By Fine Print Staff
Graduate Assistants United is a union of graduate students who work for the University of Florida as teaching or research assistants. On this campus, graduate students teach over half of all classes, and perform over half of all the academic research. GAU was formed almost three decades ago to protect the rights of and obtain benefits for these employees. Every year, GAU negotiates a legally-binding contract with the administration defining the terms of employment for graduate assistants. This contract secures many benefits: full tuition waivers; deferment of Employment Fees; elimination of international student fees; fully subsidized, c
omprehensive health care; five days off per semester for “personal time;” protection against discrimination, employer abuses, excessive workloads, and unfair evaluation procedures; academic freedom protocols; intellectual property rights; frequent increases in stipend pay; a formal grievance procedure with legal council. Not one of these rights and benefits was given to graduate assistants. All of these rights and benefits were won after a long struggle by the members of GAU.
Our success is directly proportional to the strength of our membership. Becoming a member of GAU is easy: it costs 1% of your stipend, and active involvement is not required. And the benefits are great. In addition to new rights and privileges obtained each year through our contract, GAU membership also provides voting rights in the union, legal council and assistance for grievances, $1 million liability insurance, lots of local and national discounts, and a voice in our contract deliberations. Active participation provides even more benefits. Many graduate students plan careers in academia, and GAU is a perfect way to learn about academia’s institutional politics and mechanisms from the inside. GAU is also a social organization and provides a convenient way for graduate students to meet peers outside of their specific (and often cloistered) departments. GAU is the legal, professional, and social voice of graduate assistants.
For more information on GAU, visit our website: www.ufgau.org. For the details of our contract, review it here: www.ufgau.org/contract/. For more information on becoming involved, contact one of our officers: www.ufgau.org/contact.shtml.
Tags: Monthly Manifesto