It’s pretty much a fact of life - things don’t often work out the way people expect them to, especially the first time around. Friday, the Graduate Employees Union filed a grievance with the university over the its first contract.
The union’s complaint alleges some of MSU’s colleges are misinterpreting a clause in the contract regulating salaries for teaching assistants. Union leaders say hundreds of teaching assistants are underpaid.
The union’s first contract with MSU was signed May 16, following a one-day strike April 25. The university has 15 days from Friday to arrange a meeting with the union, and another 15 to take action.
It’s not surprising to see a grievance filed this early in the union’s contract. After all, MSU and its TAs have never had to deal with a contract before.
But that is no excuse for any intentional misinterpretations of the union’s contract. And although the union is right to follow the formal grievance process if it feels the university is short-changing its members, those involved also need to allow the university a chance to clear up the situation.
We hope the cooperation between MSU and the union seen at times earlier this year is not over and this issue will be resolved quickly.
We hope university and union leaders will not let this interpretation dispute drive a wedge between them, but instead will come to an agreement on this matter quickly and easily.
The road to this first contract was a long and grueling task for both sides, and we hope these negotiations will not prove the same. We hope a conflict leading to another strike or other problem is avoided.
As long as both parties work good faith to settle any disputes as each side adjusts to the contract, their new relationship should grow and flourish. We hope this latest issue proves to be easily reconcilable, setting an important tone for the future of the union’s relationship to MSU.
MSU’s graduate students endured a long struggle to achieve a contract with the university. Now it’s time for both sides to take a step back and carry out the agreement they reached, a prospect that’s sure to benefit everyone at the university.
