The University of Michigan's Board of Regents has requested court intervention in what is now a four-day strike by the university's Graduate Employee Organization, arguing the unionized graduate student instructors are legally required to return to the classroom.
The university's Board of Regents is seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to end the Graduate Employee's Organization strike that began on Wednesday, arguing that the walkout in the middle of the semester is "jeopardizing a student’s ability to take final exams, complete necessary course work, graduate" and complete educational degrees.
The university argued in the legal claim filed Thursday in Washtenaw County Circuit Court that the GEO has breached its contract, which explicitly prohibits striking, and that the strike is illegal under Michigan law. The GEO acknowledges the illegality of the strike on its website and the breach of contract but says UM is "highly unlikely to fire all of its GSIs and GSSAs because of how essential grad workers are to its day-to-day operations."
The GEO is "profoundly disappointed that the University of Michigan would take its workers to court rather than pay them a living wage," the union's President Jared Eno said in a statement.
"The University of Michigan has not negotiated with us in good faith, and after more than four months of bargaining, graduate workers feel we have no choice but to go on strike," Eno said. "Graduate workers care deeply about our students and want to give them our best, but we cannot do that when we are worrying about paying the rent, whether we can afford groceries, or afford necessary medical care. It is shameful that one of the wealthiest public universities in the world would go to court to keep things this way."
The GEO represents roughly 2,300 graduate student instructors and has been in negotiations over a new contract since November. The GEO's current contract is set to expire on May 1.
"The strike has completely disrupted the University’s ability to deliver education to its students — the core mission of the University," UM's lawyer argued in the filing.
The university accused the GEO of using "the judicial process as part of its unlawful campaign to exert unlawful economic pressure on the University" by arguing in a pamphlet to its members that the court's busy docket would delay a preliminary injunction for "a week or two.”
"Graduate workers are on strike because we know that it’s possible to have a university where everyone has what they need to survive, learn, and thrive," Eno said. "Our incredible students know this, too, and have been speaking out in support at our rallies, joining our picket lines, and asking faculty to cancel class in solidarity with our strike. Our students recognize that the University of Michigan works because we do. Together, we can make a campus that works for everyone."
The university filed unfair labor practice charges against the GEO with the Michigan Employment Relations Committee on Wednesday, asking the committee to order them to stop the strike on the grounds that it violates the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act.
The GEO also previously filed unfair labor practice charges against the university with MERC and said the UM officials refused to bargain over mandatory subjects and withheld information that is essential to bargaining.
Sticking points that have stalled negotiations include wages, harassment protections, accessible funding for childcare, emergency funding for international students, affordable copays, better access to gender-affirming healthcare and the establishment of a non-police public safety force. Compensation is the most significant point of contention, according to the university.
The GEO is asking that the university pay them a minimum of $38,542 a year, 60% higher than the current average annual salary of $24,053 for a graduate student instructor, the union says.
The minimum full-time equivalent salary for graduate student instructors on the Ann Arbor campus in the 2022-23 academic year was $24,055 per term, according to the university, although only one graduate student worker currently works full-time as an instructor. Most graduate student instructors work half of the full-time equivalent, according to the union and UM. The graduate students spend the rest of their time doing research and service work for the university, the union said.
"Our position is that the typical grad worker works for the University full-time and then some," said Amir Fleischmann, a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in political science.
The university has countered the GEO's salary proposals by offering an 11.5% wage increase over the next three years for employees on the Ann Arbor campus, increasing their hourly rate to $38-$39 an hour.
According to the university's complaint, 89.5% of undergraduates at the university take at least one course that is taught or co-taught by a graduate student instructor or graduate student staff assistants. The university has not been able to track how many classes were disrupted by the strike since professors individually are covering those sections in many different ways, UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said.
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