Presidential Ponderings Letter from the President of the Union Presidential Ponderings

TAU President David Zwart

This is an exciting time to be a part of TAU. All the work of organizing last year and a certification vote is behind us and now the hard work of negotiating our first contract is upon us.

One of the purposes of having a union is to help hold the administration accountable for treating us in a dignified manner that will be a benefit for us all in the near term. Better wages, health insurance and working conditions are only some of the near term goals. However, our union can alsohave a last impact on our academic lives.Our union helps make the university more competitive for top notch graduate students which helps ensure the strength of the graduate programs at WMU. Having strong graduate programs benefits all of us who will have WMU attached to our academic names.

While I was not closely involved from the beginning of organizing, one of the things that I have come to enjoy about working with other members of the union is getting a broader perspective on higher education. One of the major benefits of the union as an organization is it ability to build a strong teaching assistant community where we can support and help each other out. This is a chance for all teaching assistants to look up from the teaching and studying and to be part of something bigger.

This is a vital year for our union. We need to work hard to negotiate a fair contract and build an organization that will have staying power for the future. Your involvement is key. If you are in a department that does not have a steward, please take it upon yourself to organize the teaching assistants in your department to send stewards to our stewards council meetings. If you are not a teward but would like to be more involved, please do not hesitate to come to stewards council meetings and participate on committees.