Bargaining Team Update
TAU Bargains with WMU’s
Administration:
With the wonderful support of our membership, the Bargaining
Team has been victorious in securing a contract with the
WMU administration. Both Bargaining Teams worked for many
hours to reach an agreement which could be brought to
a vote before our membership. We made some very simple
and modest demands in our proposed contract language.
We believe that teaching assistants provide a valuable
service to the university, a service that is both requisite
for the university’s operation as well as desirable
for graduate education. We did not ask for the sun and
moon, but decent healthcare, fair compensation for our
work, and some protection from arbitrary and eccentric
policies. We feel as though this contract, which was brought
to a vote by a consensus at our general membership at
a meeting on April 20th, and approved by a ballot the
following week, makes some very real gains for our unit.
This, however, is the beginning. With a contract in place
we are now protected from further budgetary cuts for the
duration of our two year contract. We understand that
the university is in a very difficult financial position
and we hope that in the next few years the state of this
university improves. In the meantime, we must work to
continue organizing our membership and continue to remind
the university of the crucial role we play. We firmly
believe that this contract gives us a substantial base
from which to fight for the fair treatment and just compensation
that we deserve.