COGS News
International Graduate Assistants to be Paid Back!
UI to Abide By Arbitrator's Decision
After 90 days of intense negotiations and foot dragging by the University of Iowa, the University finally agreed to implement refunds owed to 119 international graduate TAs & RAs. During the past year, the affected employees have paid between $250-$1500 to take these tests and courses required for them to be employed as TAs.
This payment was ordered by arbitrator Curtiss Behrens when he ruled that the UI had violated the UE Local 896/COGS contract by charging these employees to take the SPEAK test or to participate in the TAPE programs – tests and programs required by the UI before international graduate assistants are allowed to instruct courses. In his June 27, 2006 decision, arbitrator Behrens ruled:
“Article XIX of the Agreement states that the University will provide oral and written communication training when warranted. As such, to charge graduate student employees for ESL training and SPEAK testing violates the Agreement and any and all graduate student employees who have been charged and have paid said fees need to be made whole by refunding these fees as soon as possible from the date of this award.”
While the UI stopped charging international students these fees after the arbitrator’s decision, they withheld refund payments while they evaluated their legal options, including threats to appeal this decision to the state courts. UE-COGS fought these efforts with public rallies calling for the University to make restitution immediately and to remind the UI of the important work that these employees do on a daily basis.
The foot-dragging and threats of court action by the University on this issue were reprehensible, but, in the end, the UI did make the correct decision to abide by the grievance procedure set forth in Article VIII of the UE-COGS contract. And while the UI did make the correct decision in this case, it should be noted that COGS will not tolerate this sort of behavior in the future.
The 119 employees who paid from $250-$1500 to take this test will get their refunds through the Cashiers office – for current employees, it will be credited to their U-Bill within the next 24 hours. For employees who have left the University of Iowa, the Cashiers Office will issue their remittance through a check that will be sent to their current mailing address. Additionally, current employees can request that the Cashiers Office cut them a check for their refund if they have already paid their full U-Bill for the semester. Contact the Cashiers Office at 335-0071 to ask how to make that change.
If you think you should receive a refund and have not received that refund, contact the COGS Office at 337-5074 or at cogs@cogs.org.
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Does the UI Respect Our Contract? COGS Demands that the UI Refund Graduate Employees Now!
On June 27, 2006, an independent arbitrator ruled in favor of COGS in the SPEAK/TAPE grievance. As a result of this grievance, the arbitrator ruled that the University cannot charge employees to take the SPEAK test or to participate in the TAPE program and must refund those employees erroneously charged this fee. Specifically, the arbitration decision states the following:
“However, the unilateral change in assessing fees for ESL training and taking the SPEAK test does violate the Agreement. The University has provided this training and testing at no cost to graduate student employees since the early 1980s. Because it is such a long-standing past practice it never came up in either party’s discussion of the new “TRAINING” article language.
The arbitrator understand’s the University’s argument regarding how they want to parse, “oral and written communication,” in Article XIX to not mean oral and written communication. An arbitrator must interpret contract language to mean what it says when the langauge is clear and unambiguous. Such is the case in this instance. Article XIX of the Agreement states that the University will provide oral and written communication training when warranted. As such, to charge graduate student employees for ESL training and SPEAK testing violates the Agreement and any and all graduate student employees who have been charged and have paid fees need to be made whole by refunding these fees as soon as possible from the date of this award. These graduate student employees are readily identifiable by the University and the Union and are a defined class or group of employees for purposes of this aspect of the grievance.”
It has been over 60 days since the arbitrator rendered his decision, and yet the University still has not refunded these employees for the money they were illegally charged. These employees paid, out of their own pockets in most cases, $300-$900 during the past year to participate in these programs. Some of these employees paid this money over a year ago and have yet to see any remittance from the UI.
Simply put, this reluctance to pay these employees in a timely manner is unacceptable. It is an affront to the mutually agreed upon UE-COGS contract and it is an affront to the thousands of international employees at the UI who make daily contributions to the world-class teaching and research that happens on a daily basis at the University of Iowa.
COGS will continue to demand that UI abide by the binding arbitration portion of our grievance procedure and refund these employees.
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COGS Victorious in ESL Arbitration!
Through the grievance procedure established in your COGS contract, COGS won a significant victory which orders the UI to stop charging international graduate employees fees to participate in ESL training and SPEAK testing and orders the UI to reimburse those employees who paid fees to participate in those programs. This decision represents a significant victory for all graduate employees by upholding our contract and ensuring that the UI abides by the policies agreed to within our contract. For more information on this victory, click here...
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New COGS Leadership Gears Up for Contract Negotiations !
I would like to warmly greet you all in my first COGnition article as president. Myself and the other officers elected in April have jsut taken office on May 1. As the new president, I'd especially like to thank my predecessor and COGS president for the last two years, Patrick Oray. I have big shoes to fill and will strive to live up to the high standards that have been set before me.
I would also like to thank last year’s officers who have made great accomplishments for our union and for the grad student community. They worked hard to improve our job conditions and repeatedly demanded the university to live up to its responsibility to its graduate employees. They filed thirteen grievances against the university, two of which are currently in arbitration; they defeated the proposed cuts to TA lines at the December grade-in; they raised awareness of the unfair treatment of international students, especially regarding their ESL classes and TAPE/SPEAK tests, and delivered a petition to President Skorton demanding changes; and they staged a successful Spring Membership Drive, resulting in the highest level of membership in COGS’ ten year history.
Although the school year has come to a close, the year is just beginning for the new officers. We have a great crew, which has already dived headlong into their respective duties and who will be excellent representatives of the union.
The organizing team is already coordinating the Fall Organizing Blitz; they will spend the summer assigning COGS members to speak at every departmental and university-wide orientation on campus.
The Bargaining and Grievance Committee will soon be going through the Bargaining Surveys to identify what contract issues are most important to the members. They will be training and preparing for contract negotiations throughout the summer.
The social chair, on the coattails of not one, but two COGSapaloozas will be planning the Fall picnic, and the Press and Publicity chair will be updating our fliers and posters. And by the time you read this, a committee of COGS members will have met with UI officials at our second Communications Forum, where we have been invited to discuss the University budget in light of the recent decisions made by the governor and state legislature.
The students may be on summer break, but COGS is not putting its work on hold. This coming year will require the time and efforts of every COGS member to fight for our contract, especially considering the state’s continued unwillingness to fund this school. So enjoy your summer, and brace yourself for a good fight!
Heather Waddell Gruber, President
Classics
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COGS Celebrates Ten-Year Anniversary
In the spring of 1996, graduate employees at the University of Iowa voted to make COGS their official bargaining representative. In its first year, our then fledgling union won important victories that continue to serve the best interests of TAs and RAs to this day: a solid grievance procedure; an affordable, comprehensive health care plan (UIGradCare); guaranteed base salaries; and fair policies on such issues as appointment letters, sick leave, family illness and bereavement leave, work rules, and time off over inter-session break.
Nearly ten years later, our democratic, rank-and-file run union is as strong as it has ever been.
A lot of that success is attributable to the victories COGS continues to win for UI graduate employees. For example, our last contract achieved a higher level of tuition scholarships for graduate TAs and RAs without sacrificing pay raises or our excellent health coverage–a significant achievement considering today’s economic climate that seems to not prioritize funding for higher education. On another front, COGS has been able to foil (for now) plans by the Graduate College to require summer registration for grad employees working during the summer.
In spite of our successes over the last decade, we still have a lot of work ahead of us if we are going to secure a fair working and learning environment. Current challenges include COGS’ efforts to reform discriminatory policies governing the ESL and TAPE programs that doubly and unfairly penalize international grad employees by: 1) forcing them to pay for language proficiency training that should be funded by the University and 2) cutting their appointments until said training is received. This is only one of the many ways that different campus units are attempting to circumvent our contract in order to save money.
We have to remember that the union will start bargaining a new contract with the University next fall, so we have very little time to rest on our well-deserved laurels. We’re strong now, but we need to have a new crop of leadership to take us into the future. In this issue of COGnition, you’ll find information about the union’s upcoming elections in April. Take this opportunity to have a say in how your union is run. In the meantime look for any and all opportunities to bring new members into the fold!
Patrick Oray, President
American Studies
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Did You Receive the Correct COGS-negotiated Salary Increase and Tuition Scholarship?
Salaries
The minimum salary for a 50% academic year appointment is $15,985. The minimum salary for a 50% fiscal year appointment is $19,537. Appointments at a different percent time receive no less than the prorated minimum salary rate (ie. A 25% academic year minimum salary is $7,992.50).
If you are a returning graduate employee on a 50% academic year appointment, regardless of what department or position you have returned to, you should have received a minimum $249 increase to your salary. If you are a returning graduate employee on a 50% fiscal year appointment, regardless of what department or position you have returned to, you should have received a minimum $304 increase to your salary. Returning employees who are continuing at a different percent time should have received no less than the prorated value of the salary increases described above.
See the COGS contract at: http://www.cogs.org/contract.htm#ArticleIX
Tuition Scholarships
All TAs and RAs covered by the COGS contract should have received the COGS-negotiated minimum tuition scholarship:
| Credit Hours | 0-2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9+ |
| Min. Tuition Scholarship | $331 |
$496 |
$661 |
$826 |
$992 |
$1,157 |
$1,322 |
$1,487.50 |
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU ARE NOT BEING PAID THE RIGHT SALARY OR TUITION SCHOLARSHIP?
- Contact Your COGS steward or the COGS office ASAP!
