Voting began this morning over MU graduate students’ unionization. The vote will decide whether to make the Coalition of Graduate Workers the official bargaining agent of graduate students.
The debate over graduate assistants’ rights began in August, when MU announced it would stop providing health care to its graduate workers. The decision was quickly retracted, but some students fear the policies of Interim Chancellor Hank Foley may not last.
“I understand that the new administration is trying to make progress, but we don’t know how long that administration will be in place,” graduate assistant Joel Reed said. “They’ve demonstrated through their recent correspondence with us that they’re pretty anti-union.”
Foley said he has tried to address every concern raised by graduate students, but the courts must decide on students’ employment status, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.
The Forum on Graduate Rights has been active in responding to University statements and promoting the vote to form a union. Outreach Chair Anahita Zare expects the union to create a binding contract with the university for graduate students’ benefits.
“In August, that contract which says that I get health insurance was voided,” Zare said. “The immediate goal of the Coalition of Graduate Workers is to have a contract so there is a security there.”
Voting will continue Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Memorial Hall Student Union and the Student Center on the MU campus.