Dear Graduate Students,
Negotiations for the new Graduate Assistants contract have begun! This past week, representatives from the GAU’s Contract Negotiations Team met with representatives from URI to set up the ground rules for negotiations for the new GA contracts. The ground rules were agreed upon and formal negotiations are set to take place over the coming weeks! You can see them here.
The GAU’s Contract Negotiations team has been hard at work preparing for contract negotiations between the GAU and the University: meeting with representatives from NEARI, researching, hearing from our grad students, writing contract proposals, and working to serve the needs of our graduate students here at URI as we negotiate our new contract with the University. The GAU has previously bargained for raises, health insurance, dental insurance, parking passes, and more. For the upcoming contract, you’ve voiced your priority concerns and we’ve listened! Our current grad students want competitive wages, reduced student fees, better health insurance and vision coverage, support for housing and parking issues, and more. We’re committed to bargaining for the best contract possible for our fellow grad students.
In the coming weeks, the GAU will need your support, to bring visibility to the critical work and contributions that our graduate student population brings to the University of Rhode Island. This is a great time to get involved in the Contract Action Team (CAT), which will help provide support to the GAU as negotiations progress. Being involved in the CAT is a way to help the GAU have the best resources and assistance to have the strongest negotiations we can. There are lots of ways that you can be involved, from small actions like amplifying the work of our grads to bigger roles in organizing action. Whatever way you can choose to get involved, you’ll be helping the negotiations team and building our graduate students’ network of support as we work to protect and advocate for grad students at URI. Our union is stronger when we work together! So, get in touch if you’d like to get involved!
To stay on top of what’s happening with the GAU this summer, don’t forget to check out the GAU’s website blog and our socials:
Add us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/urigau
Add us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/URIGAU
Add us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/urigau/
Yours in solidarity,
URI Graduate Assistants United