Weekly Newsletter - Bargaining updates and more!

Hi GA's,
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We are very excited to be starting a weekly newsletter via email and this blog. In the longer blog post we will go into detail about every article we are bargaining on as well as organizing updates, committee updates and upcoming events! Comment and let us know what you would like to see!
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Upcoming Events: 
11/30 - General Body Meeting, Cypress and Grove 6pm-8pm
-> We will be voting to approve our budget and electing several officers
12/01 - Bargaining for Healthcare and Graduate Housing!
-> We need members to attend and show that this is important!
    (same time, rm and zoom as 11/17)
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11/14 Tuesday - Tabling at Reitz Union 11am-2pm
11/15 Wednesday - Tabling at Sun Terrace 11am-2pm
11/16 Thursday - Organizing Meeting and Phone-banking! 4pm-6pm
                                Carr Hall (attached to Bartram Hall) Room 611
11/17 Friday - Bargaining Session! 9:15am-11:30am
Reitz Union Room 3320 or ZOOM meeting, debrief 
                        - Tabling at Steinmetz Hall 11am-2pm
  *FEES DUE 11pm (avoid a late fee)
*GAU Office Hours Yon Hall Room 224 (M 11:45am-1:45pm, T/W/R 8:30am-11:30pm)

Committee Help Needed:
Our Healthcare and International committees need your help! We are currently bargaining for changes to our health insurance policy and we need members interested in change to help contribute ideas and input! If you are interested in or concerned about GatorGradCare please join the committee! Email our chair Nathan Ardnt ([email protected]). If you are interested in joining our international committee please join our discord, and let us know! We need more input from international students and more members to help our committee thrive! 

Bargaining:
UPCOMING - Dec 1st Bargaining session (9:15 -11:30am)
GAU is presenting proposals for healthcare and graduate housing! We need GAs to attend and show that this matters to us! (Reitz Union Rm 3320 or ZOOM)

The GAU has signed and agreement on Article 10. The minimum GA stipend will be raised to $19,000 for 9-month employees and $25,600 for 12-month employees, with an additional raise of $400 for 9 month contracts and $533 for 12 month contracts for all continuing employees that have not been formally disciplined. Read the post below, from the Alligator for more details!

After coming to an agreement with UF and voting to approve the tentative proposal, our bargaining committee signed the proposal (in September). Since that time we have been waiting for the Board of Trustees to ratify the proposal so that it can go into effect. The board has confirmed that our proposal for Article 10 will be on the agenda for their two-day meeting December 7th-8th. The university has assured us that Article 10 should be ratified then. Once the raise is ratified, there will be back pay to the effective start date of Oct 1st. Each paycheck following ratification should be a $20 increase for all GA's and a $130 increase for those that were at the minimum stipend. This means around $80 and $450 on the first paycheck after ratification when you factor in backpay.  

Bargaining Updates by Article
Outside of Article 10, the GAU Bargaining Committee has been working on many different proposals as we are re-negotiating the entire collective bargaining agreement this year. You can watch each bargaining session on our youtube channel. 

Articles 1 and 2 - Current Contract Langauge (CCL)
-> Our bargaining committee has discussed with UF, agreed and signed the proposals for current contract language. This was regarding the recognition of the union and university rights.

Article 3 - Consultation 
-> The committee is asking for at least one required meeting with the University president under certain conditions (e.g. a pre-approved agenda, no bargaining or policies discussed, etc.)

Article 4 - Appointments, Reappointments and Terminations
-> GAU has crafted a counterproposal which defines the letter of offer as separate from the letter of appointment (LOA). Currently only the LOA is legally binding which means that no multi-year agreements can be enforced. 
-> The proposal ensures that international students will receive payroll onboarding information well in advance to ensure they are paid when their appointment starts
-> It also stipulates that UF must reassign a student when possible if their assistantship is “curtailed” mid-semester. When that is not possible the committee is requesting severance pay until the end of the LOA or up to 20 weeks (whichever comes first). This is to give the GA time to make other arrangements.

Article 8 - Leaves of Absence 
-> GAU is proposing to make an exception to the current rule preventing first-semester GAs from taking paid leave for the birth of a child, adoption of a child, or placement of a child from foster care.

Article 11 - Tuition Program
-> UF argued against a previous proposal brought by the GAU which asked for the university to pay up to 12 credits for students required to do so by their department. They stated that they did not find any departments where this occurred.
-> Updated GAU proposal primarily allowing students to request additional course credits to be paid for at the discretion of UF with the support of their advisor and department chair 

Article 13 - Unlawful Discrimination
-> GAU presented a proposal with substantial changes including updates to definitions, clearing up processes, and ensuring additional protections for students
-> A new section was added to specifically ensure reasonable access to gender neutral bathrooms
-> GAU additionally requested that if any discriminatory legislation was passed, UF and GAU can open a dialogue for how to enforce legislation with the best interest of the GAs at heart

Article 14 - Copyrights and Patents
 -> UF and GAU reached a tentative agreement, this is current contract language!

Article 15 - Outside activities and “conflicts of interest”
-> UF brought a proposal to clarify what conflict of interest is and the process students must take if this is the case using university regulations 
-> GAU has tentatively agreed to this change

Article 16 - GAU Rights
-> GAU proposed to change title of article from “use of facilities” to “GAU Rights” 
​-> GAU proposal also called for updating released time (RT) to be 0.5 FTE instead of 0.33; the total FTE for RT was increased to allow for 13 RT students per year which is the same number currently offered for 0.33 FTE
-> The proposal added provisions to require that UF inform the GAU of all offices on campus that have graduate assistants and to inform the GAU of all new GA orientations 
-> UF seemed receptive to the office provision but not to the orientation provision.

Article 17 - Dues Deductions 
-> GAU signed the latest version of this article which had been open since the summer as “impact bargaining” from SB 256. This will likely be tentatively agreed to and ratified in 2024 along with the full book rather than on its own.

Article 18 - Insurance Deduction
 -> GAU signed a tentative agreement on this article, this is current contract language!

Article 20 - Other Employee Rights
-> GAU brought a proposal to move the new provision of outside employment in the (waiting to be ratified) Article 10 and clearing up the language about conflicts of interest with outside employmeent.

Organizing:
Our card campaign is going well and we are about ⅓ of the way to our goal. We are working from all angles to increase both membership and number of card signatures. This includes tabling, attending departmental events, working with student orgs., and reaching out via targetted emails, phone calls and texts. Most importantly, our department stewards and active members are checking out folders and getting cards signed in their department! This has been the most successful strategy. We want to encourage any member looking to help to check out a folder and tell us about upcoming events! If you are attending an organizational meeting, seminar, social event, or even a class, bring a few cards and get a few signed! Every card counts and you can easily make it work with your busy schedule. If you can’t make it to our table, send us an email: [email protected], pop by office hours in Yon Hall or reach out on discord and we can find a way to get you some cards!

We are also sending cards to members at satellite campuses, if you can get card signed at your satellite campus send us an email and we can mail cards, instructions and return postage direct to you! This week’s organizing meeting is Thursday 11/16 from 4-6pm in Carr Hall Room 611. We will be using a good portion of our meeting time to phone-bank and get more people to come out to our tabling events to sign cards!