U. of Michigan Makes Best and Final Offer To Striking Grad Students

Following months of negotiations that have included a much publicized strike by graduate student workers, the University of Michigan has submitted what it’s calling its “last, best, and final” contract offer to the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), which represents graduate workers on the university’s various campuses.

The university’s proposal was delivered to the union at a scheduled bargaining session on Sunday morning. The offer comes just about a week before the University of Michigan’s classes are scheduled to begin.

The new offer includes pay increases, a bonus, better benefits and several other new provisions in a three-year contract. Included in the package are the following:

• Salary increases of 8% in 2023, 6% in 2024, and 6% in 2025 for Ann Arbor campus employees (20% over three years).
• Salary increases of 3.5% for Dearborn campus employees (10.5% over three years).
• Annual salary increases of about 9% for Flint campus employees to align its minimum stipend to that of UM-Dearborn at the end of the contract term.
• A $1,000 bonus to employees on all campuses.
• Up to 12 weeks of paid leave for employees who are birthing parents.
• Lower annual out-of-pocket maximums on mental health and physical therapy copays.
• Expanded gender-affirming benefits.
• The creation of special conferences between GEO leaders and university officials to discuss gender-affirming care and benefits.
• The creation of multi-meeting special conferences on disability accommodations and concerns about campus infrastructure and resources available to persons with disabilities.
• The creation of a three-year pilot program, which provides up to one semester of funding for an employee to transition out of an unhealthy working relationship, including an abusive, discriminatory and/or harassing relationship. The pilot program does not require the employee to report the situation to U-M’s Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office, a sticking point that union leaders have continually identified as a priority in bargaining.
• The creation of a $20,000 per year International Graduate Workers Assistance Fund.
• New requirements for academic units to publish Graduate Student Instructor class-size policies.
• The creation of a dedicated employment website for grad student workers.

The proposal came in response to an email sent to university leaders from GEO President Jared Eno, requesting they provide the offer in advance of a meeting scheduled for today so union members could vote on how to proceed.

“The university provided the union with an offer that is historic and wide-ranging in its compensation, benefits and enhancements,” U-M Provost Laurie McCauley said in the announcement. “It is our belief that this proposal is more than sufficient to make a positive vote for a tentative agreement by GEO members a clear-cut decision.”

The university said that “0utside of the bargaining process,” it had offered some other commitments, including a pledge to continue a summer funding program for UM graduate students through at least August 2026 as well as to expand funding for Ph.D. students on the Dearborn campus.

The dispute at the University of Michigan has been one of the more visible and contentious of the labor disputes that have riled several American universities in the past year since a historic walkout by tens of thousands of academic workers at the University of California last November. At UM, the grad assistants walked off their jobs last March, a strike that continued throughout the remainder of the semester.

“As much as the union and the university have been at odds regarding various aspects of negotiations, I respect the work, tenacity, and organization it requires for a union to run and complete a successful negotiation,” McCauley added. “The end result is the possibility of a contract that will offer graduate students a spectrum of substantial support for years to come. I am optimistic that we are around the corner from a harmonious fall semester focused on our mission: world-class education, research, and service.”

That remains to be seen. According to the university’s student-run newspaper, The Michigan Daily, it received an email from Eno acknowledging that while progress has been made, issues still remained. “Graduate workers have taken big risks and endured significant hardship to stand up for each other, and now the Administration has agreed to many proposals that it previously claimed were infeasible or even impossible,” Eno wrote. “At the same time, the Administration stubbornly refuses to implement key proposals that would make a huge difference to many grad workers while costing the University little to nothing. The bedrock of this campaign has been solidarity, and grad workers will decide together how to proceed.”