Bargaining over Fall Reopening Plans!
President DeGioia
Last week, after multiple requests for more information about Georgetown’s plans for graduate workers in the fall, the administration shared a copy of its policy regarding teaching assistants (TAs), research assistants (RAs), and graduate instructors of record with the Executive Council. The administration’s plan, though an improvement over the policies adopted at schools such as Notre Dame and Boston University, nonetheless fails to adequately address the safety, health, and job security of graduate workers at Georgetown. The University has insisted in avoiding our demands for impact bargaining. Tell President DeGioia and Provost Groves to come to the table and bargain with graduate workers whose teaching and research is foundational to Georgetown's mission as a Catholic and Jesuit University!
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To:
President DeGioia
From:
[Your Name]
I write today to urge Georgetown University to bargain with GAGE over its fall reopening policies and their impact on graduate workers. In particular, I am disappointed with the message from Vice President and Chief of Staff Joe Ferrara to GAGE’s Executive Council in which the University insists on avoiding its obligations to bargain, as required in Section 9 of Article III of our Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Graduate workers deserve a seat at the table. In planning for the fall, Georgetown has left graduate workers--particularly international students with uncertain immigration and telework constraints--in the dark. Georgetown graduate workers abroad do not know when they can even return to the United States or if they can work from the countries where they currently reside. For graduate workers in the United States, the policy under consideration presents them with a difficult choice if their departments cannot reassign them to an online teaching or research position: resume work on campus and put their health and safety at risk--or take a personal leave that will deprive them of their income and healthcare during both a recession and a pandemic.
The policies approved by the Executive Committee for Graduate Studies and presented in the Labor-Management Committee (LMC) match some of the demands we have expressed this summer. However, it is vital that graduate workers, through our union, have a voice in our working conditions this fall. Our contract clearly states that we cannot negotiate these policies via the LMC. Consequently, we call on you to fulfill your commitment under our collective bargaining agreement by joining us at the table to bargain a Memorandum of Understanding so that there are clear guidance and accountability on university policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We understand that the university faces many challenges during this global pandemic. None of these challenges, however, is worth a policy that puts the health, safety, or financial well-being of a single graduate worker at risk. From our experience this past year, we know that bargaining can result in a productive understanding between the administration and graduate workers.
We hope you join us at the table and fulfill your end of the bargain.