Friday, March 30, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 5
Union helps GTAs in negotiations
By Michelle Ward
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Contract negotiations are under way between the Graduate Teaching Assistant Coalition and the University of Kansas as the two groups try to hammer out a new contract for graduate teaching assistants.
The discussions, which began in September, have yet to produce a second contract for the coalition. While the negotiation teams have met monthly to iron out the deal, the coalition has not been able to bring a contract to its members. The coalition is waiting to hear the University's newest proposal. While still in negotiations, both sides are prohibited from talking about the deal, said Amy Cummins, president of the coalition.
Lynn Bretz, interim director of University Relations, said that she didn't know when contract discussions would be resolved but that negotiations were still taking place.
"We are involved in contract negotiations, and it is not appropriate to comment right now," Bretz said.
The coalition, which formed in 1991 and became an official union in 1995, created the 11th graduate employees union in the nation. Cummins said the unionization of graduate groups was the biggest labor movement of the 1990s.
The newly formed KU coalition signed its first contract with the University in 1997. The initial agreement guaranteed tuition waivers for GTAs that had not been previously established. It also gained pay increases when the faculty received raises, along with health care subsidies from the University.
"Once we started the union, life got better." Cummins said.
Cummins said she received a tuition reimbursement in the form of a three-hour fee waiver that paid for half of her student fees. In return
for the waiver, Cummins, a doctoral student in English, teaches two courses a semester.
In its efforts for a new contract, the coalition has received help from other on-campus organizations. Delta Force has come into support of the union because of the coalition's support at the polls, said Justin Mills, Delta Force presidential candidate.
"They have always supported us. When it's their time of need, we felt we should support them," Mills said. "It's to the best benefit of KU students to have good GTAs. Sometimes we don't get the best GTAs because we don't have the best benefits."
Jessica Bankston, VOICE presidential candidate, echoed Mills support of the coalition. She said while the union was relatively new, it could make an important difference for graduate assistants in the next few years. Other, older unions, such as the one at Iowa State, have helped
GTAs receive better pay and benefits. Bankston said it was important for undergraduates to support the union.
"I think it's a good sign that so many undergraduates are interested in GTAC negotiations," Bankston said. "Our education is enhanced by the quality graduate students KU recruits."
Boss Sossell, Topeka graduate student, is not a coalition member, but the journalism GTA said the University's pay and hours presented difficulties. Limited to 20 hours a week, Bossell said he must work two or three jobs to cover his living expenses. He must work around his teaching schedule and classes, and the odd hours he works often do not provide the best income.
"The rent or utilities or the bills or the gas or the insurance do not go away," Bossell said. "It just means you have to go somewhere else to earn it."
— Edited by Courtney Criamile
Proposed bill would honor Shyra McGee
Bv Brooke Hesler
by brooke hesler
writer @kansan.com
Kansan staff worker
It's about time Student Senate honored the late Shyra McGee, a former student senator, said Tracy Chiles, Nunemaker senator.
"She was a phenomenal woman," said Chiles, Shawnei junior.
said Chiles, Shawnee junior.
Chiles is a co-sponsor of a resolution that would honor McGee. Senate Committees approved the resolution on Wednesday, and it will go before the entire Senate for a final vote next week. It is expected to pass.
McGee was a senior when she died
as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in February.
McGee was a nontraditional senator last year, a resident assistant at Stouffler Place Apartments, one of the founders of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority and the National Council of Negro Women.
Chiles served as a senator with McGee and described her as a senator who always had the concerns of her constituents at heart.
"She always stood up for minorities and nontraditional students," Chiles said. "She argued very passionately about how those voices had to be heard."
If the resolution passes, Senate will purchase a plaque that will honor McGee. Initially, the plaque was to hang in the Senate office, but some senators felt it should placed in the Kansas Union where everyone could see it.
Chiles said she came up with the idea of writing a resolution after she attended McGee's funeral. Chiles said McGee's life was analogous to a pebble thrown into a puddle of water.
"It just ripples out," Chiles said. "that he's unwrapped it touched."
How many people she instructed Ann Curry, Lawrence graduate student, was a friend of McGee. She said she supported the idea of the resolution and plaque, but McGee, because of her mod-
estv. might see it another wav.
"She would say, 'Oh don't make a big deal over me.' Curry said. "She would want the work that went into the bill to go to benefit people in the community." Curry said McGee had taken her posi-
Curry said McGee had taken her position as a student senator very seriously.
"She made sure things were done right," Curry said. "She was very impassioned, and she always spoke up."
Chiles said she still missed McGee and something that saddened her was that McGee would have accomplished a lot in life if she had lived longer.
"That girl would have moved mountains," she said.
Edited by Doug Pacey
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