------------------------------------------------------------ Graduate Assistants United eNewsletter Vol. 2, No. 8, March 25, 2003 http://www.ufgau.org ------------------------------------------------------------ You are being sent this newsletter because GAU represents you in employment matters as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Florida. ============================================================ IN THIS ISSUE: Spring Social, Wednesday, March 26, 7:00 PM - ??? GAU Officer Elections GAU Emergency Membership meeting Regular GAU Membership meeting Comparison of GA Compensation Package at UF to UM International Student Issues GAU Happy Hour ============================================================ SPRING SOCIAL The Spring Social will be held tommorrow night, Wednesday, March 26, from 7:00 PM - ????. The event will be at The Drink, at the corner of SW 2nd. Ave., and SW 2nd. St. Open to ALL graduate assistants and a guest. Free beer, wine, hors d'oeuvres, and desserts. You should have received a flier in the campus mail by now, but fliers are available online at: http://www.ufgau.org/fg/gauspringsocial2003.pdf See you all there! GAU OFFICER ELECTIONS GAU Members should have recieved ballots in the campus mail at thier work address already. These need to be completed as soon as possible, and returned to the GAU office in the enclosed envelope. We will be counting the ballots at 2:00 PM Friday, so you do not have much time to vote and still have campus mail return the ballots on time. GAU members may also vote in person at 240 Norman Hall, on Wednesday, March 26, from 12 noon - 1:00 PM. GAU members may also vote in person at the Spring Social. GAU EMERGENCY MEMBERSHIP MEETING All GAU members are encouraged to attend an emergency meeting, on Wednesday, March 26, at 12 noon in 240 Norman Hall. Tom Auxter, President of the United Faculty of Florida, will be there to answer all of our questions about our certification with the Board of Trustees. REGULAR GAU MEMBERSHIP MEETING The regular Spring GAU Membership meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 16, at 7:00 PM, with pizza served at 6:30 PM. The meeting will be held in CSE E222. COMPARISON OF GA COMPENSATION PACKAGE AT UF TO UM Several weeks ago, UF President Young made a comment in an Alligator article that the administration is planning to make UF "... nationally recognized as a top-tier institution in league with the University of California at Berkley and University of Michigan." To help acheive that goal, they have budgeted $500,000 "for improved stipends, health insurance and a strengthened Alumni Fellowship program." With 4,000 graduate assistants, and about 600 fellows, that works out to be about $108 per person. To put things in perspective, post-docs at UF were recently given health insurance, at a cost of about $3,000 per year for a single, and about $6,000 for a family. We did a line by line comparison of how much it would cost UF to match the contractual minimums provided to graduate assistants at UM. The result is an increase of about $27.5 million, over a 50% increase in the current compensation package (not counting tuition waivers). Assuming UF increases the compensation to graduate assistants at UF by the $500,000 per year, it will take UF over 40 years to match the compensation package at the University of Michigan, assuming no inflation and assuming graduate assistants at UM do not receive any more pay increases. The line by line comparison is available online: http://www.ufgau.org/fg/UM.pdf INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ISSUES GAU has been provided a seat on the international center's student advisory committee. We will be meeitng with that group for the first time on Thursday. GAU has requested a special consultation (as provided for in our contract) with the President to discuss international student health insurance issues. The meeting is currently in the process of being scheduled. Our objective is for the International Center to provide students with a comprehensive list of health insurance options, rather than the current practice of supporting only one company (only one company is listed on the UFIC's web site). Further, we want to see payroll deducation for health insurance for international graduate assistants (domestic graduate assistants currently have this option available to them). In order to register for Fall classes in the Spring, you must already have bought health insurance for the Fall. We do not think this is fair that a person is required to buy insurance many months before the effective date. We'd rather see payroll deduction for health insurance as an option. We are working toward that goal now. We are currently working on providing a comprehensive list of available health insurance options on our website. We'll post this information as soon as it is completed. GAU HAPPY HOUR Because the Everyday Gourmet moved downtown, and because it is becoming the busy part of the semester, GAU is suspending Happy Hours for the remainder of this semester. ----------------------------------------------------------------- You are being sent this email because Graduate Assistants United represents you in University employment matters. If you would like to be added to the list, please send an email to frank.goeddeke@cba.ufl.edu -----------------------------------------------------------------