They don't want to change merit fellowships or TA allotment, but to work on the things TAs want such as job descriptions. Awarding TAships can be an arbitrary personal procedure unless criteria are known. Rey said we won't organize and then invite the union to decide for us. It is we who decide what to ask for. Sweeney said that in the abstract, student employees bargaining with the college would address needs common to others, lending legal help and technical advice.
Unions have no say in who's admitted.
While job notification is a problem, jobs can still be guaranteed with admission, and later applying for them will be a more public process. Gage said the goal was to set minimum standards of employment. Sweeney said contracts in California had not included specific department guidelines, but that compliance had varied between departments and, in general, employment standards had risen across the board. Carpio answered that TAs are always eligible for the union, whether paid or required to teach or not. Research assistants are ineligible because regardless of funding or the benefit of the research to the university they are considered apprentices.