Respect the Right of Graduate Employees to Choose
I/We support the right of graduate students employed by the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as Teaching and Graduate Assistants to
choose, freely and openly, whether or not to have the Graduate Employees’
Organization IFT/AFT/AFL-CIO represent them in collective bargaining.
This is a decision for graduate employees alone to make.
A partnership that works to achieve common goals such as quality education
of undergraduates, safe working conditions, and decent living standards
is in the best interests of both the University and the GEO. As a public
institution, the University is accountable to the citizens of the State
of Illinois and has a responsibility to act in a manner that respects
the rights of its over 2000 graduate employees who teach half of all introductory
courses and perform many other duties vital to the continued health of
our prized institution. This aim has been advanced by the recent cooperation
between the University and the GEO to reach an agreement on a bargaining
unit for Teaching and Graduate Assistants. I/We ask that the University
continue with that spirit of cooperation.
Therefore, the University should:
- Remain neutral, respecting the right of graduate employees to decide
for themselves, in an atmosphere free of intimidation or retribution,
whether or not to form a union; - Support the right of graduate employees to express their opinions
freely and openly, without taking any action to discipline, harass,
humiliate, or fire any employee for her or his pro-union views or activities; - Refrain from engaging in any activity, written or verbal, designed
to interfere with the free choice to join a union or that threatens
or implies economic reprisals, reductions in benefits, or other negative
impacts of unionization; - Present accurate information and not make false or misleading statements
designed to confuse or mislead employees; - Not spend money on anti-union consultants;
- Not spend money on or produce anti-union e-mails, literature, or
other communications; - Not hold mandatory union related meetings for graduate employees;
- Not require or encourage departmental administrators, faculty, or
other supervisors to present anti-union arguments to graduate employees;
and - Comply with the decision of their employees and bargain in good faith
should they choose union representation.
I/We hereby call on the University to pledge to stand by the above principles.
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Rep. Rod Blagojevich |
U.S. House of Representatives |
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Rep. Danny K. Davis |
U.S. House of Representatives |
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Rep. Lane A. Evans |
U.S. House of Representatives |
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Rep. Jan Schakowsky |
U.S. House of Representatives |
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Sen. Evelyn M. Bowles |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. John Cullerton |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Miguel Del Valle |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Laura Kent Donahue |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Emil Jones, Jr. |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Terry Link |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Barack Obama |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Carol Ronen |
IL State Senate |
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Sen. Lawrence M. Walsh |
IL State Senate |
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Rep. Mike Boland |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Richard Bradley |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Daniel J. Burke |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Ralph Capparelli |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Tom Dart |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Steve Davis |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. William Delgado |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Jim Fowler |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Jack Franks |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Kurt Granberg |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Chuck Hartke |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Doug Hoeft |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Jay Hoffman |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Tom Holbrook |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Louis Lang |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Joseph M. Lyons |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Karen May |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Kevin A. McCarthy |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Larry McKeon |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Susana Mendoza |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. J. Philip Novak |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Mary Kay O?Brien |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Dan Reitz |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. George F. Scully |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Ricca Slone |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Cynthia Soto |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Rick Winkel |
IL House of Representatives |
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Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough |
IL House of Representatives |
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Naomi Jakobsson |
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Dannel McCollum |
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Danielle Chynoweth |
City of Urbana |
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Laura Huth |
City of Urbana |
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Milton Otto |
City of Urbana |
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Esther Patt |
City of Urbana |
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Ruth Wyman |
City of Urbana |
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Jennifer Putman |
Champaign County Board |
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Pastor John Setterlund |
St. Andrews Lutheran Church |
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Father Tim Hallett |
St. John the Divine Episcopal Church |
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Fr. Brendan Curran |
St. Pius V Catholic Church |
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Rev. Daniel Dale |
United Campus Ministries at UIC |
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Rev. Juancho Campañano |
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Rev. John T. Pawlikowski |
Catholic Theological Union |
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Rev. Steve Shoemaker |
University YMCA |
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Meredith Kruse |
Illinois Disciples Foundation |
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Rick Prince |
AFSCME Council 31 |
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Dorinda Miller |
AFSCME Local 3700 |
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Michael Dummitt |
Carpenters Local 44 |
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Timothy Leahy |
Chicago Federation of Labor |
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William McNary |
Citizen Action/Illinois |
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Kevin McGuire |
IATSE |
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Marty Clinch |
IBEW Local 34 |
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Michael Everett |
IBEW Local 34 |
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Don Funk |
IBEW Local 34 |
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Michael Hall |
IBEW Local 34 |
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Mike Happekotte |
IBEW Local 34 |
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Richard Jones |
IBEW Local 34 |
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Lawrence Cook |
IBEW Local 601 |
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Marc Manuel |
Laborers Local 703 |
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Kelly Reffett |
LaSalle Bureau & Putnam Co. AFL-CIO |
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George O. Machino, Jr. |
Madison Co. Federation of Labor |
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Matthew DuPree |
North Central Illinois Labor Council |
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Amedeo Giorgi |
Rockford United Labor AFL-CIO |
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Dale Hillier |
SEIU Local 73 |
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Linda Hillier |
SEIU Local 73 |
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Amy Dean |
South Bay Labor Council AFL-CIO |
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Giraldo Rosales |
La Casa Cultural Latina |
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Veronica Kann |
La Casa Cultural Latina |
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James Barrett |
Professor of History |
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Al Kagan |
Professor of Library/UPE |
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Ross Hyman |
DePaul University |
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Chirag Mehta |
University of Illinois at Chicago |
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Mike Lehman |
Champaign County Living Wage Association |
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Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative |
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Women?s Direct Action Collective |