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Take a stand: Skip classes for GEO today and tomorrow

Wrong. The reason behind these two days off goes beyond vacation. The Graduate Employees Organization has stopped work.

GEO, the graduate student instructors' union, is picketing during this two-day work stoppage. The measure is less drastic than a strike, but it is still GEO's last-ditch plea to the University to reach a contract satisfactory to both sides. They have been discussing contracts since October, but the University constantly stonewalls any sort of progress GEO tries to make. GEO members picked April 8 and 9 as two days far enough from exams -- and close enough to home. Bargaining will begin on Wednesday of this week and continue to Thursday; the picket will set the tone for the week's discussions. A state mediator from the Michigan Employment Relations Committee will go between the two sides, possibly bringing them to an equitable settlement.

But the University called off bargaining at noon on Friday -- so the work stoppage will continue. Moreover, GEO is filing a civil suit against the University for unfair labor practices. The union claims that administrators are not engaging in the mandatory subjects of bargaining, such as international GSI training and GSI wages.

In an e-mail last Wednesday, LSA Dean Edie Goldenberg warned department heads that all staff, including GSIs and faculty, would lose pay for all cancelled classes. Goldenberg also ordered that LSA classes "may not be rescheduled in time or place." Any rescheduled classes would be regarded as cancelled -- therefore, conscientious staff members trying to accommodate both undergraduates and GSIs would be penalized for their extra efforts.

Goldenberg wrote, "I hope that the negotiators arrive at agreement without any of the unpleasantness associated with a work stoppage." Get used to it -- the rest of the term will not only be unpleasant, but ugly, if the University continues its rigid responses to GEO. If mediation does not work, GEO will have to strike indefinitely, which will cancel classes in a more permanent manner.

In February, GEO organized a mock strike, picketing outside various University buildings. But the mock strike was more like a protest, a visible statement for the whole community to observe. Now GEO requests the community's involvement. Whether students choose to go to classes in protest of GEO or because they are concerned about academics, they will have made a choice about the strike. Everyone is forced to make a stand, by action or inaction.

GEO would likely welcome any students who wish to picket alongside GSIs. In addition, students could attend the outdoor barbecues at noon on both days in the Regents' Plaza outside the Fleming Administration Building. But the less obvious support is a stronger statement. Stay home. Don't go to your classes.