UMass Amherst Administration & Chancellor Subbaswamy : PAY GRADUATE STUDENT WORKERS ON TIME!

On September 25th, many graduate student employees at UMass Amherst were not paid. Graduate students who taught, graded, worked in the labs and did other forms of labor eagerly awaited their paychecks in order to purchase groceries, send their rent checks & pay their bills. However, much to their dismay, they would discover that they would not receive the wages that they had earned over the first three weeks of the semester. Of those who were not paid, most were never even informed they would not be getting their first paycheck.

The University's inability to pay its graduate student employees on time is not unprecedented. In 2013, 531 graduate student employees were paid more than a month late. After filing a grievance with the University, the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO/UAW2322) won a settlement that would require UMass to offer an emergency salary payment of 80% of one's first paycheck. While the settlement provided some relief to some graduate student employees, the administration has failed to implement an effective system to rectify this issue. Graduate student employees must be paid--on time--the wages that they have rightly earned. LATE PAY IS NOT OKAY!

We are launching this campaign on October 15, a national day of action. On this day--at UMass--and on campuses across North America, graduate student workers are joining together to declare collectively that We Are Workers! Chancellor Subbaswamy recently boasted that the University pays its graduate student employees poverty wages. This is outrageous and unacceptable. We demand that the administration value our labor and pay a living wage, on time!

Join this campaign to demonstrate to the UMass Amherst administration and Chancellor Subbaswamy that LATE PAY IS NOT OKAY!