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Hi Unit Members!
We recently made a switch to our newsletter. There will still be weekly article updates for bargaining in this blog! The rest of the newsletter will be sent out monthly. PLEASE attend the weekly bargaining sessions - even if you cannot listen to most or all of the session, increased attendance on zoom and in person is invaluable to our efforts to reach these goals. Living wage proposal MUCH lower than the total cost of UNPAID labor GAU began the bargaining session with an astounding report on GAs wages and the cost of living. A survey of a significant portion of the GA population (over 400 people) showed that 45% were unable to cover monthly expenses on their salary, 20% work a second job, 81% are unable to save for an emergency and 28% experience food insecurity! The causes of these major problems are quite apparent. The cost of living soars due to rent increases, and major inflation. In fact, around 82% of GAs pay more than ⅓ of their income on rent. GAs work an average of 31.5 hours a week despite being paid for a mere 20 (in most cases). Our bargaining team ran the numbers and came up with an astounding figure. The total value for UNPAID GA labor is 75 million whereas our reasonable ask for a living wage for our valuable labor would only cost 48 million! GAU gave a compelling presentation to the UF bargaining team, and ended with testimonials from GAs about how their low stipend negatively impacts their wellbeing. This lead into a powerful proposal for a living wage of $41,675 a year. While the stipend is agreed on in article 10, our argument for a living wage is an argument that also rests on article 7 which deals with workload and defining what UF "counts" when determining paid labor. Updates by article: Article 10 - Stipends -GAU starts the session with a strong proposal for an increase in stipend to $41,675 a year and achieve a living wage for GAs. -The proposal includes merit raises as 5.6% of the GA salary pool and a lump sum raise of $2,300 for 12 month GAs and 1725 for 9 month GAs every year. Article 7 - Workload -GAU proposed several changes including -The addition of language to distinguish between academic and GA work. So that grievances in cases where an RA is overworked will be prosecutable. - Requiring UF to offer avenues if GAs are working more than their appointed FTE. This means options such as additional pay, reduction in actual FTE, increase in paid FTE, etc. -Departments must also review workload expectations and report them every year -Lastly, departments are encouraged to make a clear distinction between paid work and academic work. In the case that the department makes no distinction the default is proposed to be 20 hours with an additional 3 hours multiplied by the number of research credit hours they are enrolled in. Article 4 - Appointments, reappointments, termination -GAU discussed changes that our team made since UF last proposed. -Language was added back in to explain the purpose of the article and clarify the term through which a letter of offer is valid. -Added language to encourage the university to offer 12 month contracts whenever possible. -Added a procedure for offering a personal improvement plan (PIP) and notice to a GA if the department is considering not renewing a contract based on performance. -GAU and UF also discussed finding a solution so that 9 month GAs can be offered summer employment but to prevent departments from using these appointments to not pay the students tuition and/or not offer a 12 month appointment. Article 5 - Employee Performance Evaluations -GAU added language to this article in order to create a default evaluation result in the event that no evaluation occurs. They also clarified that evaluations must state explicitly what the result of the evaluation is. -GAU also added a requirement that employees must be offered a PIP if given an unsatisfactory evaluation and a schedule of improvements. Article 21 - Discipline -UF added what information must be included in notification of an investigation -UF agrees to drop a clause that will protect those who use a bathroom that does not match their birth sex. Article 2X (UF proposed article) - Joint training -UF proposed a new article that would mandate both bargaining teams to attend a joint training every 3 years, before beginning the full book bargaining process. The training is a service offered by the state. Article 28 - University of Florida Regulations -UF and GAU bargaining teams discussed the new regulations that were added. Several subsections were crossed out, this seems to create more strange situations but does not account for them in the regulations. GAU will discuss before moving forward. Article 16 - Use of Facilities (GAU Rights) -UF returned GAU’s previous proposal and attempted to eliminate GAU’s released time (RT) positions for GA’s entirely. -UF also removed GAU’s proposed parking pass addition to the article Upcoming Events
2/21 Wednesday - Organizing Meeting 5-7pm at Carr Hall 611 and Zoom 2/22 Thursday - Bargaining session 1-3pm at Reitz G310 and ZOOM 2/24 Saturday - OPEN Healthcare Committee Meeting on Discord Bargaining Updates GAs deserve a 42k living wage The GAU bargaining team is just getting started on Article 7 (workload) and has already made some major headway. GAU has always held strong in our position that GAs provide far more value to UF than a true “part time” employee (clip) and deserve a living wage, which is currently 42k for Gainesville residents (MIT calculator) due to drastic rent increases and inflation. These past couple of bargaining sessions have left UF a bit tongue tied as they struggle to respond to our arguments that with 32% of GAs stating that they are overworked on a weekly basis and many working well over 40hrs a week - GAs are not properly compensated for their efforts. Most GAs feel they have no choice but to work overtime, with everything that’s unpaid being considered “academic development” but GAU refuses to back down on such a blatant violation of labor rights. Furthermore the sheer number of hours GAs put into their jobs and research make the prospect of a second job nearly impossible for most, and is not even an option for the large percentage of international GAs in our unit. GAU is confident on this article and feels it is starting from a better position in comparison to last year. Updates by Article: Article 5 (Employee Evaluations) Only contention is creating the right that we get at least one PIP to improve after a negative evaluation, this goes in hand with Article 4. Article 8 (Leave) UF seemed amendable to changing sister/brother to sibling and his/her to their in this article as long as it stays consistent across the CBA. They also conceded to the previously mentioned first-semester births/adoption leave exception. They also agreed to GAU proposed changes to 8.4 - unpaid leave, ensuring 8 weeks at a time and agreed to the proposed notification timeline. Check back next week for updates on the other topics and articles that were discussed this past session: Article 20 (Other Employee Rights), Article 21 (Discipline), Article 22 (Grievance), Article 16 (UFF-GAU Rights) and Housing. Organizing updates Card campaign success! We reached our card goal, first crisis averted! In October we started a campaign to get 1,776 showing of interest cards signed (40% of all UF GA’s). Without these cards and without 60% GAU membership we would be decertified by the end of the semester. Thank you to all 1,864 GAs who signed a card. You are the reason we have another year and the reason we will get to 60% membership by March 2025! Remember that the fight has only just begun. We need everyone’s help to reach our goal and stop decertification. Your union will spend the next year protecting your labor rights, bargaining for better working conditions, pay and benefits and continuing to build the strongest community UF has ever seen (and it includes every single one of you). Keep an eye out for a post-Blitz Happy Hour social - COMING SOON Healthcare Updates List of mental healthcare providers GAU has recently received and posted a list of mental healthcare providers in the Gainesville area that take GatorGradCare insurance. This list is from July 2022 but should be mostly accurate. See the healthcare section of ufgau.org for more GGC information! What’s missing from GatorGradCare?Our healthcare committee is holding an open meeting this weekend and all are welcome to share their ideas–you don’t have to already be on the committee! Join us on Saturday, February 24, at 2:00pm on the committee voice channel in discord, you can access the committee channel by assigning yourself to healthcare under #roles. If you need help joining, just ask in discord! Compensation for GGC Screening With a quick screening and short survey for GatorGradCare, you will get a $50 amazon gift card. Last day to participate is Thursday, 2/22. Check your email for this opportunity. Connect With Us Email us: [email protected] Discord: join Visit our office hours: 8:30-11:30 Mon,Wed,Thurs and 12:45-2:45 Tues (Yon Hall Rm 224) Find us at a tabling event: NONE THIS WEEK  It’s BLITZ week! 2/12 Monday - 2/16 Friday - Tabling at Newell Hall with Valentines 10am-5pm -> volunteers all over campus! Talk with us! 2/14 Wednesday - Tabling at Sun Terrace 10am-5pm NO ORGANIZING MEETING 2/15 Thursday - Bargaining Session (Reitz 3320 or ZOOM) 1pm-3pm 2/16 Friday - Tabling at PHHP 10am-5pm GAU LOVES new members Valentines day is often cluttered with half-hearted, overly commercialized expressions of love. But there is nothing half-hearted about joining your labor union. We are so happy to welcome those who have recently become members and we encourage you to spread the word about our efforts, successes and the benefits of becoming a member. Just this past week our bargaining team engaged in a contentious debate about what UF considers our workload to be, and I am sure it’s no surprise that UF vastly undervalues the labor of their over 4,400 GAs. This is exactly why we need to continue to grow and fight for better working conditions! Are there risks to joining? NO! If you have friends that are concerned about joining the GAU because they fear legal repercussions or issues from the university please share with them that we are a legal entity! This means that the university must bargain with us in “good faith” and uphold our collective bargaining agreement which is what our bargaining team does almost every week! It also means that your employer cannot threaten employees with unemployment for joining the union, and they cannot shut down any efforts by employees to improve their working conditions. This comes from the National Labor Rights Act and extends to discussing working conditions with co-workers and over social media! So share our instagram clips! Current legislature in Florida prevent UFF (and therefore GAU) from removing dues directly from one’s paycheck. While this does add an extra step to joining as a member. It also means that the University is now no longer linked to our dues payment system and therefore has no access to the information on who is and is not a GAU member. Now tell them to watch last week’s bargaining session (below) if they need more convincing! Bargaining Updates from Thursday Feb 8th See YouTube for Full Recording UF equates working our 20 (contractually-obligated) hours to a strike On Feb 8th, in our latest bargaining session - UF GAU attempted to codify a defined distinction between paid work research assistants do for the university, and the unpaid research we do for our academic development. The blurring of these lines greatly benefits UF, in that it makes it easier to overwork research assistants. Last year, UF stated we do not deserve a living wage because we only work 20 hours per week. Furthermore, they said if GAs are working more than 20 hours per week, they would be a grievable contract violation. Now that we are attempting to define overwork so that those grievances are actually winnable, UF actually called working within our 20 contractually obligated hours an illegal strike. UF is so dependent on unpaid excess work from GAs, it has to resort to making illegitimate claims to protect that status quo. Furthermore, our grievance team asked UF to communicate with all departments to disseminate the information that all GA’s that are not under other circumstances (restrictions still apply to international students) are now able to have outside work.They also requested data on the distribution of last semester’s merit raises, which should be provided soon. Updates by Article: Article 22 (Grievances) -The main changes we proposed allowed for extended times for the grievance process - allowing for 15 day extensions at each stage; extending retroactive pay from 45 days to 120; clarifying that once there is a final arbitration, there is a 7 day window to enact any remedies from the case -Our team also proposed a new process so we can offer names to fill out the board should there be vacancies Article 21 (Discipline) The grievance team proposed a few minor changes and clarifications after UF’s previous proposal -Last time, UF removed a statement that just cause for discipline didn’t need to “directly affect the interests of the University” -> GAU added this back in because it seems like a potential issue for GAs (e.g., student code of conduct and social media) -> UF claims they removed this because they don’t want to have to prove this - GAU asked UF to exhaustively list the steps of progressive discipline that may be enacted for transparency - In GAU’s first time proposing this article in full book, we included a new protection for students disciplined for using a gendered bathroom that doesn’t match with their birth sex -In UF’s last counterproposal, they removed this, saying it sets a precedent for “prescribing” a punishment for a certain issue -> In this counterproposal, we put this protection back in, specifying that they can only discipline with a written reprimand on the first offense which they still didn’t seem receptive to -> GAU asked them to come back with an alternative they may be more open to Article 7 (Workload) The main change offered to this article is that we included a way to address excessive workload, by combining the hourly equivalent of your FTE and factoring in real hours from any relevant research / teaching credits -> UF team insisted this would never be okay because it brings in “academic” requirements into the “employee” contract *UF insisted for RAs which have overlapping research with their PIs, this would be an academic issue and they would need to go through the academic grievance / complaint route (starting with their advisor, moving up through the assistant dean / dean / OMBUDS) Pre-Blitz Social Our first social of the semester was a resounding success! We had a full room of dedicated members who came to eat good food and learn about our organizing success, BLITZ 2.0 and our revamped discord. We also gave tutorials on our organizing tools and gathered much needed support from our amazing community of members for this week’s campus-wide canvasing event. We also Hand-Printed custom t-shirts that you may see around campus in the coming weeks. If you couldn’t make it to the social or sign-up for a blitz shift you can always help by encouraging your cohort, friends, lab mates, etc. to be open to conversations with our volunteers this week and share your opinion about the importance of our labor union! We are excited to see what this week brings. Stop by and grab a GAU valentine! Even if you can’t help out with this week’s BLITZ we would love to see you at our table! We printed custom GAU valentines that will be at our table all week. If every member shared the love and convinced a non-member to join we would make our 60% membership goal in no time! (Keep in mind we have over 20% membership right now!) Can you spread the love and convince 1 PERSON to join GAU this week? Do you have a friend that’s simply been forgetting to finish the sign up? Every new member adds to our collective power and gets us one step closer to our goal. You saw what UF thinks of our hard work! GatorGradCare Wellness Screenings Check your email and schedule your GatorWell screening! With a quick screening and short survey you will get a $50 amazon gift card. Take advantage of this benefit and come see us while you're at it. We will have a table at each screening check-in location. Sign a card if you haven't already or come chat with us about our union. Connect With Us Email us: [email protected] DISCORD: link Join our office hours: 8:30-11:30 Mon,Wed,Thurs and 12:45-2:45 Tues (Yon Hall Rm 224) Find us at a tabling event: 2/12-2/16 10am-5pm Newell Hall, 2/14 10am-5pm at Sun Terrace and 2/16 10am-5pm PHHP   Upcoming Events
2/5 Monday - Tabling at Plaza of the Americas 10am-2pm 2/6 Tuesday - Tabling at IFAS Millhopper (Fisheries) 1pm-5pm BLITZ Kickoff Social - Rhines Hall Rm 125 5pm-7pm 2/7 Wednesday- Tabling at Plaza of the Americas 10am-2pm - Organizing Meeting 5-7pm Zoom 2/8 Thursday - Tabling at Veterinary Medicine 1pm-5pm - Bargaining session 1-3pm at Reitz G320 and Zoom NEXT WEEK: 2/12-16 - BLITZ (sign up here) GAU LOVES your support We are kicking off February with a pre-BLITZ social this upcoming Tuesday. We are excited to come together as a community, show solidarity and eat delicious food. All members are welcome to join. We will be demonstrating our organizing tools, discord revamp and printing custom T-shirts! (Please bring a white T-shirt and spread the word)! Our blitz is quickly approaching and next week we hope you will join us as we canvas campus to save our union. Do you have 2 hours to spare next week? More? Even if you just learned about our union, we can use your help! GAU will give you all the tools you need (and a more experienced buddy) to join in on the fun. SIGN UP Bargaining Updates from Thursday Feb 1st See YouTube for Full Recording Article 5 - Employee Performance Evaluations
Article 8 - Leaves of Absence
Article 20 - Other Employee Rights
Graduate Housing - Maguire Village/UVS (help and information needed) The McNair Bostick Memorial wooden bench swing is missing! Despite several attempts to garner more information, it is still unclear if the bench was stolen or possibly thrown out or sold by UF housing. This is incredibly disrespectful to the graduate student community and his family. Furthermore:
We need more information about the damage and intentional changes happening to the area. We also need advocacy from graduate students who these issues affect! Student government refused to hear the complaint that votes were not counted and that there is no graduate housing senator. Additionally, SG has no list of who lives in graduate housing, and this perpetuates the problem of ballots not being properly issued. More faces and voices advocating for graduate housing rights will mean more accountability for UF. If you have any information, or want to be involved in any way please email: [email protected] or join our discord and add the housing role to gain access to the housing committee channel and join in the conversation. Organizing Updates Nearly there, and just in time for BLITZ! Our current card count is 1465 so we only need 311 more to reach our goal of 40% (1776). We have had cards mailed in from all over the state and personally collected and delivered by GA volunteers and stewards in nearly every department. Of course this is only the beginning of our fight to save our union. This will give us another year (until March 2025) to get to the 60% membership benchmark that we need to keep our union’s certification. We are just over 30% membership currently after getting set back to 0% less than 1 year ago. To get to 60% in time we would need to gain ~30 members every week.Thats a big task but, every conversation helps! Talk to your fellow GA’s and let them know why YOU don’t want to lose GAU. Florida will continue to pass down legislation that puts members of our community at risk, our labor union is so vital to protecting everyone in our community from injustice. Remind your friends that the benefits of joining far outweigh the cost and the deadline is NOW! GatorGradCare Wellness Screenings - Get a free $50 gift card! Check your email and schedule your GatorWell screening! With a quick screening and short survey you will get a $50 amazon gift card. Take advantage of this benefit and come see us while you're at it. We will have a table at each screening check-in location. Sign a card if you haven't already or come chat with us about our union. Discord and open committees We recently redesigned our discord (thanks to Brandon Silva, GAU treasurer and bargaining team member) with the focus of making it EASIER to access information, join committees and ask questions. Every single committee is facing major pushback due to Florida legislation, UF bureaucracy, lack of support or, in most cases, all three. If you have a topic you care about and even a few hours to spare please join our discord and let us know! We have committees for healthcare, international GA concerns, government relations, housing, family and childcare, greivances, bargaining, communications, and organizing. GAU leadership and committee chairs would be delighted to share more information about any and all of these committees and their current focus. Even if you do not have spare time, we would love to have your voice in our discord community. Connect With Us Email us: [email protected] Join our office hours: 8:30-11:30 Mon,Wed,Thurs and 12:45-2:45 Tues (Yon Hall Rm 224) Find us at a tabling event: 2/5: Plaza of the Americas 10am-2pm, 2/6: IFAS Millhopper (Fisheries Unit) 1pm-5pm, 2/7: Plaza of the Americas 10am-2pm, 2/8: Veterinary Medicine (academic building) 1pm-5pm |
BARGAININGCollective bargaining is the process by which labor unions negotiate with employers to reach a contract on terms of employment, including salary, health care, benefits, and workplace safety. Each year, GAU bargains with UF over such terms. Archives
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