Category Archives: Campus Events

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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Fall Term 2010 GEO Bargaining Sessions Dates and Topics

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GEO Bargaining Sessions will run from 1-5pm at the Palmer Commons. Any presence helps! Come anytime, and leave when you have to. The first session to establish some ground rules happened today, December 1st, and future sessions for the term, with tentative topics, are listed below:

  • December 3: (Plaza Room, 3rd Floor) Job Posting, Hiring, and Notification
  • December 8: (Plaza Room, 3rd Floor) GSI Training
  • December 10: (Plaza Room, 3rd Floor) *This session will contain the major presentation of our platform issues. Your attendance here is crucial.* Also, Disability Access Proposals and Salaries
  • December 15: (Great Lakes North, 4th Floor) GSRAs, Child Care, and Medical and Parent Leave
  • December 17: (Plaza Room, 3rd Floor) Employee Rights

Our members are our strength. We need you in the room to win a strong contract.

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Bargaining Begins Today! (Dec. 1)

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GEO and the University are starting negotiations for your 2011-2014 contract! All bargaining sessions are open to all GEO members, and we encourage members to attend. Closed captioning will be available at some bargaining sessions. Please direct any questions about accommodations during bargaining sessions to umgeo@umich.edu.

For the remainder of the Fall term, we will be bargaining every Wednesday and Friday from 1:00-5:00 PM in Palmer Commons (location: http://uuis.umich.edu/cic/map/central/index.cfm?region=D2). We have a tentative schedule of topics for each bargaining session, listed below. Two sessions are especially crucial for this term. On December 10, GEO’s team will give an overview presentation of our key proposals, along with proposals for disability access and salaries. On Dec. 15, we will present proposals involving GSRAs and parents’ rights. Please come to one or both of these sessions! See our website for updated schedules: http://umgeo.org/events/

GEO needs your participation to win a strong contract this year. For other ways to get involved, like attending Stewards’ meetings, joining a caucus, or joining a committee, visit http://www.umgeo.org/member-resources/volunteer/ or email umgeo@umich.edu.

DECEMBER BARGAINING SESSIONS, TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Dec. 1 (Palmer Commons, Great Lakes North, 4th floor)
Topics: Bargaining Ground Rules; Dues; Union Rights; Information

Dec. 3. (Palmer Commons, plaza room, 3rd floor)
Topics: Job Posting, Hiring, and Notification

Dec. 8. (Palmer Commons, plaza room 3rd floor)
Topics: GSI Training (international grads especially encouraged to attend)

**Dec. 10. (Palmer Commons, Plaza Room, 3rd floor)
Topics: Major presentation of platform issues; Disability Access proposals; Salaries. *Closed captioning provided.

**Dec. 15 (Palmer Commons, Great Lakes North, 4th floor)
Topics: GSRAs; Benefits; Child Care; Medical and Parental Leaves (GSRAs and parents especially encouraged to attend)

Dec. 17 (Palmer Commons, Plaza Room, 3rd floor)
Topics: Employee Rights (international grads especially encouraged to attend). *Closed captioning provided.

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GEO Membership Meeting: Wed Nov 17 6:00pm-7:30pm

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GEO will be having a General Membership Meeting (GMM) on Wednesday, November 17 · 6:00pm – 7:30pm in the Rackham Amphitheater. At this meeting we’ll get an update from the bargaining committee on their progress turning the bargaining platform into bargaining proposals. We’ll also get a sneak peak at the bargaining team’s opening presentation. Lastly, we’ll begin discussing priorities among the bargaining planks.

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Bargaining Platform Development: Make your voice heard!

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GEO is currently at work developing an initial Bargaining Platform for 2010-2011 contract negotiations! An initial platform will be voted on at the April 14 Membership Meeting. Members and constituencies (GEO committees, departments, caucuses, etc.) are encouraged to submit platform plank proposals to be added to the platform. Members will vote on these planks (basically comprising issues) and discuss modifications to them at the Membership Meeting, and we’ll continue to refine the platform before bargaining begins in the fall.

GEO needs a diverse array of voices to win a great contract that makes meaningful changes for members. We want to hear YOUR ideas! To get involved in the process, follow these links!

GEO Member Guide to Platform Development

Online Plank Proposal (submit your proposals online!)

Sample Plank Proposal: Rights for Employees with Disabilities

Blank Printable Plank Proposal (.doc) (.pdf)

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Events: MEMBERSHIP MEETING, Stewards’ Council, Activism Factory!

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GEO GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Wednesday, April 14
7 pm – 8 pm
The U Club in the Michigan Union

It’s our second and last membership meeting of the year! At this important meeting, members will discuss and vote on an initial bargaining platform for next year’s contract negotiations. Come and make YOUR concerns heard!

Members will also elect new leadership: the offices of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary will be elected at the membership meeting. Nominations are now open for these positions and can be made by email to umgeo @ umich . edu

STEWARDS’ COUNCIL MEETINGS

Wednesday, April 14

and
Wednesday, April 21
7 pm – 8:30 pm
GEO Office, 330 E. Liberty Street Suite 3F

The 2010-2011 committee chairs will be elected at the Stewards’ Council meeting on Wednesday, April 21, 7 pm. Committee chair positions (Organizing, Communications, Grievance, Solidarity & Political Action, and Bargaining) are now open and can be made by email to umgeo @ umich . edu

ACTIVISM FACTORY!
Wednesday, March 31
7 pm
GEO Office

We’ll be talking about organizing a fundraiser for Haiti, continuing to work on developing a bargaining platform, and brainstorming artwork for next year’s contract campaign.

Get involved in YOUR union!

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GEO Announces BENEFITS FOR ALL Plan

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At yesterday’s Campus Unite! rally, GEO announced our Benefits for All plan and officially kicked off our campaign to protect SSDP benefits at the University of Michigan. Below is the text of Julie Robert’s speech at the rally announcing our plan.

My name is Julie Robert and I’m a member of the Graduate Employee’s Organization. I’m here to talk to you today about the Benefits For All plan, our answer to the problem created when the Michigan Court of Appeals made it unconstitutional to provide Domestic Partner benefits which mirror spousal benefits.

The court ruling targets people who receive Same-Sex Domestic Partner benefits. But, this ruling impacts all the members of the University community. We will not be able to attract and retain the best faculty and graduate students if we cannot guarantee SSDP benefits.

As part of CampusUnite, we know that there are some issues where the University knows what it should do, but chooses not to. On other issues, they know what the right thing to do is, and they work to make it happen. The SSDP question is one of the cases where we believe that the University is trying to do the right thing. What GEO wants, what we all want, is a plan that will allow all domestic partners to receive benefits.

We believe that we have a workable solution. We call it Benefits for All; a plan that protects the right to health care by providing the University with a way to maintain its commitments to its employees. The Benefits of All plan replaces benefits structures based on marriage with a system of Designated Beneficiaries. Under our plan, each person will be allowed to cover the person most important to him or her—this is their Designated Beneficiary. Eliminating marriage from the equation allows us to work within the law.

We are working with others in the university community to call for the implementation of this plan. We are counting on you, our allies, to help us with the Benefits For All visibility campaign by wearing a button and talking to people about the issue.

GEO’s goal has been, and continues to be, to obtain equal rights to benefits for all. During this time of damaging legal precedents, discrimination and economic uncertainty, it is important for us to join together to protect existing benefits. As a community, we have the collective power to protect benefits for all.

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Tent State on the UM Diag: Apr 10-12

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Free Student Workshops! Free Community Workshops! Free Food! Free Art! Free Entertainment!

All at Tent State: An Alternative University. Join the Michigan Organization of Students (MOS) and dozens of partners in building student solidarity and power here at UM.

Including: MVision, AID, Blackbox Radio, Cycling Club, Democracy Matters, GEO, LEO, SCOR, NAACP, SAPAC, SSAA, SAFE, MIRA, the ICC, Michigan Sign Club, the Hearing Impaired Students Organization, Argentine Tango Club, the Michigan Independent, PCAP, Rogue, SOLE, STAND, Voice Your Vote, FOKUS, 58 Greene, Maya, Cadence, Leim, Element 1, PIRGIM, the Art of Living, and the College Democrats.

Together, we can make our university more democratic, diverse, accessible, and affordable!

For more information visit www.umich.tentstate.com

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Immigrant Workers Conference on Campus

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FIRST CONFERENCE ON IMMIGRATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE!
“Organizing Migrant and Immigrant Workers”

January 19-20

Featuring Keynote speeches by:
Jennifer Gordon and Baldemar Velasquez, Winners of the McArthur Award

For more information visit:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dandanar/mira/conference.html

or email contactmira(at)umich.edu

This conference, organized by the students of MIRA (Migrant and Immigrant Rights Awareness) and the Labor Law Roundtable, with the support of UM faculty, is the first of a series of three annual conferences that will address issues of immigration and social justice. The conference will bring together leading academics and activists, as well as union leaders and students, to discuss recent developments and new strategies in the fight to organize immigrant workers.

The conference will open on Thursday night with a panel on the international human rights framework and innovative domestic legal strategies hosted at the law school. On Friday, the venue will shift to the School of Social Work. The Friday component of the conference will include panels focusing on the agricultural and service sectors, and small group discussions with the speakers. In addition, conference participants will discuss creating a university-community-labor partnership in support of immigrant workers in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area.

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