LEO Supports Strike Efforts of Undergraduate Residential Staff

LEO SUPPORTS STRIKE EFFORTS OF UNDERGRADUATE RESIDENTIAL STAFF 

Ann Arbor, MI – “Two weeks ago, in the midst of a worsening COVID-19 outbreak in University housing, more than 100 resident advisers (RAs) chose to join GEO in striking for safer working conditions. The RAs’ demands were reasonable and urgent: regular testing for all residential staff, sufficient PPE distribution to all staff and students, more effective enforcement of social distancing and guest policies, hazard pay, and greater care and caution regarding the exposure risks they are asked to take.  

Failure to do these things has already caused some RAs to quit, which then puts more pressure on those who remain.   It is widely recognized that the dorms are the campus spaces with the greatest potential for large-scale COVID outbreaks.   It is therefore essential that the safety regime within the dorms is as effective as possible.  Given the front-line role that they are asked to play, we rely heavily on the RAs to make this happen, and they cannot perform this vital function without our full support.  The safety of the entire Michigan community thus hinges on the implementation of the RAs very reasonable demands.

Yet, rather than heed the demands of RAs, on Wednesday, the Director of University Housing instead threatened to fire striking workers.  The next day, the University announced an “enhanced social distancing” protocol in South Quad after the discovery of a cluster of COVID-positive cases there.   Unless Housing adopts a very different attitude, we can expect more RAs to quit and more dorm clusters to emerge.

For the sake of our university, and the wider community that we also put at risk if we get this wrong, LEO stands in solidarity with all RAs.  We urge the Administration to agree to their demands, and commit that there will be no retaliation against RAs for exposing problems that need to be known and demanding solutions that will benefit us all.” 

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The Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO - AFT Local 6244) is the union of all non-tenure track faculty (lecturers) on all three campuses of the University of Michigan. It is a democratic organization run by members, most of whom are volunteers. LEO operates with the belief that the right to collective bargaining empowers us to fight for the respect we deserve as teaching professionals who are also recognized scholars, artists, and entrepreneurs.