Grievance Update
COGS VICTORIOUS IN ESL ARBITRATION!!!
UI Cannot Charge Employees for Training
Through the grievance procedure established in your COGS contract, COGS won a significant victory which orders the UI to stop charging international graduate employees fees to participate in ESL training and SPEAK testing and orders the UI to reimburse those employees who paid fees to participate in those programs. This decision represents a significant victory for all graduate employees by upholding our contract and ensuring that the UI abides by the policies agreed to within our contract.
The UI started charging international students fees to take the SPEAK test and to participate in the TAPE program in the Fall of 2005. Previously, these programs were free of charge to all international graduate employees whose English fluency has to be certified in order to teach at the UI. COGS filed a grievance against these new fees in the Fall of 2005, arguing that Article XIX (“Training”) of our contract requires the university to provide instructional assistance for TAs and RA when warranted, including in areas of written and oral communication. The UI’s counter argument was that the phrase “oral and written communication” did not include instruction and testing in the ESL programs and therefore they could continue to charge graduate employees to participate in these courses.
The arbitrator sided with COGS in this case, reinforcing COGS’ argument that “to charge graduate student employees for ESL training and SPEAK testing violates the agreement.” Additionally, the UI has to refund fees to those employees who paid the fees to participate in the ESL training and SPEAK testing. COGS officers are currently working with the UI in order to reimburse those employees as quickly as possible.
