Proven Winners Plants Postulations
13 years ago
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN GRADUATE EMPLOYEES AUTHORIZE TWO DAY WORK STOPPAGE
Looks like we'll be striking . . .
The press release today said:
LABOR UNION OF GRADUATE INSTRUCTORS VOTE 727 TO 177 TO STOP WORK
Ann Arbor, MI – Members of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO, AFT local 3550), the labor union representing approximately 1,700 graduate student instructors and staff assistants at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, voted in support of a work stoppage on campus. The walkout is planned to take place on Tuesday, March 25th and Wednesday, March 26th.
The GEO has been in negotiations with university administration since November of 2007, both sides have yet to come to agreement on core issues, mostly economic. GEO has shown good faith throughout the bargaining process. Membership extended the contract twice past its March 1st expiration date, and agreed to additional bargaining sessions during the week of March 17th. However, the administration’s bargaining team failed to present new proposals at three of this week’s sessions. GEO’s contract will expire again at midnight on Monday, March 24th.
GEO’s contract campaign prioritizes bringing the graduate employee salary up to a living wage, meeting the cost of attendance published by the university’s Office of Financial Aid. Currently, the average graduate employee earns $781.00 less than this figure. The university’s administration has refused to raise wages to close this gap. To merely close this gap and account for a conservative estimation of inflation would require a 9% increase in wages in the first year of the contract.
GEO lead negotiator Colleen Woods said that the increase in the first year remains non-negotiable. “Our members have been consistently telling us that this is very important to them.” This average salary figure is no longer competitive with what U of M considers its peer institutions. Northwestern University has launched a program that provides 5 years and 4 summers of funding, and Yale, Harvard and Princeton now provide graduates with an average of $20,000 over 12 months. Beyond private schools, the average salary at the University of Iowa is $16,575 for graduate instructors; and at Rutgers it is $19,815.
With the university’s current pay scale, those working fewer hours a week make less in hourly wages, and do not receive health benefits or full tuition waivers. This places a disproportionate burden on those who are already at a disadvantage. GEO has proposed a wage parity scale to address this, but this has been continually rejected by the administration.
On Thursday, March 20, approximately 300 GEO members and allies rallied in support of the current contract campaign marching from the central Diag to the Regents’ Plaza. GEO President, Helen Ho, and Vice President, Kiara Vigil, delivered two letters that urged the Board of Regents to promote a swift and reasonable resolution to negotiations in order to prevent any work stoppage.
The press release today said:
LABOR UNION OF GRADUATE INSTRUCTORS VOTE 727 TO 177 TO STOP WORK
Ann Arbor, MI – Members of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO, AFT local 3550), the labor union representing approximately 1,700 graduate student instructors and staff assistants at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, voted in support of a work stoppage on campus. The walkout is planned to take place on Tuesday, March 25th and Wednesday, March 26th.
The GEO has been in negotiations with university administration since November of 2007, both sides have yet to come to agreement on core issues, mostly economic. GEO has shown good faith throughout the bargaining process. Membership extended the contract twice past its March 1st expiration date, and agreed to additional bargaining sessions during the week of March 17th. However, the administration’s bargaining team failed to present new proposals at three of this week’s sessions. GEO’s contract will expire again at midnight on Monday, March 24th.
GEO’s contract campaign prioritizes bringing the graduate employee salary up to a living wage, meeting the cost of attendance published by the university’s Office of Financial Aid. Currently, the average graduate employee earns $781.00 less than this figure. The university’s administration has refused to raise wages to close this gap. To merely close this gap and account for a conservative estimation of inflation would require a 9% increase in wages in the first year of the contract.
GEO lead negotiator Colleen Woods said that the increase in the first year remains non-negotiable. “Our members have been consistently telling us that this is very important to them.” This average salary figure is no longer competitive with what U of M considers its peer institutions. Northwestern University has launched a program that provides 5 years and 4 summers of funding, and Yale, Harvard and Princeton now provide graduates with an average of $20,000 over 12 months. Beyond private schools, the average salary at the University of Iowa is $16,575 for graduate instructors; and at Rutgers it is $19,815.
With the university’s current pay scale, those working fewer hours a week make less in hourly wages, and do not receive health benefits or full tuition waivers. This places a disproportionate burden on those who are already at a disadvantage. GEO has proposed a wage parity scale to address this, but this has been continually rejected by the administration.
On Thursday, March 20, approximately 300 GEO members and allies rallied in support of the current contract campaign marching from the central Diag to the Regents’ Plaza. GEO President, Helen Ho, and Vice President, Kiara Vigil, delivered two letters that urged the Board of Regents to promote a swift and reasonable resolution to negotiations in order to prevent any work stoppage.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Goodbye Lenin
Eastern Europe night. I went to a union meeting and came home to eat pierogie with onion cooked in bacon grease and drink beer, while watching Goodbye Lenin. I'll finish an article on beer branding in post-socialist Georgia shortly.
Taking a two-minute break to watch mud wrestling from Ukraine.
Taking a two-minute break to watch mud wrestling from Ukraine.
Tilos az a
Macedonian bear convicted for theft of honey.
"For a while, he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music."
. . . In other news, a Czech scientist determines that beer drinking is negatively correlated with academic productivity and the likelihood that your article will be cited by your peers.
Those of you with institutional access (and therefore a vested interest in the results, of course!) can view the Grim news here.
"For a while, he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music."
. . . In other news, a Czech scientist determines that beer drinking is negatively correlated with academic productivity and the likelihood that your article will be cited by your peers.
Those of you with institutional access (and therefore a vested interest in the results, of course!) can view the Grim news here.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Ooh, interesting reading. I just happened upon New Mandala -- New Perspectives on Southeast Asia, a blog written by a couple Australian academics -- an anthropologist and an international development doctoral student with a background in Asian Studies.
I found it because, slow to read my email, I finally looked at the American Anthropological Association homepage and found their open letter to Prime Minister Sundaravej, opposing Thailand's War on Drugs. I was looking to see if there's an online petition regarding this issue and happened upon Andrew Walker and Nicholas Farrelly's discussion of anthroplogy's potential contribution to this cause, "Anthropology goes to war".
I was pleased to see the AAA engaged in human rights issues, and also pleased to discover that there's now a AAA human rights blog.
Last night I met some of the new recruits to my programs at dinners sponsored by the departments. Yay for great students and free food. I also enjoyed a couple happy hour drinks at Cafe Habana with K&J. It was a wonderful day, with a talk with Eri, who was in the midst of nursing and burping her newborn baby girl, and positive tenure news about a beloved professor. And it was SUNNY. And I made a decision, for better or worse, that I'm not going to apply for any more summer funding to travel, because I think it would be better for me to stay in the States this summer, work on my existing papers and studies, and REST.
I found it because, slow to read my email, I finally looked at the American Anthropological Association homepage and found their open letter to Prime Minister Sundaravej, opposing Thailand's War on Drugs. I was looking to see if there's an online petition regarding this issue and happened upon Andrew Walker and Nicholas Farrelly's discussion of anthroplogy's potential contribution to this cause, "Anthropology goes to war".
I was pleased to see the AAA engaged in human rights issues, and also pleased to discover that there's now a AAA human rights blog.
Last night I met some of the new recruits to my programs at dinners sponsored by the departments. Yay for great students and free food. I also enjoyed a couple happy hour drinks at Cafe Habana with K&J. It was a wonderful day, with a talk with Eri, who was in the midst of nursing and burping her newborn baby girl, and positive tenure news about a beloved professor. And it was SUNNY. And I made a decision, for better or worse, that I'm not going to apply for any more summer funding to travel, because I think it would be better for me to stay in the States this summer, work on my existing papers and studies, and REST.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Is there a doktor in the house?
Non-European PhDs In Germany Find Use Of 'Doktor' Verboten
By Craig Whitlock and Shannon Smiley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 14, 2008; A01
BERLIN, March 13 -- Americans with PhDs beware: Telling people in Germany that you're a doctor could land you in jail.
At least seven U.S. citizens working as researchers in Germany have faced criminal probes in recent months for using the title "Dr." on their business cards, Web sites and resumes. They all hold doctoral degrees from elite universities back home.
Under a little-known Nazi-era law, only people who earn PhDs or medical degrees in Germany are allowed to use "Dr." as a courtesy title. . . . (what a trip!)
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