Category Archives: Action!

Media Advisory: GEO to protest firing of GSRA for organizing

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Media Advisory

For Immediate Release: Friday, January 13, 2012

Contact: GEO Staff Organizer Jim McAsey; jim.mcasey@geo3550.org, 734-995-0221
GEO Communications Chair Liz DeLisle Rodrigues; commchair@geo3550.org

GEO to announce campaign to protest the unjust firing of GSRA for union organizing

WHAT:  Press conference

WHEN:  12pm, Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

WHERE:  Outside the Lurie Engineering Center, 1221 Beal Ave, Ann Arbor

WHY:  To protest the unjust firing of a GEO member who is a Graduate Student Research Assistant (GSRA).  She was terminated and kicked out of her academic program for union organizing at the University of Michigan.

WHO:  The Graduate Employees’ Organization (umgeo.org) is the labor union representing ~1,800 Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) and Graduate Student Staff Assistants (GSSAs) at the University of Michigan.  GEO was founded in 1970 and we won our first contract in 1975, making GEO the oldest certified graduate employee union in the United States.  GEO has been organizing with ~2,200 Graduate Student Research Assistants (GSRA) since late 2010.

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Urgent Stewards’ meeting tomorrow, Weds @ 6pm

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Stewards: urgent meeting tomorrow to discuss important and time-sensitive issues. We need you in the room.

When: Wednesday, October 5

Time: 6-8pm, but come early to hang out & catch up during drop-in hour starting at 5pm

Where: GEO Central Office, 330 E. Liberty

All GEO members are welcomed and encouraged to attend. Do you have questions about the GSRA campaign or concerns about something happening in your department? Come to the Stewards’ meeting to get heard, get informed and get involved!

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GSRA Election – “We Vote YES” Poster Design

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“We Vote YES” – the Poster!

The GSRA Steering Committee has come up with a pair of designs for a poster to encourage participation in the upcoming election to restore collective bargaining rights for GSRA’s.  Tell us which one you prefer…

Poster design #1: “GEO fist” Poster design #2: “CGEU cogs”

Click here to choose the poster you’d prefer to re-decorate your lab or office.  So far, over 600 GSRA’s have agreed to include their names on the poster.  We’ll announce the results in a few weeks.

GEO is holding bi-weekly meetings on Tuesday nights to prepare for the election, and to develop a platform for contract negotiations. As always, you’re welcome to join the conversation! Check out the Events Calendar on the right for meeting times and locations

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Join us at the We Are The People Rally in Lansing, 4/13

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On Monday, April 4th, GEO joined together with other local unions, community groups, students, and
families at 12 pm on Ingalls Mall to rally against budget cuts to education and dozens of anti-
union bills working their way through the legislature in Lansing. Over 700 community members
attended to show their support for collective bargaining rights and public education. Speakers
from the Ann Arbor Education Association, Ann Arbor firefighters, Ann Arbor Public Schools
Board of Education, local business and parents addressed the need to stand together to fight back
against assaults on education and collective bargaining rights. The rally also commemorated
the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was standing in
solidarity with sanitation workers struggling for unionization when he was murdered, and the
need to continue his legacy of fighting for equality and justice for all. The rally concluded with a
march to Liberty Plaza.

We must continue to keep the pressure on Lansing and show that we are one, and we will not
stand for attacks on education and workers’ rights. Please join us next Wednesday, April 13, at
the We Are the People rally in Lansing. Now is the time to show our strength!

Check out photos of our rally here.
Sign up for free buses to the 4/13 Rally in Lansing.  Buses leave from the Cube (behind the LSA Building) at 10:30 am and leave from Lansing at 5:30 pm here.

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Lansing Update – GradCare under attack

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Senate Bill Seven, sponsored by Senator Mark Jansen (R), is scheduled to be discussed in Committee on Wednesday, March 23. Should this bill pass, the insurance benefits GEO has negotiated with the University could be drastically curtailed.

From the Senate Fiscal Agency’s bill analysis document:

The bill would create the “Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act” to require that all public employees pay a certain percentage of the overall cost of purchasing health insurance. Beginning January 1, 2013, the bill would require that public employers with and without self-funded health benefit plans pay not more than 80.0% of the premium costs of health insurance plans.

Source: SFA analysis SB-7

Senate Bill Seven is only one of 38 anti-union bills working their way through the legislature in Lansing. Now that GEO has reached a tentative agreement on our 2011-14 GSI/GSSA Contract, we need to turn our attention to the Statehouse to ensure that our rights and benefits are not undermined.

You can learn more about developments in Lansing, and get involved in GEO’s response, by attending Wednesday’s General Membership Meeting.

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GEO endorses One Kalamazoo

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At the Wednesday October 28 Steward’s Council Meeting, the Steward’s Council voted to endorse One Kalamazoo’s campaign to support Kalamazoo’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance.

On June 9, 2009 a unanimous vote of the Kalamazoo City Commission expanded the city’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. Those expansions are currently suspended, and will be removed from the ordinance unless Kalamazoo votes YES on November 3.

By its vote, the GEO Steward’s Council indicates its agreement with One Kalamazoo’s belief that all people—including gay and transgender people—should be treated fairly and equally where they live and work.

GEO members who support One Kalamazoo’s campaign can help in many ways, but the most valuable ways to help at this point in the campaign are to make a personal donation to the campaign or to travel to Kalamazoo to help canvas and get out the vote.

For more information about making a donation, go to: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/onekalamazoo

If you’d like to help with canvassing, email umgeo@umich.edu and we’ll work with you to find other GEO members to carpool with!

GEO has a long history of supporting expansions of rights and increased respect for Transgender, Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual persons.  In 1975, GEO and Ann Arbor’s Transport Employees Union became the first labor unions in the United States to negotiate contracts which included protections for queer folk in their non-discrimination clauses.  Over the years GEO has continued to fight to make sure that all of our members have equal access to health care benefits, jobs, and respect at work regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

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Membership Meeting Monday, March 31

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MEMBERS: We’ve got a membership meeting coming up this Monday to talk about the Tentative Agreement of our new contract and to decide whether to send the agreement out for ratification. Bargaining team members will be on hand to answer questions about the agreement, and we’ll also talk about other important issues for the union. Please take a few minutes to help spread the word!

WHAT: GEO Membership Meeting
WHEN: Monday, March 31, 7pm
WHERE: Michigan League Ballroom
WHY: To decide whether to send the Tentative Agreement to the membership for ratification; to recap what has happened in the past week (and the past several months!); to discuss near and future activities of the union; to celebrate our successes; to sing.

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GEO WALKS OUT

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GEO WILL GO FORWARD WITH ITS PLANNED WORK STOPPAGE ON TUESDAY, MARCH 25 AND WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26

The bargaining team for the University left negotiations with GEO at 9:05 pm tonight. In negotiations today, the union believed we were making good progress with the university on issues of wage parity and low-fraction employee healthcare; however, GEO was disappointed with the minimal movement on salary increases and the lack of movement on mental health care. As GEO was awaiting counterproposals from the University in an attempt to keep bargaining and avoid a walkout, after a lengthy caucus, the University’s team informed GEO that they were finished bargaining for the day. GEO was willing to keep bargaining until our contract expired at midnight tonight.

MEMBERS and SUPPORTERS: Please join the picket lines tomorrow in solidarity with our contract fight. Contact umgeo@umich.edu with any questions.

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