It is commencement week at the University of Michigan. While many students prepare to line up to receive their diplomas, some graduate students continue to line up to picket.
The Graduate Employees Organization at U of M has been on strike since March 29. The GEO’s current contract expires May 1 and the negotiations have been contentious.
For more on the contract negotiations and on-going strike, Michigan Radio Morning Edition host Doug Tribou spoke with Sam Dodge, who covers higher education for The Ann Arbor News.
Doug Tribou: The Graduate Employees Organization represents about 2300 people. These are grad students who serve as instructors for undergraduate courses and work with faculty members, or work as staff assistants. What are their primary requests in the negotiations with U of M?
Sam Dodge: Their primary request is compensation. They want a living wage. That's how they billed this strike. And they make about $24,000 a year currently, and they're looking to make $38,000. Ann Arbor is not the most affordable place to live, and that's their position. They want to be able to live and work here without going paycheck to paycheck. They have a lot of other demands in there, [including] childcare subsidies [and] creating an unarmed police force. But really, their main thing is compensation.
DT: And so far, how has U of M responded to the union's requests?
SD: Their current proposal is a 5% raise in the first year, 3.5% the second year, [and] 3% in the third year of the...
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