The University of Michigan has submitted a petition to the state to initiate the fact-finding process in an effort to resolve its ongoing contractual dispute with the Graduate Employees’ Organization.

The petition, filed May 17 with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, requests that the commission appoint a neutral fact finder to issue a non-binding recommendation for settling the contract.

Because strikes are illegal in the public sector, fact finding is the final impasse resolution procedure available to public-sector contract disputes once bargaining and mediation have failed to result in a final agreement, according to MERC.

“This is just the next step in the process given the union’s unwillingness to compromise on issues such as compensation, unwillingness to drop issues from bargaining that are not relevant to the contract, and unwillingness to meet for additional bargaining sessions,” said Sascha Matish, associate vice provost and senior director of academic human resources, adding that GEO has committed to only one additional bargaining session throughout the rest of May and has yet to make any commitment for bargaining in June.

“Our decision to file for fact finding is the typical next step when labor negotiations are not progressing and is intended to help reach resolution in time for the fall term,” Matish said.

GEO represents nearly 2,300 graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants. The union’s contract with the university expired May 3.

Evelyn Smith, a Ph.D. candidate in business and economics and GEO’s lead negotiator, said the union believes “fact finding is premature at this juncture, as both parties are still making movement on key issues. However, we are prepared to participate fully in this process and are confident that MERC will find that the facts support our positions.

“Our team substantiates each of our proposals with evidence. Our proposal for a living wage is rooted in peer comparisons and a thorough assessment of local economic conditions.”

The university’s petition for fact finding comes six months after bargaining began and five days after its negotiating team provided GEO with a comprehensive package in response to all outstanding issues.

The package, delivered May 12, included an increased compensation offer, as well as offers for all other articles and memoranda of understanding left unsettled. It also included a notice to the union that without “substantial movement” from GEO on most outstanding issues by the May 16 bargaining session, the university would file the fact-finding petition.

The GEO bargaining team used the May 16 bargaining session to caucus and did not reach out with counteroffers on any contract issues, according to U-M officials.

“The university provided GEO with an 80-page package proposal and threatened to move to fact finding if we did not provide them with what they considered to be an adequate response within one business day. This is not bargaining in good faith,” Smith said.

She said GEO spent the May 16 session considering the outstanding proposals with its members and evaluating potential areas of agreement.

“We are a democratic union, and member involvement in each step of this process is important to us. It would be a waste of time to pass something across the table that was rushed and did not reflect an offer our members would accept,” Smith said.

The two sides have made limited progress in the six months since collective bargaining began last November.

The biggest sticking point has been compensation, with the union demanding a 60% pay raise in the first year of its three-year contract. GEO members, who currently earn about $35 per hour, would earn about $55 per hour next year under the GEO proposal.

The university’s latest pay proposal — the fourth since bargaining began — would provide GEO members on the Ann Arbor campus 12.5% in total raises over the next three years — 5%, 4% and 3.5%, respectively. GEO members on the Dearborn and Flint campuses would receive 6.75% in total raises over the same period.

With more than a month before their contract was set to expire, GEO members walked off the job in late March and remained on strike through the remainder of the winter term. The move violated the contract’s no-strike clause and delayed final course grades for thousands of students.

University officials said they hope the fact-finding process will help move both parties toward a finalized contract.

According to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, once the commission receives a petition, it will appoint a fact finder to conduct a hearing relating to all of the facts in dispute. The hearing is public, unless otherwise directed by the fact finder, and allows both parties to present facts and witnesses in support of their positions.

Ultimately, the fact finder issues written recommendations on the contract provisions in dispute. The process can take several months.

According to MERC, the value of fact finding is that the parties receive an objective and professional evaluation of their bargaining positions. While the recommendations are non-binding, parties often return to negotiations after fact finding and are frequently able to resolve differences.

Winter term grade submissions continue

As of May 17, more than 95% of winter term grades had been submitted, according to the Office of the Registrar. The large majority of classes still outstanding are independent study and study-abroad courses that customarily arrive later than usual.

In a May 17 email message to faculty on the Ann Arbor campus, Provost Laurie McCauley reiterated the need to provide final grades to students and acknowledged the “inherent discomfort” created when a faculty member or department chair must enter a final grade for an instructor of record “who is not available to do so.”

“It is not the situation any of us would like to be in, and I know that many in our academic community have especially strong feelings about this,” McCauley said. “I understand those valid concerns, and this is not easy for any of us. However, leaving students without grades indefinitely for a course they have completed is unconscionable. It affects their financial aid, applications for work and graduate school, enrollment in spring and summer classes, and other career plans. The University of Michigan has a duty to help those students by finalizing their grades.”

McCauley said university leaders have issued no blanket mandate regarding how schools, colleges or departments choose to resolve missing grades, but are asking unit leaders to do all they can to ensure that grades are as accurate as possible.