Graduate student union in the middle of bargaining process


The Graduate Student Union has put almost all of its bargaining proposals on the table, and the university has responded to most of them.

Graduate Student Union President Michelle Campbell said via email Monday the GSU has not yet presented an official proposal on healthcare, because the bargaining team is trying to compose the best option for graduate assistants while working within the existing structures at Central Michigan University.

“We have not yet presented a proposal on health care, although we have talked with the university about our desire for health care and presented reasons and data as to why we need employer-sponsored health insurance,” she said.

The GSU does not have health insurance under its current contract.

The 2010-13 bargaining agreement states CMU will provide a wellness allowance of $175 to graduate assistants during the 2012-13 academic year.

As previously reported by Central Michigan Life, the GSU platform states on the issue of healthcare: “We believe that it is imperative to have reasonable employer-sponsored health insurance to guard against catastrophic health emergencies that could endanger a graduate assistant’s educational endeavors. We believe graduate assistants should have health care coverage beyond the wellness allowance, and we support health care coverage that extends to spouses, civil partners and children.”

Campbell said the university would like to address all financial concerns at once, but the GSU has not heard anything about the salary proposal it introduced nearly a month ago.

The GSU and the university agree on most of the basic premises for leave time, but items such as leave time for pregnant women are still being negotiated, Campbell said. She said leave time for pregnant women protects those women from being fired for taking time off to have a child.

Campbell said the GSU met with the administration Monday. The GSU began bargaining Feb. 15 on the smaller issues of its platform.

She said on April 6, the GSU was in the middle of the bargaining process where proposals and counter-proposals are introduced.

“We’re currently bargaining and meeting every week, sometimes twice a week,” she said. “Everything’s kind of all up in the air.”

CMU’s GSU was recognized in 2009, and its three-year contract from 2010-13 expires this summer. The new GSU contract will go into effect July 1 and will be subject to Michigan's new right-to-work laws.

CMU Executive Director of Faculty Personnel Services Matt Serra could not be reached before press time.

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