UMass Amherst Evicts Graduate Student Workers Amid COVID19 Spike On Campus

Source: GEO

            This past weekend, after the first week of the semester saw a rise of 298 positive COVID19 cases between February 2-4 to a total of 398 cases, UMass administration evicted graduate workers who work in Residential Education from their apartments with 18 hours notice in order to make room for the quarantining and isolation of undergraduate students who had tested positive. The administration told these workers that their only other option was to remain in their homes while the buildings were being transitioned to quarantine spaces. These buildings contain shared bathrooms and large public lounges that are immediately outside of the living spaces of the Residential Education graduate workers.

            The administration made this decision despite the fact that there were three completely unoccupied buildings immediately available for use, that would not have necessitated the eviction of the affected graduate workers and their families.  UMass’ institutional negligence and lack of a strategic and safe plan for dealing with an outbreak have resulted in these evictions. All this comes less than a year after forced evictions of UMass students and their families from North Village family housing, and from Lincoln Apartments, a residence favoured by students with mobility needs. While those evictions in 2020 were made on the pretext of unavoidable renovations, Lincoln Apartments has been kept open to be used as quarantine housing.

The thresholds used by the administration to decide whether work should be fully remote are hidden from the public – campus unions, students, and the community at large have no idea what level of COVID-spike triggers changes in operational postures, and they refuse to provide this quantitative information. Moreover, the university has over and over again used the success of testing to detract from health and safety issues when asked critical questions at the bargaining table.

Despite the university’s claims that they are supporting workers through this transition, this support was in the form of little more than one moving bin and a couple of cardboard boxes, according to an anonymous source. The local community has stepped up with financial contributions pouring in to help the affected people with immediate basic needs that the university has failed to meet.

            UMass workers in residence halls have been required to live on campus during the pandemic, and have been charged rent for the privilege. At the same time, the necessary custodial, maintainer and maintenance staff are needed to keep the campus and buildings safe and clean are operating at a skeleton crew capacity because the university has placed many of these workers on furloughs, despite having more than enough funds from the CARES Act, from level state funding, from the university reserves, and from a much greater level of enrollment (and therefore income) than initially projected. GEO-UAW 2322, the union that represents graduate employees, maintains that the administration, the Chancellor, and the Board of Trustees are focused on profit over the health and safety of the campus community.

            UMass unions have been warning the administration that a spike like this would happen, and have been working to get better health and safety measures in place to pre-empt and prevent the high COVID transmission that is now putting the entire campus community and the broader community at risk. One of the co-chairs of GEO, Jyoti Iyer, had this to say “Throughout the entire period of COVID-related impact bargaining between the UMass administration and the union, GEO’s proposals have been focused on keeping employees safe and supported during the pandemic.  This impact bargaining process has been prolonged by the unwillingness of UMass administration to put the safety of its workers first. The university can do the right thing by listening to unions on the ground.”

The Graduate Employee Organization (GEO-UAW 2322) is the union that represents all graduate employees including those in Residential Education and Residential Life. GEO is committed to social, racial, economic and environmental justice. More information about the union can be found here