University healthcare proposals ‘insulting’

1. Press release

picket marks anniversary of ballot
100 graduate employees held an informational picket today to protest the UI administration’s unwillingness to engage in fair and productive talks over the grad employee contract. Today marks the one-year anniversary of our union representation election, yet graduate employees still labor without decent health insurance, no real protection against over-work, and no grievance procedure.

Graduate employees gathered at 3pm during a scheduled break in bargaining (called a caucus) to hear an update on the most recent topic of negotiations: grad healthcare. A rough summary of the university administration’s healthcare proposal is listed below and a document is attached that compares our health benefits to those at other universities.
Needless to say, the GEO members in attendance overwhelmingly voted to stage an informational picket after receiving a proposal from the UI administration. Some members even commented that they “felt insulted” by the administration’s lack of regard for grad health care.
The picket was called in regards to healthcare specifically, but also to protest the administration’s stalling tactics in general. Most recently, the UI administration’s foot-dragging resulted in their inability to avoid at least 92 GA and PGA tuition waivers from being taxed. This has caused severe economic hardship for many of these employees – upwards of 75% of some paychecks were cut. (for more info, see: 100 graduate employees held an informational picket today to protest the UI administration’s unwillingness to engage in fair and productive talks over the grad employee contract. Today marks the one-year anniversary of our union representation election, yet graduate employees still labor without decent health insurance, no real protection against over-work, and no grievance procedure.
Graduate employees gathered at 3pm during a scheduled break in bargaining (called a caucus) to hear an update on the most recent topic of negotiations: grad healthcare. A rough summary of the university administration’s healthcare proposal is listed below and a document is attached that compares our health benefits to those at other universities.
Needless to say, the GEO members in attendance overwhelmingly voted to stage an informational picket after receiving a proposal from the UI administration. Some members even commented that they “felt insulted” by the administration’s lack of regard for grad health care.
The picket was called in regards to healthcare specifically, but also to protest the administration’s stalling tactics in general. Most recently, the UI administration’s foot-dragging resulted in their inability to avoid at least 92 GA and PGA tuition waivers from being taxed. This has caused severe economic hardship for many of these employees – upwards of 75% of some paychecks were cut. (for more info, see: www.geo-uiuc.org Graduate employees gathered at 3pm during a scheduled break in bargaining (called a caucus) to hear an update on the most recent topic of negotiations: grad healthcare. A rough summary of the university administration’s healthcare proposal is listed below and a document is attached that compares our health benefits to those at other universities.
Needless to say, the GEO members in attendance overwhelmingly voted to stage an informational picket after receiving a proposal from the UI administration. Some members even commented that they “felt insulted” by the administration’s lack of regard for grad health care.
The picket was called in regards to healthcare specifically, but also toprotest the administration’s stalling tactics in general. Most recently, the UI administration’s foot-dragging resulted in their inability to avoid at least 92 GA and PGA tuition waivers from being taxed. This has caused severe economic hardship for many of these employees – upwards of 75% of some paychecks were cut. (for more info, see: www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=14931)
Demonstrations such as the one we had today are critical for ensuring that graduate employees’ working conditions become a priority for the university administration. We can already see some of our impact on the GA tax issue: the University publicly stated that they would lobby at the national level to patch the loophole in the federal tax code regarding GA tuition waivers.
For more information on the picket, contact the GEO office (344-8283 geo@uigeo.org) or visit the GEO website: www.geo-uiuc.org)

2. Comparative data

Ever Wonder what other Graduate Employees Consider Decent Health Care?