In the quest for more clout while bargaining for a new contract, the Graduate Employees Union protested outside the Union and on the bridge between Wells Hall and the Administration Building on Thursday.
"The more voices we can get and the more support from the MSU community we have, the more power we have at the bargaining table," GEU member Mat Bartkowiak said.
Bartkowiak shouted, "MSU is losing in the Big Ten," to draw attention to scoreboards. The scoreboards showed how MSU compared to the universities in Michigan and Illinois in the treatment of teaching assistants.
"Since sports are so popular, we thought we would compare us to our athletic competitors to show how we stack up in terms of health care, pay and other rights," GEU member Julie Hartman said.
GEU is a labor union that protects the rights of teaching assistants. Its current contract, which has been in effect for two years, will expire May 15. A new contract must be negotiated by April.
A 10-member bargaining team has been negotiating with the administration since late October. GEU President Deborah Wilson said the bargaining process is not moving as quickly as GEU would like it to move.
"The bargaining process has continued to move slowly, but this is one way to show we're not asking for anything unreasonable or something that isn't offered at other universities," Wilson said.
At the beginning of negotiations, an outline regarding how each group should behave was created, said Pam Beemer, assistant vice president for Human Resources. Beemer declined to comment on whether protests were allowed under the regulations.
"There were a set of ground rules that both parties agreed to that laid out what each side could expect from the other," Beemer said. "We are endeavoring to respect those ground rules and preserve the integrity of the process - which isn't to suggest that they aren't."
This semester, GEU has held numerous protests to raise awareness about issues it faces in the bargaining process. GEU members hope to receive better health care and a dental plan in a new contract.
The University of Illinois offers dental, vision and family planning coverage, all of which aren't included in the current MSU contract.
The contracts other universities have can be shared in the negotiation meetings, Beemer said.
"If they have information they wish to share that they think is relevant, it needs to occur in the negotiating process," Beemer said.
Although members handed fliers to students passing by, some were left confused about the point of the protest.
"After looking at the flier, I don't know what I'm supposed to do," physiology senior Chris Hausbeck said. "It says, 'support MSU and demand a quality education,' but I don't understand what I can do to help."
Students can show their support of GEU by writing letters to the administration, Bartkowiak said.
"The more we bring this fight to the streets, the more the community is aware of our struggle," he said.
