Survey: University of Missouri graduate assistants distrust pay, insurance promises
RUDI KELLER
Graduate assistants at the University of Missouri are worried promised raises will not be paid and promised health insurance benefits won’t be provided, according to a survey conducted by the group seeking union recognition on campus.
The Coalition of Graduate Workers, which is suing the UM System for a declaration that they are employees with the right to form a union, on Thursday released the results of a survey that drew 246 responses. The survey was promoted on social media, through union email lists and through the MU Directors of Graduate Studies to reach as many of the approximately 2,600 graduate assistants as possible.
“We used the same survey methodology that the university uses when they send out surveys,” said Joseph Moore, spokesman for the union. “I don’t necessarily think it is the case that” only “people who are dissatisfied will respond to the survey.”
The lawsuit seeking recognition as employees is pending in Boone County Circuit Court. On Nov. 21, attorneys for the union and the university agreed to submit a joint statement of facts in the case within 120 days, then file arguments on the law and await Judge Jeff Harris’ ruling.
The best way for the university to reassure graduate assistants that it will keep its promises would be to drop opposition to the lawsuit and recognize the union, Moore said.
“Put it into a legally binding contract,” he said. “That would go a long way toward reassuring graduate assistants about these issues.”
Unrest among graduate assistants began in the summer of 2015 when the university notified them it would no longer provide stipends to purchase individual health insurance plans. The university cited IRS rules that imposed penalties for employers who provide subsidies for individual plans. The decision was quickly reversed and new rules written since that time will allow educational institutions to continue the practice unchanged.
The reversal did not quiet the graduate assistants, who continued to organize because of uncertainty about the health insurance, upset over low pay and the possible loss of housing and daycare when University Village closed after a fatal walkway collapse.
Interim Chancellor Hank Foley addressed the pay issue in January, promising to increase the minimum stipend to $15,000 for doctoral assistants with a half-time appointment this year. A second increase, to $18,000, is promised for the 2017-18 school year. The assistants teach classes and conduct research for the university.
Among those taking the survey, fewer than one-fifth expect the promise of stipend increases to be kept. Most said they did not believe health insurance will be comparable or better next year.
Those impressions are wrong, Foley wrote Thursday in an email to his staff.
“We have given our assurances that we will stand by our promises to them,” he wrote. “The actions we have taken have come in a time of great budget challenge, and as such they demonstrate how deep our commitment to them is.”
Other issues being raised by the survey are or should be addressed, Foley wrote.
“We will continue to work on sustainable solutions for their healthcare, both mental and physical, for fair workloads in their departments and for more housing options,” Foley wrote. “I have asked the Faculty Senate to review graduate student treatment and workloads across the campus and look forward to their findings.”
Despite the assurances, Foley said he did not expect the union to be satisfied.
“I do not expect the demands to stop, or for the rhetoric from CGW to improve much” because they are seeking union recognition, Foley wrote.
Incoming UM System President Mun Choi, who will take over March 1, comes from the University of Connecticut, where both faculty and graduate assistants have unions, Moore said. Choi has not committed to supporting unionization at MU.
“If it can be done at a university like Connecticut, why can’t it be done at the University of Missouri?” Moore said.
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