UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 28.1997
3
Rally calls for benefits recognition for GTAs
By Kell Raybern Special to the Kansan
Members and supporters of the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition braved cold weather yesterday to fight for recognition and improved compensation for graduate teaching assistants.
The coalition, which is the official union of GTAs at the University of Kansas, has sought a contract with the University's administration since its inception two years ago, and negotiations continue.
"What the administration can't stand is sustained effort on our part," said Kevin Armitage, Lawrence graduate student and coalition member. "We're going to sustain the pressure until we receive the treatment we deserve."
Participants listened to speeches from American Airlines pilot Vince Boudreaux and Kansas City Federation of Teachers member Rex Hull as part of the first National Day of Action.
The Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions, which helped organize the event, was responsible for demonstrations on 25 campuses nationwide.
Following the speeches, supporters of the GTA Coalition carried a refrigerator-box monument to the Office of the Chancellor. The box contained notes of support from students who have been taught by GTAs.
Laura Senio, Seattle graduate student and co-president of the GTA coalition, said that an equitable contract for GTAs, who teach up to 30 percent of classes at the University, was important to undergraduates.
"When they treat us fairly, undergraduates benefit," Senio said. "We would be better teachers if we had health care, if we didn't have to get a second job to get health care," she said.
Boudreaux, who has supported the GTA coalition since it began, told protesters that labor in all fields faced the same struggle.
"From airlines to universities, labor continues to be under assault from administrations with appetites for higher and higher profit margins," Boudreaux said.
He blamed the administration for the length of the GTA coalition's negotiation process.
"Responsibility for the lack of progress rests with the administration's lack of motivation to bargain," Boudreaux said.
He said that the administration profited from delay because it postponed higher wages and drained union funds and resolve.
Boudreaux and Hull emphasized the importance of precedents set by the GTA coalition in negotiating the first contract for GTAs at the University.
"You are the trailblazers," Boudreaux said. "Your effort will ease the way for those who follow."
Senio said that GTAs were seeking the right to collective bargaining and to union and strike activities without threats of reprisal.
Alice Melin/KANSAN
Vince Boudreaux, an American Airlines pilot, talks to students about the importance of perseverance at a GTA rally outside the Kansas Union.
Their other demands include health care, higher wages, guaranteed tuition waivers and recognition for the contributions of international students.
Senio hoped that the GTA coalition's participation in the national event would draw attention to the commonality of their struggle.
Some University officials declined to comment on the rally and continuing negotiations. Others were unavailable for comment.
"GTAs at KU are not alone," Senio said. "It is a national struggle."
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