Dear Graduate Assistants,
A student advocacy group at College Park, the Fearless Student Employees coalition (made up of the student government and GAAC), has been working on a bill to allow all Maryland system student employees the right to collectively bargain. The bill, HB 1250, has a hearing at 3:00 pm today in Annapolis.
The purpose of HB 1250 is to remove student employees at the University System of Maryland, Morgan State University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Baltimore City Community College from the list of employees who are ineligible to engage in 6 collective bargaining. This does not mean we have to collective bargain, but opens the possibility to it.
First, they have asked for as many supporters as possible to sign their petition in the hopes of convincing legislators to support their cause. Here is the link to the petition. They aim for 1000 signatures to present at the hearing and now have 720.
Second, if you have a story that you would like to share with legislators about why you believe this is important--even if it is just a paragraph or two of an anecdote in support--please email it to gaac@umd.edu. We will format your testimony and send it in for you. To convey the importance of this bill for our campuses all across the state, we need as many stories as possible, so please help spread the word!
We at the GAAC decided to support this bill, as it will give us additional means to address the concerns of graduate assistants in the future. We wanted to give all GAs the opportunity to support this if they wish. Below is an email from one of the bill's organizers with more information and a link to the petition.
