With final exams finishing up this week at the University of Michigan, tensions are rising between the school and the union representing its graduate student instructors. They have been on strike since March 29th.
According to the Graduate Employees Organization – or GEO – they presented a revised compensation proposal, which still maintains their goal of a livable wage of $38,000 per year. GEO said the administration was “uninterested” in the proposal.
This comes on the heels of multiple protests last Thursday. Two grad students were detained by police after disrupting a dinner involving U-M president Santa Ono. Union members shut down a construction site at Michigan Medicine when construction workers refused to cross their picket line.
The U-M Board of Regents said in a statement that the actions were “wholly unacceptable”.
The union’s contract expires May 3rd. Another bargaining session is scheduled for today.
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