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Hi, I’m Christie Toth and I’m a Graduate Student Research Assistant at the Sweetland Center for Writing at the University of Michigan.
I support GSRAs’ right to form a union because I believe research assistants are employees. I love the work I do at Sweetland. All the research I do there is related to improving writing instruction for undergraduate students at U of M, and I’m proud to be part of a great research team.
However, the work that I do for my RA position is completely separate from my dissertation. The argument that my work as a research assistant is indistinguishable from my progress as a graduate student simply isn’t accurate. And the claim that I’m not a worker is disrespectful.
GSRAs are workers and we have a right to vote on whether or not we want to form a union. And it’s up to us to decide what we want to bargain for when we negotiate our first contract with the university. I urge GSRAs to get involved: Share this video on facebook, like it on YouTube, and visit us at gsracampaign.org.
