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No New Seg Fees Campaign Update -- Spring Break Edition

March 31, 2010

Even over Spring Break, our No New Seg Fees! campaign continues to work toward Election Days (April 12-14). With just over a week until voting begins after we return from Break, now is the time to get involved on the campaign!

Take a look at our campaign website, at NoNewSegFees.org -- including more on who is a part of our campaign with both undergraduates and graduate students taking part. You can also find out more on the referendum, read some pieces from the campus press, and read an op-ed from one of our activists that ran in the Badger Herald along with one that should be forthcoming.

While you're at it, you should become a fan of No New Seg Fees! on Facebook. We are using the fan page to help organize on the campaign. Better yet, while you're becoming a fan yourself, send an email to all of your UW friends and classmates asking them to become a fan too.

Here's the most important part: We need you to get involved on the campaign. We will win the referendum vote -- and beat the seg fee hike -- if our supporters are involved with the grassroots organizing we need to build the campaign. So sign up to get involved with the No New Seg Fees! campaign to help out with postering, fliering, and tabling.

With any questions about the campaign, drop us an email.

posted by Webmaster

No New Seg Fees Campaign Activity

March 21, 2010

This week as well as over Spring Break, we have a lot going on with our No New Seg Fees! campaign. Now is the time for you to plug in to help us keep building this campaign to be successful come April 12-14. When we win, we'll not only stop an increase in our seg fees, but also send the message that our University community needs to take action of the tremendous adverse impact seg fees are having on grad student workers.

Here are some ways that you can get involved on the campaign in the next week or so -- but don't forget, you can just sign up here to get involved and we'll follow up with you.

Sign the Petition!
The first thing you should do is sign the No New Seg Fees! petition. This petition is letting us know who is committed to vote "No" on the seg fee increase referendum April 12-14.

After you sign the petition, send an email around to your friends, fellow students, and co-workers to ask them to sign the petition as well.

Button-Making Party
On Wednesday of this week, we'll be holding another button-making party at the TAA office. At the party, you can make your very own No New Seg Fees button to wear on campus. You can also make a few buttons -- or snag some that are already made -- to share with your friends as well. We'll have some snacks and beverages too -- so make sure to RSVP here if you plan on joining us. It'll start at 5:30 at the TAA office.

Building Postering & Fliering
We are hitting up every single academic building to put up posters and distribute fliers. We need to sign up to cover a building or two. So if you can help out with postering and fliering, please send us an email to let us know. Include in your email (a) if you have a preference on building(s), and (b) if you're OK with postering/fliering a different building as needed by the campaign.

Building Canvassing
While our campaign includes both graduate and undergraduate students, the base for the No New Seg Fees! campaign will be grad student workers. We're already seeing the $1000 per year in seg fees eat up between 10% and 15% of our take-home pay. So we have a lot at stake in this campaign. We need to connect with all grad student workers to educate them about the issue and get them signed on as a "No" vote for April 12-14.

We're going out to canvass grad student workers, and we need you to sign up to canvass folks in one building. Here's what you do: send us an email to sign up to canvass grad student workers in a building and let us know which building you prefer. We'll follow up with you to get you all the materials you need and some training so that you can go out and (a) have a great time doing it, while (b) being successful.

Canvassing fellow grad student workers is the biggest impact you can make -- and it's a lot of fun to do too. So sign up today so that we can win on the No New Seg Fees! campaign.

Spring Break Poster Party
If you're in town over spring break, on Wednesday, March 31st, you can join with us for a postering party. We'll gather at the TAA office at 11 AM to eat some bagels and drink some coffee before we head out. We're going to hit up all the buildings that are not yet covered with posters to get up all the No New Seg Fees! posters possible. If you can join us, shoot us an email.

With any questions about how you can get involved on the No New Seg Fees! campaign or with any questions about the campaign, please drop us an email.

posted by Webmaster

Contract Up on Our Website, To Be Distributed

March 18, 2010

After some delay, we now have in our hands the "official" contract that covers TAA-represented grad student workers. We have posted it on our website for everyone. Soon enough (eventually), the UW administration will distribute printed versions of the contract to the various departments throughout the university. But in the meantime, feel free to refer to the contract posted on our website and to send around the link to people in your department.

With any questions about the contract, feel free to contact our Vice President of Bargaining, Kevin Gibbons or our staff representatives, Rob Henn and Claiborne Hill.

posted by Webmaster

Get Involved with the No New Seg Fees! Campaign

March 14, 2010

Our No New Seg Fees! campaign is being built from the grassroots. We as students have everything at stake here -- and not just a 10% hike in our seg fees that are already over $1000 per year. This campaign is also about protecting access to higher education and combating the idea that market pricing can be applied to the academy. When it comes down to it, we need to stand up as students and as members of the UW community to say, quite simply, "No New Seg Fees!"

That's why we need you to get involved with our grassroots campaign.

Students from all corners of the University are getting involved. There are grad student workers from social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and engineering all taking roles on the campaign. In addition to grad students, undergrads are joining the campaign and we stand taller in solidarity with them.

All of us have a role to play on the campaign -- and there are lots of ways for you to get involved.

Stand up with your fellow students to say "No New Seg Fees!" and join our campaign. Take a moment here to let us know how you can be involved, and a fellow No New Seg Fees! activist will follow up with you.

This is our university, this is our campaign. Let's stand up and say together, "No New Seg Fees!" by running a winning grassroots campaign.

With any questions, drop us an email.

posted by Webmaster

No New Seg Fees! Button-Making Happy Hour Tuesday

On Tuesday at 5:00 PM, the No New Seg Fees! campaign will be hosting a button-making happy hour party at the TAA office.

At the party, we'll create some high-quality homemade buttons to spread the message and build momentum on our No New Seg Fees! campaign. We will provide the materials and you can create your own button -- or you can just snag one of the main campaign buttons we're crafting. We'll also have some snacks and beverages for all the supporters who are joining us for the party.

So come on out Tuesday, March 16th at 5:00 PM for a No New Seg Fees! button-making party and help us continue building our campaign to stop the seg fee increase referendum.

With any questions, drop us an email at taa@taa-madison.org.

posted by Webmaster

No New Seg Fees! Online Petition

As part of our No New Seg Fees! campaign, we are circulating a petition among UW students. The idea behind the petition is to identify students who will pledge to vote "NO" on the seg fee increase referendum on April 12-14.

We are circulating the petition through a variety of channels. When we are out organizing department-by-department, we will be speaking with grad student workers about the campaign and asking folks to sign. Likewise, as we are tabling and speaking with UW students at-large, we will be asking people to sign. As importantly, to reach as many people as possible, we are circulating an online version of the petition too.

If you support the No New Seg Fees campaign, sign the petition today!

Then, copy the link and send it around to all of your UW friends, classmates, and students. The more people that we reach, the better our likelihood to win on the referendum and stop the hike in seg fees.

posted by Webmaster

No New Seg Fees!

March 13, 2010

The TAA is building a campaign to get UW students to vote "No" on the seg fee increase referendum on April 12-14. If passed, segregated fees will rise another 10% to pay for $50 million gym at a time when our university struggles to invest in the education functions that make UW great.

We are building the No New Seg Fees! campaign with graduate and undergraduate students alike. When we are successful, we will not only stop another unnecessary and unaffordable hike in seg fees, we will send the message to University leaders that action must be taken on seg fees for all of us. This campaign is part of a longer-term fight by the TAA to take on seg fees and the impact they have on us as grad student workers.

There are lots of ways for you to get involved on the campaign -- and it is critical that all of us get involved in some way. The first thing that you should do is it become a fan of "No New Seg Fees!" on Facebook. In less than a week, we've added over 100 new fans a day. Become a fan yourself and then invite your fellow grad student workers and fellow UW students to become a fan as well.

Our grassroots "No New Seg Fees!" campaign is contingent upon rank-and-file grad student workers activating around the issue. So, the next thing that you can do is to join us on Tuesday at 5:30 PM at the TAA office for a button-making party. We will have materials for everyone to make their very own "No New Seg Fees!" button to wear in support of the campaign. Folks can also make extra buttons to hand out to friends on campus. We'll have snacks for all -- and as importantly, lots of fellow "No New Seg Fees!" supporters there. Again, 5:30 PM Tuesday, March 16th at the TAA office.

This campaign is about students standing up for students. So we need you to join the campaign to help spread our message of "No New Seg Fees!" We need folks to put up posters, distribute fliers, and speak with grad student workers, graduate students at-large, and undergrads. To get involved on the campaign, click here to let us know how you can be involved -- a fellow "No New Seg Fees!" activist will follow up with you.

We have five weeks to organize and win, standing up for ourselves to say "No New Seg Fees!"

posted by Webmaster

Seg Fee Referendum Campaign Meeting Wednesday

March 5, 2010

At our February 23rd General Membership Meeting, we voted to endorse a "NO" vote on the segregated fee increase referendum. To win on this referendum, we are building a campaign. Last week, at our Stewards' Council Meeting, we started planning and taking action on our campaign.

This week, we are holding another campaign planning and action meeting of our Stewards' Council on Wednesday night at the TAA office. The meeting will begin at 5:30 PM. We want you there to help us take next steps in building a strong campaign to win on the referendum. The more people we have involved, the bigger impact our campaign will have, and the better we can fight back against seg fee increases. So join us on Wednesday night as we build the campaign.

If you can be there, RSVP to our Stewards' Council Co-Chairs, Ari Eisenberg and Katie Weigel.

To sign up to get involved, even if you can't make the meeting, just let us know you want to join the campaign.

posted by Webmaster

 

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