Teaching assistants' vote favors collective bargaining

MSU teaching assistants voted April 19 and 20 in favor of forming the Graduate Employees Union (GEU), a collective bargaining unit that will be affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.

The vote was 662 for the union, 192 against, pending certification later this month by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.

The collective bargaining unit includes some 1,400 graduate teaching assistants throughout campus. Although University officials had said they did not feel a union was necessary, they noted that MSU has a long history of working cooperatively with unions both on and off campus.

The University already has nine different employee unions, the most recent representing staff employees of MSU-Detroit College of Law. The first union on campus -- for stagehands -- was recognized by the University in 1941.

The University and the GEU had agreed in March on the composition of a unit for a potential collective bargaining election. The unit includes teaching assistants performing traditional instructional duties. It does not include research assistants.

"We are pleased that the teaching assistants took the time to study the issues and to cast a vote," said Bob Banks, vice provost for academic human resources. "The University is prepared to bargain in good faith with the GEU on the first contract for teaching assistants."