Some interesting things have emerged in today's bargaining session. Firstly, we made significant progress on medical leave and it looks like we have a draft that could be solidified soon. We are also making great progress on parental leave language that is inclusive and non-discriminatory.
Then MSU put forth their revised economical plan. They will give us our same, already not sufficient, tuition pool back, but retain the reduction of our tuition post comps to 3 credits per semester in fall and spring and 1 in summelr. We provided a laundry list of reasons why this wouldn't work, including that some people defend comps in their first year, others in their 5th or 6th year and that is a substantial discrepancy.
Another win for GEU, MSU has removed the merit pay proposal from the table! This is great, and was the barrier MSU stated was keeping them from proposing specifics on their wage and Healthcare package to us.
They said they didn't wish to talk about our childcare stipend, and were quiet when we talked about how helping a few graduate students with children we save MSU money by not making it possible for all of us to afford to raise a kid, but be an inclusive perk for current grad students and potential recruits.
They proposed a 2% combined wage and Healthcare increase. It is unclear how, or if, the money would be compounded. If we kept quality healthcare, we would lose fiscal compensation increases, AND still end up paying out of pocket for healthcare. We are working on a reasonable counter.
In all, momentum is picking up and it is important that everyone stay vigilant in our reading of the blog and other social media and email updates. It is also important that you attend any and all events in upcoming weeks. Yes it's april, and yes, we're all busy being students and employees of the university, but you will be much busier next year if you need to subsidize your wages with outside employment or file for governmental assistance, or suffer changes based on losing the healthcare you need to do your job. So come out! A post with upcoming events is forthcoming, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook, or keep current in your emails from your stewards and the GEU account. If you're not getting emails, let us know!
#standupforTHIS
#geuisu
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