One hundred and eighty-seven members of the Graduate Employees Union voted in favor for the ratification of the first contract developed by the union and the university Tuesday.

Only four members voted against it.

“That means that the membership has accepted the contract,” said union Vice President Peter Cunningham. “I think it shows that people are appreciative of all the work we’ve put into this.”

The contract, which is retroactive to the beginning of the year, outlines a three-year plan with an increase of 3.5 percent for teaching assistants for the spring semester, and a 2 percent increase for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years.

There will be a 3 percent increase for the 2004-05 academic year.

On average, graduate employees receive $11,554 a year, along with up to nine tuition-waived credits.

There also will be health care available for dependents as well as a substantial increase in health care benefits for teaching assistants.

“It has improved our health care benefits significantly,” Cunningham said.

Over 600 ballots were sent out about a week and a half ago via mail, and were counted Tuesday night.

Only teaching assistants who taught this spring were eligible to vote.

“I wasn’t surprised by the vote and I think we negotiated a pretty strong contract,” said union President Jessica Goodkind.

Goodkind said the contract provides a strong foundation for the union to build on, even though negotiations with the administration were sometimes difficult.

“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “We didn’t always see eye to eye on things but I’m glad that in the end we were able the come out with a good contract.”

Cunningham said the reason only 191 members voted out of the over 600 ballots mailed out was that many students had left to go home for the summer already.

Despite this, he believes members still would have overwhelmingly voted in favor of the contract.

“I think this is a good representation of how people felt,” Cunningham said.

President M. Peter McPherson is happy with the outcome.

“Negotiations are never easy,” he said.

“We’re pleased to be able to work out the contract and we look forward to a good relationship with the union.”

Goodkind said she also expects there will be good relations between the administration and the union.

“I am really looking forward to having a productive relationship with the administration,” she said. “And to help make sure that the contract is implemented as written.”

The teaching assistant walkout April 25 was beneficial to the development of the contract, Goodkind said.

“I don’t think we would’ve gotten the contract without it.”

Trustee Colleen McNamara feels this situation was handled well by both sides.

“I think everyone’s as unhappy as they are happy, and that’s important,” she said.

Both parties generally feel they can move on from this point, now that the obstacle of negotiating and developing a contract is out of the way.

“Now we’re ready to go,” McPherson said.