The strike committee has not yet called the strike at this time, but has set plans in motion to do so “absent of significant movement from the University administration,” said Peter Campbell, GEO communications officer.
According to the GEO email, the strike committee has set up a strike plan that will call on teaching and graduate assistants at the University to withhold all of their labor pertaining to their assistantship. This includes teaching, grading and contact with the students pertaining to the assistantship, for the duration of the strike.
“The University is planning for any kind of eventuality, and we certainly would hope that the members of the GEO as any instructors would, as they’re supposed to, keep students informed about assignments and any alternatives in classes,” said Robin Kaler, University spokeswoman.
The strike plan also calls for the pickets of major campus buildings, and stated that no GEO member participating in the strike should enter any buildings targeted for pickets for the duration of the strike.
Campbell could not comment on what buildings the GEO would picket.
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University Provost Bob Easter sent out an email to faculty and academic professionals about the possibility of a strike.
“We remain committed to providing a quality education for our students and being a fair employer to all employee groups,” Easter said. “We continue to seek ways we can provide the most beneficial employment to all. But we must not make concessions to the extraordinary demands of one group while respecting the University’s severe budgetary constraints in dealing with all others.”