetings:
Thursday, March 26th from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. & Friday, March 27th from 10:00 a.m. to noon, both in Campus Center Rm 168.
Continue readingDear Abby and Sharla,
I’ve written to you several times over the last few months to try to
keep you posted on the ongoing fiscal crisis here at UMass Amherst and
how we as a university community are responding to it.
There has been speculation and assertions made about the budget plans
that, frankly, aren’t accurate. Today, I want to tell you what we know
about the current budget situation, and to provide you with as many
facts as I can. It is critically important that we as a university
community communicate openly and honestly, and work together to face the
serious challenges ahead. As you know, we’ve created a Budget Planning
Task Force of faculty, students and staff to assist in this process and
to make recommendations – and they have been hard at work discussing
budget cuts, fee increases, reorganization plans, potential layoffs, and
other issues tied to the upcoming budget year. I expect to receive
additional recommendations from this group soon and will, of course,
share with you my decisions on how we go forward.
Amid student protest, University of Massachusetts Trustees voted 12-4 this morning to increase student fees by $1,500 for the coming academic year. The hike represents a 17.6 percent spike in fees for UMass, Amherst students. UMass, Amherst has begun laying off faculty and staff. In addition, Chancellor Holub anticipates an approximately 7% decrease in the number of graduate teaching assistants. A campus reorganization plan now … Continue reading
READY TO WALK! GSS (Graduate Student Senate) and UMass grad students propose to protest the UMass fee increase by walking 110 miles over a four day period. We will walk from UMass Amherst at Haigis Mall at 9am on Monday, February 23rd, and we will arrive at the Board of Trustees meeting at the UMass Dartmouth campus on Friday the 27th. We see our journey … Continue reading