Download Meeting Minutes from Thursday, April 7th

TUGSA GMM
4/7/2016
I.
II.
III.
In attendance: Brynn, Claire, Jeff, Christian, guy from physics, Grokim, Diane,
Alec, Sarah, Ben, Susan, Chris, Bonny
Call to order: 3:20pm
Pressing Issues
a. Gorkim (TA), went to dentist frustrated with experience, had to pay
several thousand dollars. Now is waiting to go to Turkey for dental
work. Unsure if our insurance covers dental and if so how much. Went
twice and paid $75 dollars for examination. Temple clinic not paying
for crown and root work. Susan says to use AFT card and say you are
an employee of Temple things get waived. Phil says you have to get
the provider number (sent in email) can callthe IBC people, then you
give them the provider number and they get in touch with concordia
advantage who pays for the dental because IBC doesn’t do the dental
stuff they have a third part insurer, you go to temple dental on the
second floor and they search the provider number and they should
find your stuff there. Different plans have different levels of coverage.
Phil says min and standard plan are subsidized if you don’t have
dependents. Gorkim has a dependent and has the lowest tier plan.
b. Chris raised a question regarding the allotment of classes on issues of
race, and the humanities.
i. Union did not have information on hand, but it is understood
that generally there is a direction within the university to
orient the burden of teaching the humanities around the
interests of the STEMM fields.
c. Student Fees Campaign
i. Petition being circulated to address ongoing situation with
student fees, despite the fact that graduate students are
technically employees
1. Fees generally are charged and due during a period
when graduate students have not been paid
2. Brynn highlights the initial step of effectively fighting
against exploitative fees is to raise awareness of the
issue with the general student body.
3. Workload as a continuing problem for graduate
students
a. Not being paid for a month of preparation before
the start of formal classes – Gorkem
b. Susan raises the question of union members
tracking their working hours for the week in
order to plead a case with the university to
challenge over the work hours.
c. Union suggests that encouraging members to
keep track of their work hours, can be useful for
when the contract is renegotiated in 2017.
d. Sexual Harassment
i. Some departments are better than others are when it comes to
dealing with sexual harassment.
ii. Union wants to do better with wrestling with the issue
e. April 14: Stadium Stompers (Day of Rage) : TUGSA IS NOT
ENDORSING THIS EVENT!
i. 6 am Picket at McDonalds
ii. 7am Real Justice Coalition Disrupting Fox News Event
iii. 2pm Student Walkout Converging at Bell Tower
iv. 3pm Things will happen/Board Meeting
v. 4pm Real Justice will meet with March at Broad and Girard
vi. 5pm Rally at Broad and Arch
f. Elections for the Next E-Board