Information about GEO Dues can be found at our Dues FAQ. Any further questions can be addressed to umgeo @ umich . edu

If you haven’t signed a yellow card yet, please consider becoming a GEO Member! The financial difference between membership dues and the representation service fee is small (under $10 a term for a .5 employee), but the benefits for you and the Union are huge (you get voting rights in Union decisions + the Union is stronger and more effective = we win good contracts that reflect YOUR voice).

GEO Fall 2009 Membership Meeting
Thursday 11/19
Food/drinks 6:00pm
Meeting Starts at 7:00pm
At the GEO Office (330 E. Liberty Suite 3F)

At this Membership Meeting, we’ll update members on what has happened in GEO this year and form working groups around possible bargaining items for the 2010-2011 contract campaign. What are aspects of GEO’s contract that you think work well? What are aspects that you think could change? What are issues pertinent to GSIs/GSSAs that aren’t currently covered by the contract? Bring your ideas to the meeting and come ready to discuss with your fellow union members! We need to hear from YOU!

If you have any questions about the Membership Meeting, please contact your department steward.

For more information contact umgeo@umich.edu, or go to http://umgeo.org
For GEO’s updated events calendar, bookmark: http://umgeo.org/events

The Graduate Employees’ Organization at University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign went on strike this morning against the Board of Trustees. GEO-UIUC has been bargaining with the administration for a new contract and is demanding that the university guarantee tuition waivers in the contract, which the university refuses to bargain over.

GEO-UM stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers at GEO-UIUC and urges the Board of Trustees to offer graduate employees a fair contract.

For more information: http://www.uigeo.org

Graduate Student Worker for Fall 2009

(Note the typo on page 1: The deadline for disenrolling ineligible dependents from University health plans is December 18, 2009)

The University will be conducting an audit of the eligibility of dependents of ALL University employees, including graduate employees, starting in February 2010. Disenroll ineligible dependents by December 18, 2009 without penalty. To become familiar with the requirements for eligibility documentation, and for more information about the audit, visit:

http://mydependentcheck.com/umich/

*Note: The Fall 2009 edition of GEO’s newsletter incorrectly stated that the deadline for disenrolling ineligible dependents is December 18, 2010. The correct deadline is DECEMBER 18, 2009. GEO apologizes for this error.

At the Wednesday October 28 Steward’s Council Meeting, the Steward’s Council voted to endorse One Kalamazoo’s campaign to support Kalamazoo’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance.

On June 9, 2009 a unanimous vote of the Kalamazoo City Commission expanded the city’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. Those expansions are currently suspended, and will be removed from the ordinance unless Kalamazoo votes YES on November 3.

By its vote, the GEO Steward’s Council indicates its agreement with One Kalamazoo’s belief that all people—including gay and transgender people—should be treated fairly and equally where they live and work.

GEO members who support One Kalamazoo’s campaign can help in many ways, but the most valuable ways to help at this point in the campaign are to make a personal donation to the campaign or to travel to Kalamazoo to help canvas and get out the vote.

For more information about making a donation, go to: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/onekalamazoo

If you’d like to help with canvassing, email umgeo@umich.edu and we’ll work with you to find other GEO members to carpool with!

GEO has a long history of supporting expansions of rights and increased respect for Transgender, Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual persons.  In 1975, GEO and Ann Arbor’s Transport Employees Union became the first labor unions in the United States to negotiate contracts which included protections for queer folk in their non-discrimination clauses.  Over the years GEO has continued to fight to make sure that all of our members have equal access to health care benefits, jobs, and respect at work regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Today in GEO:

Event the first: GEO NC Brown Bag
Where: Viking Room, Pierpont Commons (adjacent to the Commons Cafe)
When: Noonish
What: An informal GEO meeting on NC. We’ll distribute the agenda from tonight’s steward’s council meeting and begin talking about how to get more representation in GEO for GSIs and GSSAs on North Campus.

Event the second: Steward’s Council Meeting
Where: GEO Office, 330 E. Liberty #3F
When: 7pm-8:30pm
What: GEO’s main decision making meeting. Tonight’s agenda includes a report back and debrief of last week’s Strategic Planning Meeting and the first whispers of platform development for next year’s contract campaign.

Remember: You can always get up to date information about upcoming GEO events by pointing your browser to http://umgeo.org/events

The annual GEO Welcome Back party is happening!

When: It begins at 6pm Wednesday

Where: The GEO Office, 330 E. Liberty #3F

Why: Because those dreams have remained, and they’ve turned around.

Who: YOU! And other cool GEO people!

How: You’ve gotta be here to find out!

Here is an incomplete list of U-M resources that might come in handy:

• 2009-2010 Salary Rates for Graduate Student Assistants
• Job Postings ListServ 
• Gradcare page at benefits office
• Rackham Policy handbook
• Rackham Student Government
• International Center
• Office of Institutional Equity
• Spectrum Center
• Work/Life Resource Center
• Campus Disability Resource Directory
• Students With Children

Lifted from the new GEO Forum:

The Rackham Continuous Enrollment Student Advisory Committee will be meeting with Rackham admins to discus the Continuous Enrollment issue on Friday, August 31. This meeting will be the first since RSG passed two resolutions critical of Rackham’s failure to communicate openly withgraduate students.

Please sign this letter of support for the RSG Continuous Enrollment Resolutions and forward this to department lists and other interested parties. We will continue to take signatures after Friday, but think it would send a strong message if we had a significant number by the Continuous Enrollment Student Advisory Committee meeting

—————
Letter of Support for RSG’s Continuous Enrollment Resolutions
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The first resolution, numbered SS-9-01, calls on the Rackham Graduate School to provide
the Student Advisory Committee with written answers to a number of concerns graduate students and others have raised regarding the proposed Continuous Enrollment policy. The Student Advisory committee was created by Rackham Student Government in cooperation with
Rackham administrators on the understanding that it would provide a forum in which student concerns would be addressed. As the text of the resolution makes clear, the Rackham Graduate School has failed to share key information with the Student Advisory Committee and has not looked to the Student Advisory Committee as a significant voice in the formulation of policy.

The second resolution, numbered SS-9-02, addresses the concern that some graduate students may be newly required to pay tuition out of pocket if Continuous Enrollment is implemented. This concern has been raised by graduate students over and over since the announcement of the policy, but Rackham administrators have failed to provide a clear and coherent explanation of how this outcome will be avoided. The RSG resolution calls on the Rackham Graduate School to guarantee in writing that, “students who are currently exempt from paying tuition will be guaranteed a tuition fellowship or an equivalent source of funding for each semester of their graduate studies.”
———

Thank you for your urgent action on this matter! Please feel free to email cewgdoc@gmail.com with comments, concerns, requests, etc. Thanks.

Last Friday, Rackham Student Government passed two resolutions aimed at slowing the Rackham Graduate School’s rush to implement a Continuous Enrollment policy over the objections of graduate students.  PDFs of he resolutions are attached to this post.

The first resolution, numbered SS-9-01, calls on the Rackham Graduate School to provide the Student Advisory Committee with written answers to a number of concerns graduate students and others have raised regarding the proposed Continuous Enrollment policy.  The Student Advisory committee was created by Rackham Student Government in cooperation with Rackham administrators on the understanding that it would provide a forum in which student concerns would be addressed.  As the text of the resolution makes clear, the Rackham Graduate School has failed to share key information with the Student Advisory Committee and has not looked to the Student Advisory Committee as a significant voice in the formulation of policy.

The second resolution, numbered SS-9-02, addresses the concern that some graduate students may be newly required to pay tuition out of pocket if Continuous Enrollment is implemented.  This concern has been raised by graduate students over and over since the announcement of the policy, but Rackham administrators have failed to provide a clear and coherent explanation of how this outcome will be avoided.  The RSG resolution calls on the Rackham Graduate School to guarantee in writing that, “students who are currently exempt from paying tuition will be guaranteed a tuition fellowship or an equivalent source of funding for each semester of their graduate studies.”

The Resolutions:
RSG SS-9-01

RSG SS-9-02

** SUMMER STEWARDS MEETING **

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17

7:00 PM - GEO OFFICE

On the agenda: an important discussion and vote on Health Care Dependents Eligibility.