1.  First Steward’s Council meeting of the year, Wednesday, September 1 – thanks to everyone who attended [...]]]> As we get settled into a new academic year, keep in mind the following first-month events with the GEO – let’s all keep up the good work to protect our contract and the future of public education in Illinois!

1.  First Steward’s Council meeting of the year, Wednesday, September 1 – thanks to everyone who attended a wonderfully productive meeting!

3.  Labor Day Parade – Monday, September 6 – thanks to the AFL-CIO of Champaign County for organizing the parade, and to all of our drum playing, banner carrying, joyful noise-making members, as well as the parade’s Grand Marshall, Kerry Pimblott!

4.  First General Membership Meeting of AY 2010-11 – Thursday, September 9, 5:30 pm in the YMCA, 1001 S. Wright Street in Champaign.  We’ll be discussing organizing plans for the coming year, and in particular continuing to build on the strategies to combat the contract violations around FAA tuition waiver policy that members began to develop at the tuition waiver forum in July.

5.  Stay tuned for upcoming GEO organizing around the Board of Trustees meeting in Urbana on September 22 and the second National Day of Action to Defend Public Education on October 7th.

TEACHING AND GRADUATE ASSISTANTS AT UIUC RETURNING TO WORK PENDING CONTRACT RATIFICATION VOTE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: GEO STRIKE COMMITTEE VOTES TO OFFICIALLY SUSPEND STRIKE

TEACHING AND GRADUATE ASSISTANTS AT UIUC RETURNING TO WORK PENDING CONTRACT RATIFICATION VOTE

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (November 17): On Tuesday, November 17, at 7:00 pm, the Strike Committee of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), officially and unanimously voted to suspend the two day strike that brought major portions of the University campus to a standstill. During a General Membership Meeting which began at 5:30 pm, the GEO bargaining team facilitated a discussion of the tentative agreements that it had signed during this morning’s negotiation session with the administration bargaining team. Afterwards, in a simple up or down vote, the 450 members present unanimously recommended to the strike committee that it accept the agreement and suspend the strike. The strike committee met immediately afterwards and took its decision.

With the strike suspended, GEO members are back at work, effective immediately. Teaching assistants will conduct their class sections tomorrow, and graduate assistants will carry out their duties at facilities across campus, including libraries, health and recreation centers, theaters, and specialized academic units.

The GEO coordinating committee will meet tomorrow to determine the schedule for a strike ratification vote to take place over the course of two days. Should the GEO general membership ratify the contract, it will then be submitted to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees for their signatures. That would officially conclude the current round of negotiations.

The GEO’s tentative agreement achieved gains across all four “pillars” of its original contract platform. In addition to winning protection for tuition waivers through the strike, the GEO secured an additional two weeks of unpaid parental leave, increases to the University’s contribution to health care premiums (reaching 75% in the third and final year of the contract), and raises on the minimum salary, totaling ten percent over three years. The GEO also forced the administration to drop their regressive contract proposals, including furloughs, “in-kind” payment, a recision of grievances related to discrimination, and a “scope of the agreement” clause that would have prevented the GEO from re-opening bargaining in the event of a change to employment conditions for graduate employees at UIUC.

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, stated in a letter of support for the UIUC GEO strike that “the AFT has long held that universities should provide tuition waivers as a condition of employment for graduate employees.”  Increased security for tuition waivers is vital to the mission of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a public, land-grant institution.  Tuition waivers are also central to the UIUC’s ability to remain competitive with other Big 10 and Research 1 institutions in that they are necessary to attract the highest level of graduate employee and student talent.  On November 17, the Collective Bargaining Congress Executive Committee of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) stated that “a decision to eliminate tuition waivers in selected fields or for out of state students would…undermine the ability of the university to attract high quality graduate students in a wide range of fields.”  The tentative agreement works to maintain UIUC’s competitiveness by giving the GEO increased ability to resist the apparent goal of the UIUC administration to erode tuition waivers at UIUC.  As AAUP President and UIUC Professor of English Cary Nelson stated on November 16, given that the administration had already eliminated them for research assistants in the sciences, there was good reason to fear administration interest in cherry picking humanities or social science sub-disciplines for similar treatment.”

The tentative agreement between the GEO and Board of Trustees bargaining teams represents a major victory for labor in the state of Illinois and the United States. The timing of the GEO victory is especially sweet given that it falls during the “Education is NOT for $A￡€!” Global Week of Action, which is being organized from Germany and includes demonstrations and teach-ins across Europe, in Africa, and in the United States in support of public higher education. The GEO especially stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Illinois Chicago campus, whose negotiations with the Board of Trustees continue. The UIUC GEO also stands in solidarity with higher education labor unions in California, who will be engaging in a three day strike to resist major tuition hike for both undergraduate and graduate students. The GEO stands with higher education labor unions across the nation opposing the ongoing corporatization and privatization of our public higher education system. Public higher education must be accessible to all, regardless of economic standing.

The GEO is a labor union representing all teaching and graduate assistants (TAs and GAs) on the UIUC campus.  With over 2600 GEO members, and over 2600 graduate employees represented in the bargaining unit, the GEO is one of the largest higher education union locals in the United States.  The GEO strike is the first strike by a recognized union local at UIUC in over 10 years.  Over 1,000 GEO members participated in the strike.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Peter Campbell, GEO Communications Officer, odell.campbell@gmail.com, 253-222-5861, or the GEO office at geo@uigeo.org, 217-344-8283, 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign, IL, 61820.  Information about the GEO can also be found on our website at www.uigeo.org.

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GEO MEMBERSHIP TO STAGE RALLY FOR A FAIR CONTRACT OUTSIDE OF BARGAINING ROOM IN THE INSTITUTE OF AVIATION

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (November 14): At 2:30 pm, the bargaining team [...]]]> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: UIUC GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION TO HOLD BARGAINING SESSION WITH UIUC ADMINISTRATION 2:30 PM, SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14 AT WILLARD AIRPORT IN CHAMPAIGN – GEO IS PREPARED TO STRIKE

GEO MEMBERSHIP TO STAGE RALLY FOR A FAIR CONTRACT OUTSIDE OF BARGAINING ROOM IN THE INSTITUTE OF AVIATION

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (November 14): At 2:30 pm, the bargaining team of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), American Federation of Teachers/Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 6300, AFL-CIO, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), will meet the UIUC administration bargaining team for bargaining session at Willard Airport in Champaign, IL.  Members of the GEO will be present in the bargaining room, and GEO members will also stage a rally outside of the room in support of the bargaining team’s efforts.  Unless significant movement is made on the GEO’s core contract issues on Saturday, the strike committee of the GEO is prepared to call a strike to begin as early as Monday morning.

The GEO is a labor union representing all teaching and graduate assistants (TAs and GAs) on the UIUC campus.  With over 2600 GEO members, and over 2600 graduate employees represented in the bargaining unit, the GEO is one of the largest higher education union locals in the United States.  Over the course of a three day vote, an overwhelming 92% of participating UIUC GEO members voted last week to authorize a strike against the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.  With the vote, GEO members have given the strike committee of the UIUC GEO a clear mandate to call a strike at any time.

While the GEO is seeking an increase in the minimum salary to the University of Illinois’ (UI) Office of Student Financial Services own estimate of a living wage in Urbana-Champaign, a proposal that represents less than two-tenths of one percent the overall UIUC budget, the decision to authorize a strike is about much more than wages.  The UIUC administration’s most regressive proposals concern non-salary issues. First, the administration claims that UI Board of Trustees Policy protects tuition waivers, but only in-state tuition waivers for GAs (not TAs) are protected, and the administration has moved to drastically reduce tuition waiver coverage in the past.  Tuition waivers are essential to the University of Illinois’ mission as a public land grant institution, as they help to ensure that graduate education is truly accessible to all who show merit, regardless of economic background.

The UIUC administration seeks to characterize tuition waivers as part of compensation, but this is highly misleading, as tuition is not considered in the OSFA’s estimate of a living wage.  Many graduate employees do not receive full tuition waivers, and can pay as much as $10,000 for tuition while providing vital instructional labor for the University.  Protecting tuition waivers as they now stand would represent no increased cost to UIUC.  The administration’s reluctance to do so is totally contrary to UIUC’s stated commitment to not only excellence in education and research, but the ability to provide truly accessible access to education as part of UIUC’s mission as a land-grant institution.

The GEO strike authorization is also in reaction to the UIUC administration’s proposed “scope of the agreement” clause, which would prevent the GEO from re-opening bargaining for the entire three year duration of the proposed contract.  This is a highly regressive proposal that seeks to undermine the purpose of union protection for employees, and the UIUC Campus Labor Coalition supports the GEO in refusing to agree to this clause.

GEO bargaining unit members teach 23.1% of all undergraduate course hours at UIUC, and perform comparably to faculty in official student evaluations of instructor performance as measured by the University of Illinois’ Center for Teaching Excellence.   Yet our salaries draw only 6.5% of state funding, including salaries for GAs and Research Assistants, who don’t teach.  By contrast, faculty salaries draw over 55% of the University budget.  Graduate employee labor is vital to the fiscally efficient provision of the University’s core service, academic instruction. Should graduate employee salaries be set to a living wage, the University would still have a large pool of inexpensive and high quality instructional and administrative labor.

The GEO has been negotiating with UIUC administrators for over six months.  While the GEO presented the administration with a full contract proposal on the first day of negotiations, the UIUC administration declined to offer a counterproposal until August 11th, just four days before the GEO’s previous contract expired.  The UIUC administration’s initial contract proposal sought to freeze GEO wages for three years, reserve the right to furlough and layoff graduate employees in good standing, and to count “in-kind” compensation such as housing or meal vouchers toward the minimum salary mandated in the contract.  The administration still seeks to freeze GEO wages, refuse to provide contractual protection for tuition waivers, and take away the GEO’s right to re-open bargaining during the contract should the administration make any substantial change in employment conditions.

GEO members have been working hard to avoid a strike.  Hundreds of GEO members have participated in six major demonstrations, and GEO members have also lobbied the Illinois House of Representatives Higher Education Appropriations Committee, spoken with state legislators from Champaign, actively informed campus community members about the issues, and maintained a constant presence in Urbana-Champaign print, radio and television media.  The Illinois Student Senate has passed two resolutions in support of the GEO and the decision to authorize a strike, and the University of Illinois Faculty Senate passed a resolution of non-retaliation.  Several departments and dozens of faculty have issued public resolutions in support of the GEO, and over a dozen undergraduate representatives of Registered Student Organizations representing hundreds of undergraduate students issued a resolution in support of the GEO’s strike authorization.  UIUC union locals represented by the Campus Labor Coalition also publicly support the GEO and the GEO’s strike authorization.

As with any labor negotiation, however, the most effective pressure has been the threat of a strike. Only after GEO members at a General Membership Meeting voted unanimously to file an “intent to strike” notice did the University administration offer their first compromise proposals.  Accordingly, the Coordinating Committee and Steward’s Council of the GEO voted unanimously to hold a strike authorization vote from November 4-6. By voting to authorize a strike, GEO members have taken a vital step in holding the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign administration accountable to its stated commitment to excellence in research and undergraduate education.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Peter Campbell, GEO Communications Officer, odell.campbell@gmail.com, 253-222-5861, or the GEO office at geo@uigeo.org, 217-344-8283, 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign, IL, 61820.  Information about the GEO can also be found on our website at www.uigeo.org.

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GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION REPRESENTS ONE OF LARGEST LOCAL HIGHER EDUCATION BARGAINING UNITS IN THE UNITED STATES

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS (November 7): On Monday, November 9th, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) [...]]]> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR THE FIRST TIME, MAJOR STUDENT UNION AT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS OVERWHELMINGLY VOTES TO AUTHORIZE A STRIKE

GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION REPRESENTS ONE OF LARGEST LOCAL HIGHER EDUCATION BARGAINING UNITS IN THE UNITED STATES

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS (November 7): On Monday, November 9th, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) will hold a press conference at 1:00 pm at 1001 S. Wright Street in Champaign, IL to announce the results of its strike authorization vote.

Over the course of a three day vote, an overwhelming 92% of participating GEO members chose to authorize a strike against the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.  With the vote, GEO members have given the strike committee of the GEO a clear mandate to call a strike at any time.  The Graduate Employee’s Organization, American Federation of Teachers/Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 6300, AFL-CIO, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a labor union representing all teaching and graduate assistants (TAs and GAs) on the UIUC campus.  With over 2600 GEO members, and over 2600 graduate employees represented in the bargaining unit, the GEO is one of the largest higher education union locals in the United States.

The GEO has been negotiating with UIUC administrators for over six months. The GEO seeks a contract that will set the minimum salary for a 50% nine month appointment at the University’s estimate of a living wage for a graduate student in Urbana-Champaign and protect tuition waivers for TAs and GAs. While the GEO presented the administration with a full contract proposal on the first day of negotiations, the UIUC administration declined to offer a counterproposal until August 11th, just four days before the GEO’s previous contract expired.  The UIUC administration’s initial contract proposal sought to freeze GEO wages for three years, reserve the right to furlough and layoff graduate employees in good standing, and to count “in-kind” compensation such as housing or meal vouchers toward the minimum salary mandated in the contract.

The GEO understands that the state of Illinois is in dire economic straits, but as University administrators pointed out in their FY 2010 budget request, this is the result of long standing deficiencies in state level budget prioritization and not a sudden result of the recent national recession.  Instead of championing the university’s historic land grant mission, UIUC administrators have embraced the national tendency toward the corporatization of the public higher education system. Their consequent failure to secure adequate state funding leaves the social science, humanities, and fine arts especially vulnerable. Worse, it jeopardizes access to higher education for many who have the capacity and desire, but not the financial resources to attend the University.  If increased state funding is also necessary to providing at least a living wage for all campus employees, then the GEO expects the UIUC administration to forcefully make that case to the Higher Education Appropriations Committee, other state legislators, and the Governor.

Instead of advocating on the behalf of students and workers, administrators were granting costly favors to state politicians.  The former Chancellor diverted $450,000 of discretionary funds to provide jobs and scholarships for politically well-connected but undeserving applicants.  Another $400,000 went to the attorneys who represented the University before the Governor’s investigative committee, and another $550,000 to new faculty appointments for the former President and Chancellor.  In this context, the GEO finds it hard to trust the UIUC administration when it argues that there is not enough money to provide a living wage.  From the GEO’s perspective, it appears that budget priorities are simply out of place.  When campus revenues rose by 7% in FY 2009, only 0.8% ($2.7 million) went to undergraduate instruction.  Meanwhile, the Chief Information Officer’s budget rose by 10.9 percent ($1.6 million), and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics budget increased 6.2 percent ($4.1 million).

GEO bargaining unit members teach 23.1% of all undergraduate course hours at UIUC, and perform comparably to faculty in official student evaluations of instructor performance as measured by the University of Illinois’ Center for Teaching Excellence.   Yet our salaries draw only 6.5% of state funding, including salaries for GAs and Research Assistants, who don’t teach.  By contrast, faculty salaries draw over 55% of the University budget.  Graduate employee labor is vital to the fiscally efficient provision of the University’s core service, academic instruction. Should graduate employee salaries be set to a living wage, the University would still have a large pool of inexpensive and high quality instructional and administrative labor.

GEO members have been working hard to avoid a strike.  Hundreds of GEO members have participated in three major rallies, and GEO members have also lobbied the Illinois House of Representatives Higher Education Appropriations Committee, spoken with state legislators from Champaign, actively informed campus community members about the issues, and maintained a constant presence in Urbana-Champaign print, radio and television media.  The Illinois Student Senate has passed two resolutions in support of the GEO and the decision to authorize a strike, and GEO supporters in the faculty senate are working to pass a similar resolution. GEO members and allies will hold a rally at the University of Illinois Board of Trustees Meeting in Springfield, IL on November 12.

Direct action, including rallies, work-ins, and publicity campaigns [...]]]> The GEO will be holding its first strike authorization vote from November 4-6.  Our strike authorization vote will begin at a General Membership Meeting on November 4th at 5:30 pm in the University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign – all GEO members are welcome to attend the meeting and vote.

Direct action, including rallies, work-ins, and publicity campaigns put substantial pressure on the administration, and we have been working hard to avoid a strike.  Hundreds of GEO members have participated in three major rallies, and GEO members have also lobbied the Illinois House of Representatives Higher Education Appropriations Committee, spoken with state legislators from Champaign, secured a resolution of support from the Illinois Student Senate, talked to the Governor about the GEO and campus labor in front of state TV press, and maintained a constant presence in Champaign print, radio and television media. GEO members were present at the annual meeting between UIUC faculty and top administrators, and GEO members and faculty asked pointed questions about the GEO to interim President Ikenberry, President White, Chancellor Herman, and the interim Provost. GEO members have personally provided information to thousands of campus community members at an informational table that’s been on the quad every weekday since October 12.

The decision to hold a strike vote was made because while these actions have been instrumental to bargaining, the most effective means of effecting movement at the bargaining table has clearly been the GEO’s public movement toward the possibility of a strike.  The GEO is seeking a contract that will set the minimum salary for a 50% nine month appointment at the University’s own estimate of a living wage, guarantee tuition waivers to TAs and GAs, and improve our health and child care.  While the GEO was prepared with a contract proposal on the first day of bargaining in April, the administration didn’t respond until August 11th.  The original administration proposal offered a contract that would freeze GEO wages for three years, reserve the right to furlough and layoff graduate employees in good standing and to count “in-kind” compensation such as housing or meal vouchers toward our salaries.

The GEO is a local member (6300) of the Illinois Federation of Teachers/American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.  The GEO is an entirely democratic, member run organization – the decision to call the strike authorization vote was made by the Coordinating Committee, which consists of nine officers elected by the GEO membership, and the Steward’s Council, an organizing body open to any GEO member.  Fundamentally, the GEO needs member participation and feedback in the decision as to whether or not to authorize a strike.