This week, we tried to advance our salary contract article proposal grounded in two core demands: a living wage for all workers and the urgent need to end U-M's pay disparity policy between the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses.

U-M HR again refused to meet us in-person on Friday, instead forcing us to communicate through the state-appointed mediator, Micki Czerniak. When HR insisted on receiving our proposal in a sidebar meeting involving Micki and only five GEO members, we rejected this proposal, unequivocally. We will only bargain in the bargaining room together and we intend to bargain for our entire contract with our coworkers in the room.

Hear from U-M grad workers Gala and Anja about the latest news from the bargaining room, and come back next week for updates from our next bargaining session on Friday, February 6.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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• Visit our website: https://www.geo3550.org
• Join our allies mailing list: https://www.geo3550.org/join/allies
• Donate to the Worker Solidarity Fund: https://bit.ly/GEOWorkerSolidarity

Graduate workers at the University of Michigan "met in-person" with (read: did not even catch a glimpse of) representatives from the university's HR department. Despite HR's claims that we spoke in-person, grad workers in reality only spoke with a state-appointed mediator that U-M called in last semester before negotiations even began, who was only able to get 3 out of our 20 questions answered about HR's proposals over the course of multiple hours.

Hear from grad workers Anja, Alex, and Kate who were in the room about what actually went down in Palmer Commons last Friday!

Stay tuned for more updates!

• Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/geo_3550/
• Visit our website: https://www.geo3550.org
• Join our allies mailing list: https://www.geo3550.org/join/allies
• Donate to the Worker Solidarity Fund: https://bit.ly/GEOWorkerSolidarity