The contemporary labor movement is diverse. We include factory and construction workers, as well as service sector, low-wage, and immigrant workers. We include professionals like doctors, nurses, lawyers, and dentists (many of whom are in unions affiliated with our own AFT). We include academic workers like professors, researchers, support staff, post-docs, and grad student workers…
One piece of the TAA Constitution is up for review at the next General Membership Meeting on December 3rd. Making decisions on our Constitution, the union’s core governing document, is a really important job for all union members. So you should definitely be at general membership meeting to participate in some key union governance and…
From a previous entry here on our website: The democratic political process impacts us tremendously. So we must impact it. Political action is one of the most important ways that our union advances our interests, our agenda, and our well-being. Our political program is the way we do it. The intersections of the union and…
I. UIUC GEO On Strike Earlier this week, the grad student workers at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign and their union the Graduate Employees’ Organization went out on strike. After months of stagnating negotiations where the administration refused to budge on crucial issues, the grad unionists at UIUC took to the streets to move negotiations further…
The next General Membership Meeting of the union, the last for the 2009 fall semester, will take place on December 3rd at 5:30 PM at the Pres House. General Membership Meetings, or GMMs, are where we make decisions as a democratic organization on union matters. They’re also venues for updates and information on critical union…
We are holding another “Basics & Beyond” union workshop this coming Tuesday. On November 10th, at 5 PM at the TAA office. If you have not yet been able to make it to a union workshop this year, whether you are new this semester or have been around for years, you should attend! These union…
On Thursday, November 19th at 7:30 PM, our Political Education Committee will be meeting to work on political action projects for the 2009-2010 academic year and the 2010 elections. Consider yourself invited! With questions or to RSVP, please contact Political Education Committee chair Peter Rickman. The democratic political process impacts us tremendously. So we must…
One Contract Down, One More To GoWith the ratification of our 2007-2009 contract, bargaining for the 2009-2011 contract is already upon us. This new contract to be bargained will not only set wages, benefits, standards for workplace treatment and a host of issues, it will also determine the base from which we build for the…
This past week, delegates from the TAA attended and participated in the AFT-Wisconsin convention. As we noted earlier last week, being a part of a broader labor movement, including our state federation of unions, is a really important part of having a strong local here in the TAA. We also outlined some of the business…
Our union is working through the end of the fall semester to organize across campus in order to engage grad student workers around the work of the union. Among some of the issues around which we need to engage our bargaining unit membership are the passage of a new contract, bargaining for another contract going…
