For some students, spring break may be extended by one day.

A one-day strike that calling for undergraduate students not to participate in class March 11 is being sponsored by Lansing-based Direct Action and Students for Economic Justice.

The strike will be in support of MSU’s Graduate Employees Union, which is negotiating for its first contract. The union formed last spring and has been negotiating with the administration since October.

Members of Direct Action met with the graduate union Monday to discuss if the union would support the one-day strike.

Jennifer Nichols, spokeswoman for the graduate union, said union members will teach March 11, but will support any students who don’t attend class.

“We have no plans of actions of our own on that day, just simply to recognize the action of undergraduates and thank them for their support to stand up for education,” she said.

MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said administrators cannot comment on the potential strike.

But some undergraduates have taken a stance.

Matt Walker, who has a lab taught by a teaching assistant, said he will not go to classes taught by the assistants to show his support for the union. But the religious studies freshman said many factors will decide if the one-day strike will help the union.

“With the way that any administration can be, it’s a very delicate balance,” Walker said. “If you push too much then they get pissy. If you don’t push enough, they don’t act. It’s a difficult position to be in.”

But some students said they will attend classes because of the academic situation they are in.

“I miss too many classes, so I don’t have a choice,” journalism freshman Joe Mroch said. “If it didn’t matter, then I probably wouldn’t go.”

Hilary Huston, a family and community services freshman, said she supports the methods the union has tried in the past months, such as protests.

But Huston also will attend class March 11 so she doesn’t get behind in her work.

“I think some students won’t go to class just not to go,” she said. “They will probably think ‘Oh, I don’t have to go, so let’s go do something else.’”

Brenda Wrigley, an assistant professor of public relations, was not aware of the strike.

“I would be really disappointed if students did that,” she said. “I think there are other ways to get your message across without interrupting the educational process.”

Daniel Kruger, a professor of labor and industrial relations, said it would be illegal for the union to strike because of state law. He said the union should think about other means to make its position known.

“It may well be that the university will say, ‘We won’t negotiate with groups who break the law,’” Kruger said. “That is one possible scenario. I think they need to be very careful with what they do, it’s a very touchy subject.”

Direct Action members said the graduate union was not involved in planning the one-day strike. He said he thinks enough students will participate in the strike to get the attention of the administration.

Wayne Cass, chairman of the Coalition of Labor Organizations at MSU, recently settled a contract with administrators that took seven months to negotiate. The coalition represents eight unions at MSU. Similar to the graduate union, Cass said health care was an issue that took the most time to negotiate.

“This is the really only country on the face of the Earth that ties health care with employment,” Cass said. “If you don’t have a job, you don’t have access to health care in this country.”