The University of Michigan’s graduate employees union petitioned for the abolition of campus police and expanded access to abortion during bargaining sessions with university officials, according to the union’s 2022-2023 contact campaign.
The Graduate Employees’ Organizations’ (GEO) proposal includes establishing on-demand abortion access to cover the “financial costs of abortion care,” including access for over-the-counter birth control to “include emergency contraceptives (e.g. levonorgenstrel, ella.” The proposal also includes “guaranteed leave for reproductive health care to recover from reproductive medical procedures and/or cover the time required to travel out-of-state for an abortion.”
The abortion section of the GEO’s proposal also included “representation on the ‘Post-Roe’ task force” to guarantee that the university “is informed about grad worker issues and challenges.”
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In a Nov. 2022 statement, the University of Michigan shared that it is are committed “to providing comprehensive reproductive health care services,” however, the university shot down the union’s abortion access expansion requests citing that graduate students’ abortions “are either currently covered by GradCare or covered by U-M health services.”
The GEO’s proposal also included requests for additional healthcare personnel to be hired at the Comprehensive Gender Services Program, (CGSP) “in order for trans grads to receive life-saving, gender-affirming care.”
The union hopes to make it easier for its members to receive “gender-affirming care,” such as Hormone Replacement Therapy.
The Burton Memorial Tower stands on the central campus March 24, 2015 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Built in 1936, the 120′ tower is named for University President Marion Leroy Burton, who served from 1920-1925. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
View of Michigan logo on wall before game vs Ohio State at Michigan Stadium. (Simon Bruty /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
The GEO has also been denied its demand to replace the campus police department with a “community-led, non-police, unarmed emergency response” program. University officials also rejected the proposal to bar federal immigration authorities from entering campus to carry out warrants.
The university rejected the union’s demand for a “non-police” response team stating that it violates a 2020 agreement that “policing is not a subject of bargaining,” and that, “U-M cannot bargain with one union on issues that could impact another union without their involvement,” according to notes from a Jan. 20 meeting.
The union also requested childcare subsidies, increased pay for graduate students to lives on a “livable wage,” designated bulletin boards for union updates, and a fund to assist international students with “immigration-related fees.”
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The union and the university are on their eighth bargaining session with the discussions ending until both parties agree on a collective bargaining agreement. The existing contract ends on May 1, 2023. The latest bargaining meeting been the university and the labor union was held on Feb. 3. The GEO has not released the notes
The University of Michigan and the Graduate Employees’ Organization did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
