Our bargaining unit must not be eroded, and our works must work fair hours.

Academia is in crisis, and our union must respond. The Trump administration’s cuts to grant-giving federal institutions like the NIH have thrown our research, our status as students, and our jobs into a state of uncertainty. UMass should be defending its students. But we know that UMass will likely try to use this crisis as an excuse to cut certain jobs and degrade others. We cannot sit idly by and expect an institution that has antagonized us at the bargaining table to save us. We must stand up and fight back. 

We will likely see a record low number of incoming graduate workers next year. This will be an additional burden on TAs, as they will be responsible for more students, more grading, and more hours of work.

We demand that UMass respects our jobs and our hours.

If elected, our slate will fight to protect our jobs and the workload we have won. We will demand that the university not erode our bargaining unit and push back against any attempts to force additional responsibilities to compensate for rescinded offers. The university is planning on reducing the number of 10-hour contracts available, which is a blatant attempt to cut union jobs and reduce the availability of tuition funding. 

We will rebuild our grievance capacity, to ensure members receive timely responses and assistance. But we won’t just rely on a bureaucratic process– we will organize to be ready to defend each other, because our strength is each other. 

Furthermore, we will demand to enter into impact bargaining to address any larger cuts to our bargaining unit. We have a responsibility to each other to ensure that the university cannot use the current political climate as an excuse to make unnecessary cuts and place unnecessary burdens on our members.

This is not solely a graduate worker issue. If elected, we will organize with the faculty from MSP and the staff from PSU and USA to ensure that any deal we strike with UMass will not compromise our working relationship with the faculty and staff on campus.