Support WMU TAs Fighting for a Fair Contract!
Western Michigan University Administration
The Teaching Assistants Union (TAU, AFT #1729, AFL-CIO) represents over 450 graduate student Teaching Assistants at Western Michigan University. TAs are critical to the core academic mission of WMU and deserve to be treated like it.
Please sign our petition below to support TAs in their fight for a fair contract. In the "Organization" box, please let us know how you are affiliated with WMU (e.g., TAU, WMU-AAUP, PIO, AFSCME, WMU student, concerned community member or another labor union).
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Western Michigan University Administration
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Graduate student Teaching Assistants (TAs) at Western Michigan University provide crucial instructional labor for carrying out WMU's core academic mission. The Teaching Assistants Union (TAU, AFT Michigan # 1729, AFL-CIO) is negotiating a contract to fight for fair wages and respect for TAs, who have gone the extra mile during the COVID-19 pandemic for their students and university. Even as they navigated their own graduate programs as students, they rose to the challenges of adapting and transferring courses online with little notice, teaching hybrid classes, supporting the mental health of their students, and returning to in person instruction with inadequate COVID-19 safety protocols.
Despite all of this, WMU continues to stray from its stated student and employee-focused values. While administrators receive bonuses and raises, TAs are paid far less than a living wage, pay unfair fees, and receive little respect from administration.
I support Graduate student Teaching Assistants in their fight for a fair contract and urge WMU to commit to its stated values of putting students and those that teach them first!