Important Reminder: GA/TA rally tomorroww at noon in front of Library Tower
Shehryar Qazi
Hello fellow union members,
The Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU) will be holding its International Workers' Day rally in front of the Library Tower (LT) tomorrow on Wednesday, May 1st at noon for all GAs/TAs. We will all come together by the wooden Pegasus statue. Please come and join us to show your support and solidarity for making SUNY Binghamton a better workplace. The following six issues are dear to us and what we have been fighting for and why we are holding the rally for all GAs/TAs:
1.) Four years of funding for those who come with a BA is not sufficient to finish the PhD. The national average for the number of years it takes for Humanities and Social Sciences is 9 years. We demand at least 2 more years of funding.
2.) We demand the Elimination of Mandatory Fees. Up to 20% of the salary goes to paying the fees for folks who are paid the lowest ($8586.00) and about 11% goes to paying these fees for folks who are paid the median salary on this campus.
3.) Equal to or Below $10,000 annual salary is an unacceptable salary for those TAs and GAs. We call for immediate raises up to the current median salary for these members.
4.) Stop dumping more and more work responsibilities on TAs and GAs. The issue of overwork is a silent issue that affects most grads who are often in difficult positions to ask for a change. Many GAs/TAs work over 20 hours a week which is illegal according to New York State Law.
5) Stop cutting back the Clark Fellowship and funneling its funds elsewhere. Reinstate Clark Fellowship Funding now !
6) The newly announced Provost Fellowship is looking to pay a select few of newly enrolled students of the Fall 2013 semester a $4,000 summer bonus. These departments are ranked against each other, regardless of their fields, therefore stacking smaller and less financially funded students in these departments at less opportunity to receiving this new fellowship. This also does not offer this opportunity to pre- 2012/13 academic year students, which creates financial preference for new students. Let us not underpay our senior students !
See you all out there tomorrow hopefully,
In solidarity,
Your Binghamton Chief Steward,
Shehryar Qazi