Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Letter of Support for GEO/UAW2322

Dear Chancellor Subbaswamy, 

It saddens us that we should have to write this letter to voice our concerns for the well-being of Graduate workers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  We had hoped that the concerns for employees and students would have been addressed head-on by the University itself and are disappointed that an institution such as UMass Amherst would display such blatant disregard for the well-being of the exact individuals who help make the university the successful educational institution that it is. As you well know, Graduate workers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have been engaged in ongoing negotiations with the university over the impact of changes in working conditions due to the global pandemic crisis.  We write this letter to wholeheartedly and vigorously urge you to negotiate fairly and in good faith with your Graduate Employees.  

In our conversations with Grad workers we have learned that there have been a number of obstacles in carrying out their duties including technological issues, inimical working conditions, a complete lack of future job security, and obstacles that could not have been foreseen due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic.  We have seen that this crisis has upended any sense of normalcy that workers may have once entertained and that Graduate Students across the nations are facing the same unacceptable struggles with regard to their living and working conditions.  

As a coalition organization, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice has always fought for public education and public higher education with tenacity and devotion.  This instance is no different.  On behalf of our coalition of hundreds of organizations across the commonwealth, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice fully supports and echoes the collective voice of The Graduate Employee Organization (GEO-UAW2322), the union representing graduate workers at UMass Amherst.  We have followed closely their progress and concerns in negotiating for fall 2020 job security, summer employment, legal and other support for international students, as well rent waivers and a stay on evictions from graduate housing at University-owned North Village and Lincoln apartments. We find it inhumane that they should be forced to bargain for that which sustains them amidst an unprecedented global pandemic and we find a cruel irony in the fact that this total disregard for the well-being of your students and staff during this crisis is unprecedented as the pandemic itself.  An institution that seeks to educate is held accountable for the basic wellbeing of students and employees not only by insurance, grading systems and assessments but by a moral duty to act in the best interests of those students and employees.  If we cannot entrust UMass Amherst to demonstrate moral responsibility for the well-being of students, how can UMass be entrusted with their education?

UMass Amherst is forcing some of its most vulnerable workers to bear the brunt of this crisis and leaving many international students with little to no support as pandemic-related xenophobia and racism excludes them from state and federal support, makes them vulnerable to deportation, impairs their ability continue their degrees and research at UMass, and positions them as targets of other acts of discrimination and violence.  Just this week, grad workers living in Amherst were shot at twice in 24 hours by hostile anti-Asian neighbors. We fear acts like this will continue as we well know that economic insecurity and scapegoating often go hand in hand.  We call for solidarity with GEO and call on UMass to do the right thing, bargain fairly, recognize the needs of graduate workers, and not engage in retaliation against them.  

With urgency and in solidarity with your workers, 

Massachusetts Jobs with Justice