Graduate teaching assistants are set to receive more than $100,000 in back wages that the university hadn’t paid them in two semesters after a dispute between the Graduate Employees Union and MSU was resolved.
The union’s successful claim stemmed from a complaint that teaching assistants were not paid during a three-day overlap between the past spring and summer semesters, where more than 300 teaching assistants were essentially working two jobs.
Union president Dan Clark said per their contract with MSU, the spring semester appointment period for teaching assistants went from Jan. 1 to May 15 and the summer appointment period went from May 13 to Aug. 19 in 2013.
Teaching assistants were only paid for their spring semester duties and not for summer from May 13 to 15. On average, the teaching assistants were paid about $200 less than many expected to receive.
The settlement was reached in late January — just before the ordeal would have been taken to a third-party arbitrator.
The teaching assistants will be receiving their additional pay by March 23, Clark said.
“I still don’t know why they weren’t going to pay us for the overlap to begin with,” Clark said.
University spokesman Jason Cody said he could not disclose any specifics of the negotiation.
At the time of the dispute, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon told The State News the university’s position was that they followed the contract’s terms, but that it was “subject to debate and discussion.”
Although it took months to reach a resolution, the union and teaching assistants involved were glad they could come to an agreement with university officials rather than having to go through an arbitration process, said Dan Beck, vice president of the union.
Beck said he was greatly affected by the university’s refusal to pay him during the overlap.
He said there was also another overlap that occurred between the end of the summer and beginning of fall semesters for which he was not paid, a total of $518.
“That’s half my rent,” Beck said.
Both Cody and Beck said it was important to make sure there are no future contractual issues.
“With this settlement in place, it outlines moving forward how pay will be handled for the life of this contract, which expires in May 2015,” Cody said.
Beck said the union clarified some of the language in the contracts to avoid future issues.
Beck said he appreciated the hard work the union had done to fight for graduate students.
“Without a dedicated union … there would be about 300 TAs out of pay that they were owed,” he said.
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