Published April 11, 2021
The Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees (GAGE) announced on March 25 an agreement with the university securing COVID-19 protections, approximately eight months after beginning negotiations for COVID-19 guarantees. GAGE sought third-party arbitration with the university last September after bargaining disputes continued to delay an agreement.
The union’s initial demands for COVID-19 protections included guaranteed remote work for all graduate workers, paid sick leave for employees with COVID-19, personal protective equipment for on-campus graduate workers, and legal rights for graduate employees under the administration’s Community Compact.
GAGE’s first union contract with the university was finalized on May 8, 2020, and allows for the union to bargain over issues not included in the original contract and seek third-party arbitration for disputes. In June of the same year, GAGE representatives began to negotiate with the univer
Georgetown University staff resist after being asked to take new public health roles or unpaid leave Lauren Lumpkin Staff at Georgetown University are railing against a program that asks them to temporarily take on health-related roles during the pandemic such as conducting wellness screenings, registering visitors to campus or security or go on unpaid leave. It comes as the school has designed a spring semester that will include about 200 hybrid courses, increased access to campus facilities and brought twice as many residential students to campus than in the fall. In preparation, the university revamped a program that places employees into temporary public-health-oriented jobs.
Staff members claim “Redeploy Georgetown” program forces them to become health screeners against their will
In a letter to administrators published on Jan. 26, Georgetown staff members accused the university of violating its Just Employment Policy by forcing employees to become public health screeners for Spring 2021 and taking away health benefits from those who refused to be repositioned.
These employees were selected as part of the university’s Redeploy Georgetown program, which seeks to reassign existing staff to new roles involving “visitor registration, wellness screening and perimeter access support” during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, staff members allege that Georgetown’s Human Resources (HR) department has used the threat of unpaid leave to coerce employees into positions where they are inadequately trained and vulnerable to COVID-19.