ASMSU’s Academic Assembly voted Tuesday not to support the Graduate Employees Union’s request for increased wages and benefits.
Thirteen out of 15 undergraduate student government members voted against supporting the union, which is seeking higher wages to cover the cost of living and health care benefits. ASMSU also will not condone a possible one-day strike on April 15.
Jessica Goodkind, union president, had no comment Wednesday. She said there likely will be a statement after negotiations with university officials are finished, and graduate employee one-day strike votes are tallied Thursday.
Tom Morse, ASMSU Academic Assembly College of Communication Arts and Sciences representative, proposed supporting graduate employees, but said his overall goal was to generate undergraduate student feedback.
“I personally voted for it because I think they should get health care and wages,” Morse said. “But I’m not sad it didn’t pass because I wanted to get the students’ opinion.”
But Morse, who wrote the proposal, doesn’t support union strikes because they can hinder the educational process.
“I think it would be bad for everyone,” Morse said. “Strikes are really unpleasant. Sometimes they get you what you want, but they are not good things to have.”
Daniel Weber also voted in favor of the GEU, which has 1,400 members. Weber said the graduate employees’ cause wasn’t researched well enough by ASMSU before it was voted down.
“I think it was a little rash,” Weber said. “I preferred it to be tabled, but it didn’t go that way. We should have went around and asked other graduates what they thought, and sent out surveys to undergraduates.”
Adam Raezler, an ASMSU Academic Assembly James Madison College representative, voted against the proposal because he said it wasn’t in the best interest of his college.
“The issue of the (teacher assistant) strike has a bigger effect on some colleges than others,” said Raezler, who said his college would be affected by heavy-populated teaching assistant classes such as economics. “That money has to come from somewhere, so it would come from offering more courses. We won’t be able to have as many selections.”
Chelsea Hasenburg, an ASMSU Academic Assembly James Madison College representative, said she was swayed to vote down the proposal during the debate.
“I realized they are getting their tuition paid for, and it’s part-time teaching,” Hasenburg said. “They don’t need the same benefits professors get because they don’t do the same work. They are doing it for experience almost like an internship.”
Telecommunication senior Sean Selig said he would support the graduate employees’ strike instead of listening to the undergraduate student government. Selig said the union probably has several external sources that would fund its needs.
“I don’t see how all the money is coming from MSU, so I don’t see how that’s taking away from undergraduate people,” said Selig, who plans on becoming a telecommunication graduate student next year.
