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Graduate Assistants United
eNewsletter Vol. 3, No. 7, April 19, 2004
http://www.ufgau.org
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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. 

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IN THIS ISSUE:

1.	Spring Social
2.	Executive Officer Election Results/ Call for members of Organizing Committee
3.	Current State of the Card Drive/GAU Certification
4.	International Student Fee
5.	Provost Office’s Health Plan for GAs
6.	Report of UFF Senate Meeting, April 17-18
7.	News of Other GA Unions Nationwide



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1.
GAU SPRING SOCIAL

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21

7PM AT JET SET

On Wednesday, April 21 at 7pm, GAU will be holding its end-of-the-Spring-Semester Social. 
The Social is being co-sponsored by Custom Copies, so not only is there no cover, but there 
will be plenty of free treats: keg beer, wine, sushi from Dragonfly, and appetizers catered by 
Terranova. From 7-10, GAU has reserved Jet Set just for this function; Jet Set opens to the 
general public at 10, but GAs can stay for no cover charge.

Come join your fellow GAs and co-workers to celebrate a successful completion to the 
academic year. After a year in which the administration has attempted to break our graduate 
employee union, together we successfully collected the required amount of signatures to re-certify 
GAU. Also, this social would be a great opportunity to meet the new executive officers and thank 
the previous executive committee for their service and labor that made GAU possible. Finally, for 
those who have never been active in GAU, this would be a great time to ask about how GAU can 
work for you, and how you can work to make GAU better.



2.
Executive Officer Election Results/ Call for members of 
Organizing Committee

On Tuesday, March 23, at its general membership meeting GAU held open elections for members
of its executive committee. Two new co-presidents, a new treasurer, a new grievance officer, and
a new secretary were elected for the upcoming term. Congratulations to the two new
Co-Presidents Victor Romano and Todd Reynolds, and to Erika Gubrium (Treasurer),
Cheri Landry (Grievance Officer), and Erica Pittman (Secretary). Victor will also serve as
Bargaining Chair, and Todd will serve as Publications Chair. Also, Sophie Croisy has accepted
the appointment of International Issues Chair, and Karen Kuhel has accepted the appointment of
Chief Steward. 

Our current Organizing Chair, Chris Tweddle, has expressed interest in looking for new members
of the Organizing Committee. Traditionally, the Organizing Committee has coordinated organizing
and membership events and activities (like the above-mentioned Spring Social), as well as served
as our link and representative to the Statewide UFF Membership Committee. This is another great
opportunity to become more involved in your union, so people interested in helping out in this area
can contact either Chris (tweddle@ufl.edu) or Todd (todd@ufgau.org) for more information.



3. 
Current State of the Card Drive/GAU Certification

After organizers for GAU collected and counted what we believe to be the necessary number of
authorization cards and signatures to certify GAU as the collective bargaining unit for graduate
teaching and research assistants at UF, the cards were submitted to an objective third party for
signature verification. As of April 16, that objective third party had not yet completed their
count/verification of those cards and signatures.

Still, because the expected certification of our Union means that we will be bargaining a new
contract soon, Co-President and Bargaining Chair Victor Romano has asked that anyone wanting
to serve on this committee or wanting to share input on contract language contact him for
more information at:  vromano@ufgau.org


4.
International Student Fee

As a result of GAU’s pressure on the administration, the UF administration held two
open-to-the-public rule-making meetings since the beginning of March in an attempt to implement
the $50 per semester fee to international students. Numerous protestors from GAU and the 
international student community attended the first meeting held March 2, and decried the
discriminatory nature of such an arbitrary fee. At the second meeting, held April 6, members
of GAU’s International Fee Committee including Sophie Croisy, Nishant Shahani, and
Kemal Feriali spoke and questioned the administration’s motives behind this fee. It became
obvious at this meeting that the administration had not thoroughly researched this issue, and
had been implementing the fee without much input from the international student committee.
For example, the administration was not aware of the specifics of plans by “peer institutions”
such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Chicago to waive this fee.
(A media report on the Wisconsin plan can be found at
http://www.badgerherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/08/29/3f4e3ab643409 ) 

Following the April meeting, International Issues Chair Sophie Croisy sent a letter to
Associate Provost Joe Glover asking him for both the transcript of the meeting and a copy
of his recommendations to the Provost, David Colburn, but so far no one has contacted
GAU about that request. Moreover, no decision concerning the fee has been issued. The
current state of the fee at UF is apparently right now awaiting a decision by new UF President
Machen, but GAU is not planning on letting this issue fade into the background. Accordingly,
we are planning further actions against this fee. To get more involved on this issue,
contact Sophie Croisy at scroisy@english.ufl.edu or Todd Reynolds at reynolds@english.ufl.edu.


5.
Provost Office announces plan to subsidize $400/year
toward Health insurence

After years (decades!) of our fight to get GAs at the University of Florida health care
(including two major rallies in the past two years, as well as extensive research and
committee work done by members of the executive committee), GAU reports some progress
made in this field. In a memo to the Deans, Directors, and Department Chairs at UF, the
Provost’s office announced a health insurance benefit program as part of the benefits package
for Graduate Assistants and Fellows, beginning in the Fall Semester. Unfortunately, the
administration’s plan is very rudimentary, and GAU has serious concerns: Under the
proposed plan GAs will have $400 subsidized annually by the university toward the Student 
Health Insurance Plan A or B (provided by Scarborough Health Insurance), or the Scarborough
International Health Insurance Plan.

While we are happy that the Administration has finally decided to act to show that Graduate
Assistants deserve health care, GAU is VERY disappointed in particulars of this administration’s
plan. Among our concerns: 

1.The vast majority of institutions that UF calls its “peers” provide their GAs with much larger
amounts toward insurance; $400 is a mere sliver of what it would cost the typical GA to be
adequately covered for the year. The Scarborough Plan also was primarily designed for
“students,” not workers and employees of the University of Florida. Under the Scarborough
Plan, GAs will have to pay higher premium rates based on age. (For example, under the
current Scarborough Plan B, the costs vary from $930/year to $2296/year, dependent on age.).
GAU opposes on principle a plan that varies its out-of-pocket premiums for the same plan.

2. International students, who are required to purchase one of the approved health care plans
in order to register for classes, insurance rates may be increasing. If the increase in those
approved plans exceeds the $400/year subsidized by the administration, then this “benefit”
is actually more expensive for those GAs.

3. Finally, while GAU has been lobbying and pressuring the administration for decades to
grant GAs health care, the particulars of this plan were not negotiated through the employee
union, something we feel to be a violation of GAU’s rights.

Current Co-President Frank Goeddeke, who has worked hard to get GAs a real health care
plan that will be a part of our employment benefits package, has notified the administration
that a plan that instead has fixed premium with a variable subsidy based on age so that GAs
will all pay the same amount regardless of age, would be a much more beneficial plan for the
graduate employees on campus. As yet, we have not heard any response from the administration on this.

GAU will continue to VEHEMNTLY INSIST that health care benefits be a part of collective
bargaining negotiations (as per state labor law), and looks forward to negotiating real health care
for GAs in the VERY NEAR FUTURE. We are currently in the process of composing an
online survey asking for GA input on what they would most like from their health plan, and if you
are interested in assisting GAU in it’s negotiations on bringing health care to GAs,
contact Victor Romano at vromano@ufgau.org


6. 
Report of UFF Senate Meeting, April 17-18

Because of the rousing success of GAU’s organization/card drive over the past year, the senate
of UFF, our parent organization, voted unanimously to grant its GAU chapters $5000 to continue
to focus on organizing and increasing membership. Of all the locals of UFF, including the Faculty
Unions at UF, Florida State, the University of Central Florida, and the University of South Florida,
GAU at UF experienced the largest membership increase over the past year. GAU at UF
continues to be by far the largest local of UFF in terms of members, and we’re growing. But we 
need more help, and need the GAs at UF to continue to take an active role in their labor union. 


7.
News of Other GA Unions Nationwide

The GAU at the University of South Florida reports that they are currently in the process of 
bargaining a new contract with their administration. GAU at USF was certified in a PERC decision 
last year to be the representative in collective bargaining for graduate teaching and research 
assistants at USF. 

At the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Graduate Assistants are also vocally protesting 
an international student fee levied upon them by their administration. In response, 250 international 
students are withholding payment of the SEVIS fee in protest. That administration, headed by 
former UF President and Current UMASS Chancellor John Lombardi, has threatened to 
administratively withdraw those students from courses if these students do not pay their fees by 
April 20. A media report of this protest can be found at 
http://www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/cspstory.cfm?id_no=4160162 . 
The Grad Employee Union at UMASS maintains a website with updates on the status of this protest: 
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~geo/sevisfee.htm.

Our graduate employee colleagues at Columbia University, frustrated that their administration has 
refused to recognize their right to unionize, have decided to strike. In 2002, the NLRB decided 
against the administration at Columbia, concluding that Grad Employees have the right to form a 
labor union. The administration, hoping to receive a better decision from a politically stacked board, 
has appealed that NLRB decision, and has thus delayed the employee union’s recognition. A letter 
explaining the grad worker’s decision to strike can be found at http://www.2110uaw.org/gseu/

Perhaps more pertinent to our situation at UF, grad employees at the University of Wisconsin are 
currently deciding whether they, too, should have a work action in response to their administrations 
unwillingness to negotiate an adequate health care benefit. The grad union at UW-Madison 
anticipates a new administration proposal as early as Monday afternoon, and its members are 
currently deciding whether a strike vote should be taken. For more information, visit www.taa-madison.org



That’s all for now. Hope to see everyone at the Spring Social.

Not without a fight,
Todd Reynolds, 
GAU Co-President