From:     leoparas@EARTHLINK.NET    To:          Workplace            Date:      Monday - February 4, 2002 9:06 AM    Posted:   Monday - February 4, 2002 9:20 AM    Subject:        NYU Teaching Assistants Win Major Gains in First-Ever       Contract at Private University    Teaching, research and graduate assistants at New York University –    members of UAW Local 2110 – won major economic gains in the first-ever union    contract covering graduate employees at a private university.    “This contract is amazing. We got major wage increases, 100% health care    coverage and real improvements in our working conditions,” said Elena    Gorfinkel, a teaching assistant in the NYU Cinema Studies Department and    a member of the bargaining committee that reached a tentative agreement    with   NYU administrators late in the evening on Monday, January 28.    “This is why we formed our union”, said Gorfinkel. “We knew from the    beginning that something dramatic had to be done about stipends, and we    accomplished that in this contract.” Over the life of the agreement, the    average minimum stipend for NYU graduate student employees in the arts    and sciences will increase by 38%.    “For me, health care is a key issue”, Julen Esteban-Pretel, an    international student who is a teaching assistant in the NYU economics          department.   “For the first time, the university is going to pay 100% of our health     care. That  means peace of mind for me and my colleagues.”    Nearly a third of those covered by the tentative agreement will receive    raises of $5,000 per year or more as a result of new minimum stipends    and wage increases. Some 1,300 NYU teaching, research and graduate    assistants are covered by the proposed agreement, which will be voted on by    union members on January 30.    “Academic student employees at NYU worked long and hard to win this    contract. To have reached this historic agreement without a strike is a    big first step to establishing a productive relationship with the    University,” said UAW Vice President Elizabeth Bunn, who heads the union’s    100,000-member Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) Department. “Our       members at NYU will now be treated the way professional educators should be     treated at one of our nation’s top universities, which can only enhance excellence    in education.”    With strong support from the International Union, UAW, teaching and    research assistants at NYU won the right to form a union and bargain with their    employer in a historic National Labor Relations Board decision issued on    November 1, 2000.    Over 15,000 academic student employees are UAW members at the University    of California and the University of Massachusetts, and organizing campaigns    are underway at the University of Washington, Columbia University, Brown    University, and Tufts University.    “A lot of people thought you could never win an agreement at a private    university,” said Phil Wheeler, director of UAW Region 9A, which    includes  New York City and New England. “In the UAW, however, we’re pretty     good at doing things other people say can’ t be done.”    Under the terms of the tentative agreement, PhD candidates and Master’s    Degree candidates in the Arts and Sciences and the core undergraduate    curriculum will receive a minimum salary of $15,000 in the 2001 academic    year, retroactive to September 1. The minimum salary will increase to    $16,000 in the 2002 academic year, $17,000 in 2003, and $18,000 in 2004.    All graduate assistants will receive an increase; those earning more than    the minimum will receive a 3.5% increase in each of the first three years in    place of the minimum salary, and a 4% increase in 2004.    NYU also agreed to address health care, a major concern of graduate    assistants. For the first time, the University will pay 100% of health    care costs, beginning in the fall of 2002. For the current academic year,    retroactive to 2001, the University will pay 50% of health care costs.    The tentative agreement between UAW Local 2110 and NYU also includes    full fee waivers for all academic student employees; university-paid training    courses, including English as a second language; a guarantee that    approved appointments will not be rescinded; an increase in funds available for    child care, and a standard work week of 20 hours per week with increased    compensation for those who are required to work extra hours. In    addition, all pre-existing benefits will be continued.    _________________________________________

For More information contact: Jon Curtiss     curtissj@concentric.net Organizer, MFT&SRP, AFT, AFL-CIO 734-358-7004