U-M graduate student workers on strike, seeking better pay and benefits
Graduate student employees at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor are on strike, saying they won't return to their jobs until they are paid what they call a livable wage of $38,500 a year.
Joined by hundreds of undergraduate students, instructors and community members, the Graduate Employee Organization at U-M left classrooms at 10:24 a.m. Wednesday, demanding a better contract.
In addition to higher wages, the union's demands include "an affordable and accessible childcare subsidy, access to gender affirming care, an emergency fund for international students and transitional funding for survivors of sexual harassment," said GEO Contract Committee Chair Amir Fleischmann.
Kicking off with a rally at the Diag, protestors marched around campus, chanting, "No contract, no grades," and carried signs that said, "We earn less than a living wage," and "Neither sticks, nor stones, nor injunctions can settle our strike."
"By walking out of your classes this morning, you all just gave the University of Michigan the best explanation it could ask for about why it should listen to its own workers," GEO President Jared Eno told the crowd. "We make this university run and it's time to remind them of that."
After marching and a press conference at the Hatcher Library on campus, protesters took to the picket line back at the Diag.
More: U-M graduate workers to go on strike Wednesday morning
More: Michigan State to reopen Student Union, keep Berkey Hall closed
University: Classes will continue as scheduled
According to a news release from U-M, substitute instructors, alternative assignments and other means for delivering instruction will keep classes going despite graduate workers striking.
"A strike violates GEO’s own agreement with the university," according to the release. "The current contract includes language specifying that the union agrees not to strike while the contract is in effect."
The current 3-year contract expires on May 1 and the next scheduled negotiation date is March 31.
U-M Ann Arbor Provost and Executive VP for Academic Affairs Laurie McCauley said the university will continue to negotiate an agreement with GEO, yet the administration is "disappointed that GEO believes this step is necessary."
Bargaining updates are posted online here.
Graduate students struggle to live in Ann Arbor
Bargaining between the university and GEO has been ongoing since November 2022. So far, agreements have only been made relating to "things like job postings and felony disclosure," Fleischmann said. "Things that, I would note, don't cost the university a thing."
The GEO at U-M represents approximately 2,300 graduate students who teach and assist in research projects on campus. Last week, union members voted to authorize a strike; it passed with 95% approval.
Due to the wages that U-M Ann Arbor currently offers graduate workers, they are struggling to pay rent and are selling plasma, skipping meals and rationing medication to make ends meet, Eno said.
"We need to be able to pay the basic necessities to get by and do our jobs — to teach the undergrads, who we care so much about. The university has told us that paying grad workers a living wage is exorbitant and infeasible. ... We're just asking for what we need to get by. That's $38,500 for each grad student. We make ($14,500) less than that every year."
According to U-M Ann Arbor, full-time graduate student staff assistants and graduate student instructors make $24,055 per term.
Eliza Steinberg, a biopsychology undergraduate student at U-M Ann Arbor, said she attended the march to support graduate student instructors "because they work very hard to lead our discussions and grade our papers. They do a lot of the work that the professors don't do, and they deserve a livable wage as well as many of their other demands."
Future protests and marches
At 1 p.m. Thursday, student employees at U-M Ann Arbor's north campus plan to gather at the Bell Tower to demand better pay and assistance as well, Eno said. A faculty solidarity march is also being organized for Monday.
Contact Nour Rahal: nrahal@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: University of Michigan Graduate Employee Organization on strike
