GRADUATE ASSISTANT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

 1.  Am I a graduate assistant?

 The Collective Bargaining Agreement (Contract, or Agreement) between the University Board of Trustees (UBOT) and Graduate Assistants United (GAU) currently covers more than 4000 working graduate students at the university.  If you are a graduate assistant, graduate researcher, graduate associate, “lecturer,” “instructor,” or “teaching assistant” you are probably in the “bargaining unit” covered by the contract.  The best way to tell if you are in the unit is to contact the union office at 392-0274 or organizing@ufgau.org.

 2.  What is Graduate Assistants United?

 For three decades we have been a union of professional workers from the hard sciences, natural sciences, humanities, medical fields, and social sciences.  We are citizens of the global academy from all continents.  Aside from the student body itself, GAU is perhaps the most diverse organization on UF’s campus.  In 2003 GAU got thousands of graduate assistants to sign “authorization cards” re-affirming our right to represent some 4000 graduate workers.  We gained national attention last year struggling against discriminatory international student fees and securing health benefits for UF grad workers.  Most importantly, GAU is you.  We do not provide a “service” for your dues.  Rather, we ask you to join the cadre of volunteers who is leaving the university better than they found it.

 3.  Why do we need a contract?

 Administrations come and go.  Some are well-intentioned, and some are not.  The contract protects your tuition waiver, salary, academic freedom, and the health benefits subsidy that we won in 2004.  Without a contract, the administration could simply cut any of these benefits unilaterally.  If you don’t think it will happen, think again.  Past administrators have threatened to remove or reduce tuition waivers, have offered GAU 0% raises, and many fought for years against a health insurance benefit.  Most department chairs and graduate coordinators are our best allies—but they need the support of our contract and our union to encourage administration to take the same path.

 4.  I like my department, why should I join the union?

 If you like what you have, help us bring your department’s model behavior to the rest of the campus.  Contrary to myth, union membership is strongest in those departments that treat their graduates well.  Those workers know the importance of democratic voice and fair representation, and they join to bring those rights and benefits to their colleagues across campus.

 5.  What is an “open shop” state, and why should I join if dues are not required?

 The late Martin Luther King was a vocal opponent of the “open shop” state, where workers were not required to pay any union dues but still received all the benefits of unionism.  “Open shops” require that members voluntarily and willfully join the union.  You are not automatically a member.  The best way to make the “open shop” a union shop is to let your colleagues know that you joined.  The burden is lightened when we all pitch in.

 6.  What do I get for my dues?

 Many unions rattle of the “benefits” of joining—cheap credit cards, cheap life insurance, great home loan rates, local discount partnerships—and we do get those things.  But our workers can not afford most of these even with great union deals.  Like most good organizations, ours is not about what you “get” for your dues, but what you “give” to one another while we struggle for better benefits and pay.  What do you get?  A little heartache, a lot of knowledge about the way a modern university works, a group of colleagues that will be your friends for life, and the ability to be more than a face in this crowd of thousands.

 7.  What role does GAU play in the lives of international graduate workers?

Because of difficult re-entry into the United States, hundreds of innocent grads from friendly nations were afraid to return to their homelands after the 9-11 attacks.  GAU joined academic unions across the nation in supporting the continuing exchange of scholars and ideas across the boundaries of nation and political affiliation.  GAU made national headlines by exposing so-called “anti-terror” fees for international students as ploys to generate revenue.  Our state office waged a protracted legal struggle in the capital and the courts.  In response to this pressure, a legislative audit committee declared UF’s fee “unstatutory.”  The administration was forced to eliminate the fee.  International workers have been critical in revitalizing our organization and struggling for the health benefits subsidy that secures a reimbursement for both domestic and foreign student-workers.  International membership in GAU is protected by U. S. federal law.  International workers maintain prominent leadership roles in our union.

 8.  I don’t like unions.  I’m a scholar, not a factory worker.  Why bother?

 It is time to face the facts.  With over 4000 grad workers and less than 2000 faculty, grads do half the primary instruction at UF, and much more of the research.  UF uses your labor to bring prestige, research dollars, and tax dollars to the institution.  Public sector unions like GAU bring democratic debate and open discourse to the higher education sector.  Most of the problems people have with unions are anecdotal stories about political struggles at the national union office level.  But GAU has openly challenged its national faculty affiliates (American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association) on a number of issues affecting grad workers.  We are part of a reform movement within unions, not the old guard.