U-M Lecturers’ Union Speaks in Support of Graduate Student Union Strike (Monday September 7)

[LEO’s President Ian Robinson, on behalf of the Union Council, sent the following statement as a press release and an email to members on September 7, 2020. ]

On Sunday evening, members of the University of Michigan’s Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO - AFT-MI 3550) voted to authorize a strike. LEO issued the following statement in response:

“After weeks of futile negotiations, GEO members have decided to go on strike. GEO leaders, in turn, have chosen to use that tool to pressure the Administration to take their demands more seriously.   Like our graduate student colleagues, LEO condemns the way the Administration has mismanaged the return to classes this Fall: employees, including Lecturers, were not properly consulted;  information about the Fall plan, and internal disagreements over it, have been withheld;  and the testing regime in place appears inadequate to the task of keeping students and employees safe.

We stand in solidarity with GEO and all of the graduate student workers concerned for their lives and livelihoods, and encourage Lecturers to support their efforts. Lecturers should know that withholding their labor is a violation of the No Strike clause of our contract and could expose them to disciplinary action. In such an event, they would have union representation, in accordance with LEO’s duty to represent its members.

The University of Michigan Administration’s leadership style has become more and more top-down and intransigent as this crisis has evolved. We urge President Schlissel to acknowledge the vital role that faculty and staff play in making this university work and keeping it safe, and to engage with us cooperatively and respectfully, as our contributions to this institution warrant.”

– Ian Robinson, President, Lecturers’ Employee Organization (AFT-MI 6442)