Your Union, Your Voice! Join Graduate Assistants United!


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 start of the Spring
semester.
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IN THIS ISSUE:

International Fee Campaign/Campus Equity Week
New Contract Ratified-Worker's Right's Guaranteed
GAU's New Website
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1.	International Fee Campaign/Campus Equity Week (Wednesday, 10-2,
Turlington Plaza)

According to an article in Thursday's Alligator
(http://www.alligator.org/pt2/051020audit.php), Florida's auditor general
stated what GAU has been arguing for the past three years-that UF acted
without authority in imposing the International Student Fee. Still, the UF
administration refuses to budge on its practice of taxing international
students-a large portion of whom are international graduate workers- $50
per semester solely because they are from another country. For
international graduate assistants, this amounts to a discriminatory $50 pay
cut based purely on national origin, not an insignificant cut considering
relatively low stipends and the high cost of attending graduate school for
international GAs. While the administration publicly trumpets a commitment
to improving campus equality, its own actions-like the imposition of this
discriminatory fee-have hurt the efforts to produce a welcoming campus
climate. Not surprisingly, international student enrollment is on the
decline.

Graduate assistants do almost 50% of the undergraduate instruction and over
50% of the research at UF. Obviously as GAs we are not compensated as
regular or adjunct faculty, and this allows our high-paid administration to
maintain a low overhead. International graduate workers, making up a much
larger portion of graduate labor than of the general student population,
create value for the University; yet with this fee international graduate
workers are treated as second-class educational employees of this
institution of higher learning. On this coming Wednesday in celebration of
Campus Equity Week (a week in which graduate and faculty unions nation-wide
draw attention to the disparities in compensation for graduate and adjunct
faculty), GAU will be in Turlington Plaza distributing information on the
unfair treatment of graduate assistants and international graduate workers.
Please stop by on Wednesday to say hello and voice your concerns on this
fee.


2.	Collective Bargaining Agreement Ratified-Our Rights Secured

At the Fall general membership meeting, the collective bargaining agreement
between GAU and the University Board of Trustees was ratified by unanimous
vote. Thanks to this contract, bargained by the volunteer graduate
assistants of GAU's bargaining team, we have our rights as workers of
UF-such as (among other things) office space, fair evaluation procedures,
the $500 health insurance subsidy, a 3.6% pay increase, and a grievance
procedure to resolve work disputes-guaranteed by state law. To view the
contract, visit
http://www.ufgau.org/NewPageBeta2/Document%20Dump/2005contract.htm. If you
think your rights as a worker under this contract are being violated by
your employer, please contact GAU's executive committee
(officers@ufgau.org) or Deeb Kitchen, GAU Grievance Officer
(dkitchen@soc.ufl.edu).

While this contract guarantees our rights through 2008, we can open up
certain clauses such as pay increases and the health insurance subsidy
every year. In March, GAU will once again negotiate with the UF
administration our health insurance plan. Any plan must be approved through
GAU. If you would like to get involved with your union by participating on
GAU's bargaining committee, please contact Bargaining Committee Chair/GAU
Co-President Victor Romano (vromano@ufl.edu).



3.	New GAU Web Site

GAU has renovated its website. We now have made it easier for workers to
get information on their union, including a history of GAU at UF,
information on how to get better involved in GAU, photographs from recent
GAU activities, and an officer contact list. Please visit www.ufgau.org and
let us know what you think.



That's all for now. See you on Wednesday in Turlington Plaza.




In Solidarity,
Todd Reynolds
PhD Candidate and TA in the Department of English
GAU Co-President

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