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Graduate Assistants United
eNewsletter Vol. 2, No.1, August 28, 2002
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You are being sent this newsletter because GAU represents you in
employment matters as a Graduate Assistant at the University of
Florida.  Subscribe/unsubscribe information is at the end of this
email.

NOTE - The new graduate assistants are not on our mailing list
yet.  Please forward this to new graduate assistants in your
department.  Thanks.

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IN THIS ISSUE:
GAU Family Picnic - September 1
GAU Welcome Social Event - September 6
Minimum Stipend Grievance
Bargaining Update
Teaching Assistant Training Workshops
Copy Fee Increase
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GAU FAMILY PICNIC - Sunday, September 1
Most of GAU's social events are keg parties or Happy Hours at 
bars.  This year, we decided to do something to appeal to
graduate assistants with families, because graduate assistants 
with families have the most to lose and most to gain from union 
efforts.  So we are having a family picnic, Sunday, September 1, 
at Lake Wauburg, from 3 - 6 PM.  All graduate assistants are welcome 
to attend, whether or not you have a family!  BBQ food and soda are
provided.  Lake Wauburg is 9 miles south of University on US 441.  
Go to the South Pavillion #1 entrance.  You need your Gator One card 
for admission.  No alcohol or pets are allowed.  Bring your frisbee 
if you have one.  If you plan to attend, please email Kevin Taaffe, 
so we can make sure we have enough food to go around (we will plan 
for late-comers though, if you decide to come at the last minute).  
His email is: taaffe@ufl.edu  For further information about this 
event, please visit our website at  http://www.ufgau.org

GAU WELCOME SOCIAL EVENT - Friday, September 6
Our traditional keg party Welcome New Graduate Assistants Social
event will be held Friday, September 6, at the pool/clubhouse of
Sun Bay Apartments, 708 SW 16th Ave.  The event starts at 6 PM and
ends very late.  We will provide burgers, veggie burgers, beer, and 
soda.  We will also be having a Chili Cook-Off contest - and giving 
away prizes for best meat chili, best veggie chili, hottest chili, 
and most unusual chili.  Directions and further information about 
this event is on our website:   http://www.ufgau.org

MINIMUM STIPEND GRIEVANCE
Last year, 417 graduate assistants were not paid the minimum stipend
as outlined in Article 23.5 of our contractual labor agreement.  We
filed a grievance, and the University denied our grievance at Steps
1, 2, and 3.  We decided to continue the fight to enforce our contract,
and have filed notice that we are taking this grievance to arbitration.
A tentative arbitration date has been set for September 19.  We'll keep
you informed of the progress of this case.  To see our contractual labor
agreement, go to http://www.ufgau.org/2001contract.shtml

BARGAINING UPDATE
We have a two-year contractual labor agreement with the University that 
runs until January, 2003.  The second year of the contract (this year),
salary and benefit issues are re-negotiated, with the remainder of the
agreement kept intact.  We are currently at impasse with the University
on these negotiations.  The Florida Legislature has dictated a 2.5% raise
to all graduate assistants, effective October 1.  There appears to be some
ambiguity as to whether new graduate assistants are entitled to this raise
or not, even though the University will be funded for ALL graduate
assistants to receive the raise.  We are still negotiating with the 
University to provide health benefits for graduate assistants.  Stay tuned.

TEACHING ASSISTANT TRAINING WORKSHOPS
The University provides free training to help you become a better teacher.
The better reputation graduate assistants have for teaching on campus, the
more bargaining power that gives us for negotiating higher salaries and 
benefits.  We encourage you consider participating in this free program.
Training is normally on Tuesday afternoons/evenings.  If you attend 8 of
the general training sessions, or 4 of the technology training sessions,
you will recieve a certificate, and your department chair will receive a letter
from the Office of Academic Technology, commending you for your participation.
Pre-registration is requested.  For further information, please contact
Dr. Winifred Cooke, wcooke@ufl.edu, or visit the website: 
http://grove.ufl.edu/~teachctr/taresources/main.html

COPY FEE INCREASE
Normally, in order to maximize our effectiveness, GAU keeps its focus on
things that pertain to our employment with the University.  Occasionally,
there is an issue that affects us indirectly, and we make notice of it
in our enewsletter.  Here is one such notice emailed to me recently from
Matthew Reetz that you may be interested in:
    Here is something that I think deserves the attention of the graduate
students on campus.  UF/Xerox is changing the copy card systems in all UF
libraries.  They are reducing the number of copiers available in many
libraries (e.g., the total number of machines at Marston will drop to as few
as 9) and increasing the price per page to an exorbitant $0.13 per page.
Kinko's charges 8 cents and Office Depot charges 5 cents per page by
comparison.  The difference may seem small on a per page basis, but
considering that many graduate students must copy hundreds of pages per
semester, this price increase is unacceptable.  I have written Barbara
Oliver (baroliv@mail.uflib.ufl.edu) at the copy/print service expressing my
disapproval and urge other graduate students to do the same.  

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