Graduate Assistants are an essential component to the continuing success of Montana State University. Graduate Assistants assume the majority of teaching and research responsibilities on MSU’s campus. MSU continues to boast their success by expanding its undergraduate population, securing larger and more prestigious research grants, and increasing MSU administrative annual salaries. However, Graduate Assistant (GA) working conditions, wages, and benefits have not kept pace as the university's success continues to rise.

In response to the continuous erosion of the value of our labor and time, the GEO recently secured a stipend increase. This is the first stipend increase for GAs in over a decade. Furthermore, the collective bargaining efforts of the GEO in collaboration with university administration, now guarantees that all GAs will receive at least minimum wage for their teaching and researching endeavors (this was not the case in some departments before the formation of the GEO).

The GEO provides a platform for collective bargaining and collective action. This platform empowers GAs to identify important issues, develop solutions, and implement these solutions to resolve the identified issues

GAs from all across campus are involved with the GEO. We have a Central Committee (CC) that is elected by membership to lead the GEO. This central committee represents the Bargaining Unit both during the Bargaining period and outside of it. There are also Stewards from various departments that help connect the Bargaining unit with the CC.

One of the CCs current goals is to develop graduate employee leadership within departments and find more Stewards from more departments. Leadership helps increase communication and ensures that member concerns are heard and addressed. People in every department can use this as a platform to participate and make their employment issues known. If you want to know if your department has a Steward yet, check the “People” page.

The easiest way to connect with us is to either email us directly (geocentralcommittee@gmail.com) or to get in contact with your department’s steward, if you have one. You can find the names of your stewards here.

The GEO advocates on behalf of all graduate employees at MSU (anyone that has a Graduate Assistantship). We aim to secure an adequate level of compensation and benefits for each employee. Decisions affecting funding for those making more than the established minimum depends on grants or departmental resources outside of the influence of GEO.

If you’re a GA and are not yet a member, join us! Click the ‘Join” button on the top of the page!

If you are already a member and want to do more, there's a lot of work to do! Most importantly, we need Stewards, the link between the membership and the Central Committee, to maintain the flow of information to all GAs. If you feel you can do more, join a committee that sounds interesting to you! Your voice will add to the richness of our union. Email us at geocentralcommittee@gmail.com for more info.

In our first contract with the University, GAs received guaranteed in-state tuition and a $120 monthly stipend increase. This was the first campus-wide stipend increase seen by GAs in over a decade! Your union can make a difference.

At universities around the country, graduate employees have successfully bargained to receive health insurance, fee reductions, tuition waivers, standardized grievance procedures, arbitration and contract enforcement, higher stipends, cost of living increases, and enforceable workload limits. At MSU, the GEO works on the issues that directly affect you, and we continue to work on similar issues here.

Any contract negotiated and ratified by the GEO membership aims to bring up the lowest common denominator and elevate every graduate employee to a level in which they can support themselves and focus on their work and research. To improve MSU's ability to recruit and retain the best graduates, we need to improve not only wages and working conditions but also the relationship with the administration. Thus, our organizing efforts intend to be an amicable process that will improve the University and the quality of education provided to students.

Your support of the GEO is also the support of your fellow graduate students, both now and in the years to come.

The GEO represents all GAs, who make up the bargaining unit, regardless of their GEO membership status. All GAs receive negotiated contract benefits whether this is improved benefits, wages, or working conditions.

However, contract bargaining is driven by GEO membership, so member voices are the only voices in determining the focus of contract bargaining.

The GEO differs in one key way from an advisory committee - MSU is legally obligated to bargain with a union, but is not legally obligated to bargain with an advisory committee.

The GEO is a local chapter of the MEA-MFT (Montana Education Association and Montana Federation of Teachers). GEO dues contribute to the administrative structure of the union (national, state, and local). This includes professional and administrative staff, legal representation, professional development, training, and support. The MEA-MFT provides significant support to the CC and helps us bargain successfully.

The GEO also hosts regular social gatherings and meetings to strengthen our community and build new relationships that empower our members and our union. A part of your dues go to funding these gatherings.

GEO dues also provide a small stipend to our CC members to support their hard work.

You lose nothing by supporting the efforts of your colleagues. You only help future graduate employees by improving the quality of their life. However, if you intend to stay in academia, the culture of putting the burden of work on adjuncts and graduate students erodes the number of available tenure track positions.

No, as employees of the state, you cannot be forced to join the union. However, a strong GEO can negotiate for better working conditions, health insurance, and pay. It’s much more difficult for an individual to ask for and receive health insurance or any other improvement in wages, working conditions, or benefits. The more members we have, the stronger our voice is, and the better our chances to directly address and resolve issues that affect us.

There are two easy ways!

1. Email geocentralcommittee@gmail.com (or use the contact page of our site) and ask if you are a member! Please include your first and last name and your department!

2. Check your ‘paystub.’ Go to MyInfo. Select ‘Employee Services’ at the top. Next, select ‘Deductions History.’ Select the appropriate dates - we recommend a one-month window - and ‘display.’ Here you will see a breakdown of all of your pay deductions, including taxes, Social Security, and Union Dues. If you are paying Union dues, you are a member!

The GEO has a no-strike clause in the Bargaining Agreement. This is required by our MFPE (Montana Federation of Public Employees) membership.

There is a lot of formal vocabulary associated with the union.

The CBA is the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This is the contract between the GEO (the union) and the University. Both parties are held to the agreement it contains.

The Bargaining Unit is all of the people that a union represents (not just the members). For GEO, the bargaining unit is all Graduate Assistants, whether they be GSAs or GRAs.

The Bargaining Period is the time period, usually about a year long, in which the GEO and MSU bargain for the next CBA. This is when we try to hammer out better wages, conditions, and benefits. We have them every couple of years.

If you think that some part of the CBA is not being followed, either by the school as a whole or by your department, please email us at geocentralcommittee@gmail.com. We take grievances very seriously. There is also a good chance that if you have noticed it, someone else may have, too, but they may not know how to deal with it. Please tell us if you think something is wrong.

First of all - sorry we’re losing you. We would like to know why you’re leaving so we can improve the GEO in the future.

Second of all, you can end your membership by emailing acurtis@mfpe.org between September 1st and September 30th.