{"id":101968,"date":"2015-04-29T11:45:54","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T15:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=101968"},"modified":"2015-10-02T13:38:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T17:38:58","slug":"trustees-approve-contract-with-union-representing-graduate-assistants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/04\/trustees-approve-contract-with-union-representing-graduate-assistants\/","title":{"rendered":"Trustees Approve Contract with Union Representing Graduate Assistants"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn\u2019s Board of Trustees has approved a tentative agreement for a three-year collective bargaining contract covering the University\u2019s approximately 2,200 graduate assistants.<\/p>\n

Negotiating teams from UConn and the Graduate Employee Union-United Auto Workers (GEU-UAW) reached the tentative agreement on April 21 for the contract, and the union\u2019s members overwhelmingly ratified it Monday.<\/p>\n

The trustees\u2019 vote Wednesday to approve the contract means it now goes to the state General Assembly. That body can vote it up or down, or permit it to take effect by not taking action during the remainder of the current legislative session that ends June 3.<\/p>\n

It is the first contract between the parties, and is the result of negotiations that began after the University recognized the UAW in spring 2014 as the GAs\u2019 collective bargaining representative.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike any negotiation between two parties, compromise was required on both sides. Though neither received all it wanted, both sides were able to secure agreement on the issues that were most vital to them,\u201d President Susan Herbst, who recommended to trustees to approve the contract, told UConn faculty in a letter dated April 21.<\/p>\n

Specifics of the contract, bargaining sessions, and other details can be found at gradunion.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Graduate assistants are graduate students who provide teaching or research support to the University as part of their academic programs. They receive stipends and tuition waivers among other benefits as part of their work.<\/p>\n

Almost one-third of UConn\u2019s 6,900 graduate students are GAs.<\/p>\n

After the University recognized the UAW as the graduate assistants\u2019 collective bargaining representative, both sides appointed negotiating teams and commenced bargaining about matters affecting wages, hours, and employment conditions.<\/p>\n

The agreement recognizes that academic matters involving GAs \u2013 including coursework, grading, assignments, and decisions regarding a student\u2019s progress toward earning a degree \u2013 remain prerogatives of the University that are not governed by the contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was essential that these issues remain in the hands of faculty members, academic departments, and our schools and colleges,\u201d Herbst told faculty in her April 21 message.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased that this tentative agreement preserves this integral component of our mission as an educational institution and ensures that the academic relationship continues to be faculty and student, rather than employer and employee,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Herbst said the negotiations were guided by three overriding principles:<\/p>\n