CMU Graduate Student Union negotiations under way for fall semester

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Negotiations are ongoing for the Graduate Student Union that became an official union in May.

Midland graduate student Mike Hoerger said the GSU met with the administration three times and another meeting is scheduled this month.

“We’re working on reaching a tentative agreement regarding most non-economic issues before the fall semester begins,” Hoerger said.

This includes issues such as the non-discrimination policy, teaching evaluations, grievance procedures, workloads, job postings and related topics, he said.

As of now, the administration has been relatively cooperative, Hoerger said.

For the fall semester, the GSU likely will schedule several meetings. GSU plans to work on economic issues within the union then.

This includes pay, health benefits, tuition coverage and related issues, Hoerger said, which will involve a lot of polling of graduate assistants to find out what people would like to accomplish.

“The main goal will be to set policy that offers opportunities for major long-term improvements of the graduate school and the broader university,” Hoerger said.

Robert Martin, associate vice provost for Faculty Personnel Services, declined to comment on the progress of GSU.

Mount Pleasant graduate student Hasfa Salih would join the GSU because he supports unionism, and he feels the GSU would do a good job advocating for his rights in matters of his in concern with his graduate program.

“Unions should be coordinated in a true and fair manner such that the formation of a student union,” Salih said.

Hoerger said he has seen some graduate assistants on food stamps, without health insurance, evicted, temporarily homeless, unable to afford needed medical procedures or bankrupted by medical bills, and he said something can be done about students and their financial turmoil.

“When our grandparents were our age, college was funded 90 percent by the government,” Hoerger said. “Now, only something like 40 percent of tuition is subsidized by the government, it’s getting harder and harder to afford to go to college, which is contrary to our long-standing society values of equal opportunity and upward mobility.”