[To compare the UI administration's position to that
of the GEO, see this summary.]
Today the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) approved
preliminary guidelines for who will be allowed to vote in an upcoming
union election for graduate employees at the University of Illinois. Their
decision excluded virtually all of the Teaching, Research, and Graduate
Assistants on the Urbana-Champaign campus.
The IELRB’s decision denies the right to vote in a union election to
all graduate students employed as teachers or researchers, as well as
those assistants whose employment duties overlap with their academic “discipline”–a
category suggested by the University of Illinois administration. Of the
U of I’s approximately 5,200 grad employees, some 95% would be denied
the ability to vote in a union election.
“This decision was based entirely on the University administration’s
last minute brief to the Board, suggesting even more exclusions,” said
GEO Co-President Kate Bullard. “Throughout this process, the Administration
has actively worked to thwart the democratic process.”
“Our membership will decide what we do next,” said Rob Henn, GEO Coordinating
Committee Member who attended today’s meeting. “But it’s clear that this
decision will be unacceptable to our members, and it’s also clear that
the IELRB and UI administration have left us with few options for gaining
a voice for graduate employees on this campus.”
This decision goes against overwhelming national precedent, according
to which graduate teachers and researchers have been granted collective
bargaining rights at nearly 30 public university campuses and recently
at NYU–the first private university to have a recognized graduate employee
union.
Background: In 1996, 3,226 graduate
employees signed authorization cards calling for a union election.
In 1997 the GEO won a community
sponsored election by a 2:1 margin. In 1999 the
Illinois House passed HB1208 that recognized graduate employees, but
the bill never came to the Senate floor because of UI lobbying. In the
spring of 1999, 3,665 undergraduates and graduates affirmed an Illinois
Student Government referendum in favor of grad employees right to
a union election. In 2000, the Illinois
Supreme Court affirmed that graduate employees have the right to a
legally binding union election.