------------------------------------------------------------ Graduate Assistants United eNewsletter Vol. 3, No. 1, September 2, 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. If you have recently graduated or ceased being a graduate assistant, you will automatically be removed from this mailing list at the end of September. ============================================================ IN THIS ISSUE: Out-of-State Tuition Waivers GAU Organizing Drive GAU Picnic Library West Closing for 2 Years Medical School Health Insurance ============================================================ OUT OF STATE TUITION WAIVERS Tuition waivers for Graduate Assistants are specified in the collective bargaining agreement. The University has made a unilateral change to the tuition waiver policy, which we believe is not legal. The University now requires all U.S., out-of-state graduate assistants to apply for in-state residency, or else their tuition waiver will only cover the in-state portion, and the graduate assistant will be responsible for paying the out-of-state portion of tuition and fees. If you are a U.S. student, and are being held responsible for the out-of-state portion of your tuition or fees, be sure to immediately contact our GAU Grievance Officer, Todd Reynolds reynolds@english.ufl.edu We will use whatever means we have available to protect your tuition waiver. International graduate assistants should not be affected by this change in policy, as international graduate assistants cannot by law attain Florida residency. GAU ORGANIZING DRIVE After over 20 years of negotiating with GAU, the University Administration is refusing to negotiate a new contract with GAU. They have agreed though, to recognize GAU when we collect signed authorization cards from over 50% of the graduate assistants at UF. We are well into that effort already. If you have not yet signed an authorization card or would like to volunteer to help collect these cards, please call the GAU office at 392-0274. The more volunteer hours spent with this organizing drive, the sooner we can negotiate a new contract and the stronger our union will be. http://www.ufgau.org/ GAU PICNIC GAU will once again hold a picnic to welcome all new and returning graduate assistants. This picnic will be held Sunday, September 28, from 1 PM-4 PM, at Lake Wauburg, North gate. Food will be served at 1:30 PM. Bring a guest, the whole family, and a dish to pass if you wish to. There will be swimming, volleyball, sailing, canoeing, and other recreational activities available. No alcohol, please. You will need your Gator One card for entry. Lake Wauburg is located approximately 8 miles south of University Avenue on 13th Street (US 441). Picnic flier is at http://www.ufgau.org/fg/GAUpicnic2003.pdf LIBRARY WEST It is hard to believe, but a major research university is closing the main library for 2 years! Until January 2006, graduate students will not be able to browse books in the Library West collection. Patrons will need to request books and then wait up to 24 hours for their retrieval. There is also likely to be a shortage of study space on campus. The Graduate Student Council is organizing an email campaign to protest this closing. If you would like to voice your feelings about this closing, please see the Graduate Student Council's website: http://grove.ufl.edu/~gsc/Library_Update.htm MEDICAL SCHOOL HEALTH INSURANCE We have been made aware of a rumor in the medical school that GAU is not allowing the college to provide medical benefits to the graduate assistants there. This rumor is completely false. There is nothing GAU would like better than for the medical school to set the example for the rest of the University and to work out the implementation problems for providing graduate assistants health benefits. By law, the University has been required to negotiate in good faith with GAU. It would be a breach of good faith for the University to reject GAU's demand for health insurance for graduate assistants, and then turn around and give some graduate assistants health insurance. However, in our last contract negotiations with the University, we requested the following language: "18.6(a) Nothing shall prevent the Board or the University from providing benefits beyond the benefits specified above." This language is on lines 41 and 42 of our last proposal: http://www.ufgau.org/fg/ThirdProposal2002.pdf This contract language was rejected by the University. We have even offered several times recently to open a new round of contract negotiations, but these requests have been ignored or denied. Clearly it is the University Administration that is preventing the college from providing health benefits and not GAU. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 GAU Co- President frank.goeddeke@cba.ufl.edu -----------------------------------------------------------------