Support the TAU Grade-In
Mon-Wed, Nov 30-Dec 2, 2015, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
3rd floor, Seibert administration building

From the WMU-AAUP officers and Executive Committee:

As many faculty members may be aware, TAU (the graduate teaching assistants union at WMU) is now engaged in formal talks with the administration about enrollment fees. Currently, graduate teaching assistants at WMU are required to pay about 8 percent of their wages back to the university in the form of enrollment fees. TAU is attempting to negotiate an elimination of these fees.

TAU has requested the support of the the WMU-AAUP for a three-day labor action that TAU is planning for Monday, November 30, through Wednesday, December 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The action is a “grade in,” to take place on the third floor of the Seibert administration building, during which members of TAU will engage in what they describe as “a lawful and peaceful demonstration of the professional work that [they] do as university employees.” This labor action is an attempt by TAU to mobilize their members with the goal of convincing the administration to eliminate enrollment fees for GTAs.

The WMU-AAUP officers and Executive Committee recommend to the faculty that we take a public position in support of TAU in this negotiation. As teachers and mentors to these students, and as members of a professional union that sets the standard for organized labor in higher education, we are choosing to stand with them as they stand up for what they believe is right. And as faculty members, many of us with tenure and all of us with the protections of our union and contractual rights to academic freedom, shared governance, and due process, we want to make sure they know that we have their backs.

To show your support for TAU, please tell your students who are TAU members that you support them, post messages of support on social media, or even stop by to say hello during the grade-in. They’ll be grading-in Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, November 30-December 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the 3rd floor of the Seibert administration building.

For more information, please visit the TAU Facebook page.

#StrongerTogether  #WeStandWithTAU

In solidarity,
The officers and Executive Committee of the WMU-AAUP