crossposted from howtheuniversityworks.com
The AFT-affiliated Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) walked off the job at 5 am this morning, shutting down classes, construction sites, and loading docks at the University of Michigan, with the support of undergraduates and union workers.
The goal of the two-day walkout was to get the attention of the administration during contract negotiations that had not been taking seriously the union’s demand that teaching assistants earn a living wage in the Ann Arbor area, representing a one-time increase of over 9%, to be followed by regular cost-of-living increases.
That demand appears to have succeeded, with the university requesting that bargaining re-commence.
GEO is one of the most successful graduate employee unions in the country with a long tradition of militant response to administrator intransigence, staging walkouts or work stoppages in 1987, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1999, and 2002.
