Bill the U!

“Pay-to-Work Must End!”

Graduate employees are paying up to ELEVEN PERCENT of our wages back to the University of Iowa in mandatory fees, simply to have the opportunity to work.

As employees of the University, all graduate research and teaching assistants are required to be enrolled in classes for the semester.

The mandatory fees for full enrollment (at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences rate) during the 2012-2013 academic year total $950. This is a total of 11% of wages for a ¼ time academic year appointment of $8,665, and 5.5% of wages for a ½ time academic year appointment of $17,330.

No other employees of the University of Iowa must pay mandatory fees.

We feel the university's practice of assessing mandatory fees in addition to tuition for any student is disingenuous, but it is particularly egregious to charge fees to graduate employees who teach 67% of the contact hours with undergraduate students at this institution. The total compensation for graduate employees covers a fraction of the total budget of the university, a meager 2%.

We demand an end to mandatory fees and a fair contract for all graduate employees.

I, the undersigned, am “Billing the U” for all the mandatory fees collected this semester as a prerequisite of my employment.

PS: If President Sally Mason were assessed fees at the rate for a ¼ time employee she would be paying $78,720 for the 2012 Fiscal Year.