Today we are opening nominations for the GAGE Bargaining Committee.

Since being elected in February, our Bargaining Commitee has presented the administration with close to thirty proposals to raise stipends and hourly wages, to address sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, to improve access to child care, and much more. As we explain in our Platform Pledge, the goal is a Contract for the Whole Person that empowers graduate employees and allows us to thrive during our time at Georgetown.

To achieve our goal of a contract, we need a Bargaining Committee that can speak to the wide range of disciplines, demographic groups, and experiences of graduate employees. In particular, we need graduate employees in the STEM fields, international graduate employees, and Masters graduate employees to join the Bargaining Committee.

We will have our GAGE General Assembly meeting next Monday, September 30 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM in Walsh 496. Here members of the Bargaining Committee will demystify the bargaining process and ask for membership input on contract proposals. We will also decide on actions that we can take together to achieve our Contract for the Whole Person.

This meeting is an excellent opportunity for you to make your voice heard--and to consider whether you or one of your colleagues would be a good fit for the Bargaining Committee. You can RSVP here.

Nominations for the Bargaining Committee will be open from now until 5 PM on Sunday, October 13, 2019. Graduate workers who (1) is working as an RA, a TA, or an instructor of record this semester or may work in one of those roles in future semesters and (2) have signed a GAGE membership card are eligible to nominate and be nominated for election to the Bargaining Committee. Self-nominations are encouraged. The nomination and election process will be overseen by the Election Committee, which will consist of three volunteers from the Organizing Committee.

In closing, we thank the outgoing members of the Bargaining Committee for their work in shaping our contract proposals. Please do not hesitate to contact the members of the Election Committee at GAGEOrganizing@gmail.com with any questions you might have about the nominating process. We will see you in Walsh 496 at 5:30 PM on September 30!