News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
91.7FM Alpena and WCML-TV Channel 6 Alpena are off the air. Click here to learn more.

Teaching Assistant's Union holds rally at Western Michigan University

Adam Crowley
/
Getty Images/Blend Images RM

Members of the teaching assistants’ union, and supporters, at Western Michigan University rallied on campus Monday afternoon as contract negotiations began.

T.A.U. president Thomas Fisher says among other things the union will fight for higher wages for T.A.’s.

He says administrators have a chance, at the bargaining table, to show they value all Western instructors.

"So we hope that they will rise to that opportunity and really show us that hey, we’ve been listening to you for the past several months when you’ve voiced concerns about how money is spent at Western, how COVID protocols were considered and who was involved in those discussions. So this is their chance to behave in line with the things that they’ve told us."

The T.A.U. says it represents more than 450 teaching assistants.

Sehvilla Mann joined WMUK’s news team in January 2014 as a reporter on the local government and education beats. Before that she covered a variety of topics, including environmental issues, for Bloomington, Indiana NPR and PBS affiliates WFIU and WTIU. She’s also written and produced stories for the Pacifica Network and WYSO Public Radio in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Sehvilla holds a B.A. in French from Earlham College and an M.A. in journalism from Indiana University.