With past issues of transparency in mind, members of the Graduate Student Government and the Graduate Assistant Advisory Council, the body now responsible for representing graduate assistants in negotiating work terms and wages, are working to ensure better clarity in future decision-making.
While the GSG had consistently pushed for the right to unionize, members said they became concerned with transparency after being left out of discussions that eventually led to the implementation of a meet-and-confer process instead — meaning graduate assistants can bring a third party to meetings with university officials, but administrators have no obligation to negotiate with them.
In June, GSG and GAAC members recommended to the administration that the advisory council represent graduate assistants in meet-and-confer, and GSG President David Colon-Cabrera said collaborations are now underway to improve communication and representation in the upcoming GAAC elections. The body recommended there should be an open call for nominations, the period for nominations should last 10 days and graduate assistants interested in joining the GAAC should be able to nominate themselves, according to the resolution.
“I hope that every graduate student is informed so that this process can help us now and in the future,” Colon-Cabrera said.
University President Wallace Loh said the GSG will still play a key role under the new process of negotiations, adding that in this university’s case, unionization was not necessary for graduate assistants.
“It’s an elected body that represents graduate students, and they certainly can talk about any issues they wish,” Loh said. “But they are not a labor organization.”
Last April, state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery) and state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery) co-sponsored the Higher Education Workforce Equity Act, a bill that would have given graduate assistants, adjunct faculty and tenure-track faculty the ability to unionize to negotiate wages and working terms.
But before the bill went to a vote in the Senate, GAAC member and former GSG President Anna Bedford said the American Federation of Teachers union compromised on a deal with the governor’s office and university officials.
University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan said he was optimistic the meet-and-confer will be beneficial to graduate assistants’ relations with their departments.
“I think our goal here is to have a very open process where the graduate students can determine whether or not they’d like to have some adviser join them when they meet with the administration,” Kirwan said. “I think it is more consistent with the role and nature of graduate assistants — they’re students. We don’t see them as employees.”
Bedford said graduate students gaining the right to unionize this year seemed unlikely and the best option was to move forward with representation by the GAAC, increase transparency and better publicize elections.
“It may be the best that we can get,” said Bedford.
While she supports the GAAC’s new role in meet-and-confer and helped author the June proposal, Bedford said she developed concerns about transparency last year over the process of the body’s elections.
“[The administration] selected the students who could be on the ballot and then had the graduate students elect their peers,” said Bedford. “So technically they were elected, but the ballot itself was chosen by the administration.”
Colon-Cabrera said the GSG has met with Graduate School Dean Charles Caramello twice this semester, in part to discuss the details of the upcoming GAAC elections.
“We just want the process to be transparent so that it represents the variety of issues that graduate students face,” Colon-Cabrera added.