Friday, March 29, 2024

Graduate employees finish three-day protest with no resolution in sight

May 7, 2015

"This is getting ridiculous," an irritated woman said as she weaved through the lobby of the Nisbet Building, which was crowded with of Graduate Employee Union members and supporters on Thursday afternoon.

The GEU staged a sit-in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during finals week to show solidarity with the bargaining team — a group of GEU members negotiating a contract with the administration. GEU President Sylvia Marques said the group of teaching assistants were grading during finals week, their busiest time, to show the administration how hard TAs have to work. 

The GEU is currently in the midst of bargaining for a contract which would include more health care benefits, a tuition waiver, and higher compensation. The current contract expires on May 15. 

Around 4 p.m., the mediator contracted by MSU and the rest of MSU's bargaining team came down in force for more rounds of negotiations, which were held in a conference room. No reporters were allowed to enter. 

Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., D-East Lansing, also made an appearance to encourage GEU members to fight for better compensation.

"We have failed college students in this state," he said, noting that students are being taught more and more by teaching assistants, not professors, while having to pay more for college.

Hertel also said it was teaching assistants who personally helped him graduate from MSU. 

Caroyln Pratt, a GEU member and a member of the bargaining team, spoke about the ongoing negotiations to the rapidly-growing crowd.

"We have got some indication of willingness to move (by the administration), especially on tuition waviers, especially if we can get better on healthcare," she said.

Part of the GEU's demands include more than the current 9-credit per semester tuition waiver, higher salaries and stipends, and better healthcare. Marques said while their salary demands were reletively high, they did agree to a pay cut just after the 2008 recession.

Marques said both sides were redrawing their proposals from scratch and would be negotiating late into the night. She said when MSU operates with $1.2 billion, a 2.2 percent share of that for TAs was not much to ask for.

"This is a fight that we can win," Marques said.

While bargaining was set to continue into the night on Thursday, the GEU plans to return next week to continue the conversation with administration.

No member of MSU's bargaining team was immediately available for comment. 

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Graduate employees finish three-day protest with no resolution in sight ” on social media.