LEO Update on GEO Strike: Tues Sept 8, 2020

[LEO’s Union Council issued this statement as a press release and an email to members on September 8, 2020.]

Dear Colleagues,

             Now that the GEO strike is on, two questions have arisen that we did not address in our Friday email to Lecturers. 

            First, what should Lecturers do if we are asked to teach students who are not being taught by GSIs because they are on strike?   You have no contractual or other legal obligation to take on such work, and we would advise you not to do so.  Doing this work will weaken the GEO strike, which LEO is committed to supporting. 

            Second, is GEO harming students by going on strike, and by extension, are Lecturers harming them if we don’t teach students that striking GSIs are not teaching?   We can’t deny that some loss is entailed in having fewer classes than would otherwise have been the case.  No strike is cost-free; if it were, it would have little or no effect.   That said, two important types of benefit weigh in on the other side of the scale: 

1. Just as the #ScholarStrike is likely to promote a lot of student learning about police violence against people of color and what can be done about it, so this GEO strike will stimulate a lot of student learning about how unions and power work at the University of Michigan, particularly if Lecturers and other faculty help students to find materials that shed light on these things (e.g., the GEO teach-ins and other materials); and 

2. If the strike is successful in moving the Administration closer to what GEO is demanding, students stand to benefit from those changes that the strike has brought about.  For example,  

   a. A more transparent and substantively robust testing and tracking regime, that includes the Flint and Dearborn campuses, will make everyone, including students, safer;  

   b. Increased confidence that our workplace is safe will improve GSI and faculty morale, and our working conditions are students’ learning conditions; and 

   c. GEO’s demands relating to the police are also intended to make students -- particularly BIPOC students -- safer.  

            If the strike continues, we’ll write again, addressing additional issues that arise.  For now, we hope that you will sign up for a virtual or in person picket shift and let us know if you or your students have pressing questions to which you want rapid answers.   

In solidarity,
LEO Union Council