]]> http://www.uigeo.org/2009/11/23/for-immediate-release-uiuc-geo-members-vote-to-ratify-tentative-contract-agreement-with-ui-board-of-trustees-strike-officially-over/feed/ 2 http://www.uigeo.org/2007/04/05/full-text-of-2006-2009-taga-contract/ http://www.uigeo.org/2007/04/05/full-text-of-2006-2009-taga-contract/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2007 23:51:33 +0000 admin http://new.uigeo.org/2007/04/05/full-text-of-2006-2009-taga-contract/ (signed 3/26/07)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLE I PURPOSE ARTICLE II RECOGNITION ARTICLE III NONDISCRIMINATION STATEMENT ARTICLE IV APPOINTMENT TERMS ARTICLE V ORIENTATION AND TRAINING ARTICLE VI EVALUATIONS ARTICLE VII HOURS OF WORK ARTICLE VIII USE OF UNIVERSITY RESOURCES ARTICLE IX MANAGEMENT RIGHTS ARTICLE X EMPLOYEE RIGHTS ARTICLE XI EXPENSES ARTICLE XII DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION ARTICLE XIII PERSONNEL FILES ARTICLE XIV STIPENDS ARTICLE XV HEALTH CARE ARTICLE XVI DUES DEDUCTION AND FAIR [...]]]> (signed 3/26/07)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLE I PURPOSE
ARTICLE II RECOGNITION
ARTICLE III NONDISCRIMINATION
STATEMENT
ARTICLE IV APPOINTMENT TERMS
ARTICLE V ORIENTATION AND TRAINING
ARTICLE VI EVALUATIONS
ARTICLE VII HOURS OF WORK
ARTICLE VIII USE OF UNIVERSITY
RESOURCES
ARTICLE IX MANAGEMENT RIGHTS
ARTICLE X EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
ARTICLE XI EXPENSES
ARTICLE XII DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION
ARTICLE XIII PERSONNEL FILES
ARTICLE XIV STIPENDS
ARTICLE XV HEALTH CARE
ARTICLE XVI DUES DEDUCTION AND
FAIR SHARE
ARTICLE XVII LEAVES AND HOLIDAYS
ARTICLE XVIII GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
ARTICLE XIX HEALTH AND SAFETY
ARTICLE XX LABOR MANAGEMENT
MEETINGS AND CONSULTATION
ARTICLE XXI SCOPE OF THE AGREEMENT
ARTICLE XXII SAVINGS CLAUSE
ARTICLE XXIII NO STRIKE
ARTICLE XXIV DURATION
MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING: SPEAK TEST COMMITTEE

I. Purpose
It is the intent and purpose of this Agreement to promote sound and mutually
beneficial relationships between the University and the Union.

II. Recognition
Section 2.1. The University hereby recognizes the Graduate Employees Organization,
IFT/AFT, AFL-CIO (“Union”) as the exclusive representative for
wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment for all employees within
the bargaining unit as certified by the IELRB in Case No. 96-RC-0013-S (See
Appendix A – “Stipulations” dated April 29, 2002), as follows:

Included: assistants who are graduate students in good standing at the
University’s Urbana-Champaign campus and who have appointments
as either Teaching Assistants (except for the initial semester when teaching
is required by the departments listed below) or Graduate Assistants;
and either hold a total appointment between .25 FTE and .67 FTE, or who
receive a tuition and fee waiver from an assistantship appointment. Only
those hours/duties spent by a graduate employee in the satisfaction of
his/her included (TA or GA) appointment will be included in the bargaining
unit;
Excluded: Research Assistants (RA) and Pre-professional Graduate Assistants
(PGA) as defined in the attached stipulations referenced above. Teaching
Assistants in the following departments will be excluded from the bargaining
unit only for the first semester that they teach: Animal Biology; Biochemistry;
Cell and Structural Biology; Chemistry; Germanic Languages & Literature;
Microbiology; Plant Biology; and Psychology. Teaching Assistants or Graduate
Assistants who are supervisors, managerial employees, confidential employees,
or short-term employees as defined by the IELRA are excluded from the bargaining
unit; and all other employees.

Section 2.2. The Employer agrees not to negotiate with any other labor organization,
its agent, or any employee organization, or campus organization over wages,
hours, terms and conditions of employment, for all employees within the bargaining
unit. (Appendix A), unless specified otherwise elsewhere in this document.
This Agreement shall not be construed to prevent the University or any administrator
or faculty member from meeting with any University organization or group,
including student organizations, to hear their views on any matter. No changes
in any terms or conditions of employment that fall within the mandatory scope
of bargaining will be made as a result of any such meetings except by mutual
agreement of the University and GEO.

III. Nondiscrimination Statement
There will be no discrimination by either the Union or the University with respect to any assistant covered by this Agreement because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, including gender identity, unfavorable discharge from the military, or status as a protected veteran or a veteran of the Vietnam Area.

Each assistant may make his/her own personal decision with respect to the Union
or other employee organization membership, without intimidation or coercion.
There will be no discrimination against any assistant because of Union membership
or because the assistant is acting as a representative of the Union or its
members pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement.

Assistants are encouraged to resolve complaints of discrimination under this
Agreement under Policy and Procedures for Addressing Discrimination and Harassment
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Assistants retain the right
to resolve complaints of discrimination under the Grievance Procedure. An assistant
must choose whether a particular complaint will be resolved using the University
process or the Grievance Procedure within thirty (30) calendar days following
an occurrence on which the complaint is based.

IV. Appointment Terms
A. Eligibility for Assistantship Appointments
A TA or GA must be enrolled as a student and in good academic standing in a
graduate program at UIUC and meet other applicable requirements. Campus policy
does not require students who hold summer assistantships to be registered during
the summer if they were registered for the immediately preceding spring semester
or are registered for the immediately following fall semester. However, campus
policy permits individual departments to require their students who hold summer
assistantships to register for a specified minimum number of units during the
summer as part of the students’ academic programs. If an individual,
who has accepted a TA or GA appointment, fails to enroll, withdraws or otherwise
fails to maintain academic eligibility in a graduate program, the University
may, in its sole discretion, cancel the assistantship appointment. Cancellation
under this section shall not be subject to appeal under the Grievance Procedure.

B. Information about Assistantships

1. In order to make information available to graduate students about assistantship opportunities, the Graduate College maintains an Assistantship Clearing house website: http:/www.grad.uiuc.edu/clearinghouse/ This website may include (or provide a link to) the information stipulated in B.2.

2. Units employing or anticipating the employment of TAs or GAs are encouraged to maintain posted information about openings, such as information about the:

a. Name or location of an office where inquiries or applications may be made.

b. Types of TA or GA positions that typically are available.

c. Procedure(s) to apply for TA and GA positions, including (if applicable) deadlines for submission of application.

3. Units will allow applicants to submit, in writing, course placement preferences.

C. Required Documentation
All appointments are contingent upon the student’s compliance with documentation
requirements for employment. Currently these requirements include (for students
who have never held an assistantship or other appointment at the University,
or have not held an appointment in the last 90 days) completion of the I-9
and employee information forms as soon as possible after the offer of appointment
is made and, in every case, before the assistant performs any services associated
with the appointment.

D. Notice of Appointment
All newly appointed and re-appointed TAs and GAs shall be notified of their
appointment title, the major components of their assignments, stipend amount,
dates (duration) of service (including any mandatory or optional orientation
sessions), the supervising official in the department, and the full time equivalency
(FTE) of the appointment as soon as practicable, preferably at least sixty
(60) days before the start of the appointment or one month before the end of
the previous appointment. Such notification shall include a statement that
the position is subject to a collective bargaining agreement between the Board
of Trustees of the University of Illinois and the Graduate Employees Organization
covering wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment which may be found
at the following web address: : http://www.ahr.uiuc.edu/ or http://www.uigeo.org/ .
Additional information about tuition and fees applicable to all graduate students may be obtained from the following websites.
Office of Admissions and Records: http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/current/financial/grad_fees.html
Graduate College: http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/gradhandbook/index.asp
Tuition and fees waivers may vary between units and programs. Employing units are encouraged to explain their tuition and fee waiver policies as part of their websites and make information available to incoming students.

E. Acceptance
A student who has been offered a TA or GA appointment is required to confirm
acceptance to the department in writing (including electronic mail), within
the time period specified by the department. If an offer has been made to an
assistant for one or more specific periods in an academic year and the assistant
has accepted the offer and met the conditions of the offer and the position
is later unavailable, the University will notify the assistant of the reasons
for the appointment being unavailable and the assistant will be placed in an
appointment with equivalent compensation as the position originally offered
and accepted. Once accepted, terms of the appointment (e.g., stipend, percent-time,
dates of appointment) may not be changed except by mutual agreement between
the department and assistant or as otherwise provided for in this Agreement.
Assignments and duties may be changed at the discretion of the department,
with notice to the assistant.
Acceptance of an appointment requires the assistant to be present and available
to perform assigned duties during those dates. Failure to be present to perform
assigned duties may result in dismissal.

F. Duration of Appointments
An assistant shall be appointed for a specific period of not less than one
semester or for a special limited purpose. A "special limited purpose" appointment
is employment that covers unforeseen needs that arise during a semester that
may be for less than one semester. In all cases, employment ends at the expiration
of the specific period as specified in the appointment letter or when the special
limited purpose is completed.

G. Resignation/Release
Assistants must provide a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days notice prior
to the effective date of resignation. A written release from the appointing
unit is required if an assistant wishes to resign after acceptance of an appointment
in order to accept another assistantship appointment.

H. Renewal of Appointments
TAs and GAs whose academic progress and service record have been determined
to be satisfactory are eligible for reappointment at the sole discretion of
the department, based on the past performance of the assistant, availability
of funds and the University’s determination of the need for services.
Departments are encouraged to communicate with assistants concerning plans or prospects for new assistantship appointments after the term of their current appointments end. However, a new appointment is not guaranteed unless and until the department issues to the student the notice of appointment described in Section IV D above. Departments have differing policies on the length of time students may hold
assistantships and sometimes limit the total number of semesters that an assistant
may serve. In accord with the University’s standard of excellence, TAs
and Gas must maintain a high standard of performance in their duties, as solely
determined by the appointing unit, in order for their assistantships to be
renewed.

I. Procedure for Unsatisfactory Performance
When assistantship performance is unsatisfactory, the assistantship duties
may be reduced and appointment fraction and pay may be reduced correspondingly,
or the assistant may be dismissed. In cases where assistantship performance
is unsatisfactory, the matter will first be discussed with the assistant prior
to any action being taken. An assistant shall be given two (2) business days
advance notice of such a discussion. An assistant shall be entitled to the
presence of a Union Representative at such a discussion if he/she has reasonable
grounds to believe that the results of the discussion may be used to support
disciplinary action against him/her and requests the Union representation.
If the University determines that the existing situation can be corrected by
the assistant and is of such a nature that correction is appropriate, the assistant
will be given not less than seven (7) calendar days from date of discussion
to make the correction. A written summary of such a discussion will be available
at the written request of the assistant provided the request is received within
two (2) business days of the discussion. The summary shall be provided within
two (2) business days of the request.

J. Dismissal
Dismissal is termination of an assistantship during a semester or other period
of appointment. The parties recognize the authority of the University to dismiss
or take other appropriate disciplinary action against an assistant for just
cause, which shall include but not be limited to the following reasons: failing
to attend mandatory orientation or other sessions; engaging in misconduct in
the performance of University duties or academic activities; neglecting or
refusing to perform assigned duties; demonstrating unsatisfactory performance;
violating University regulations or policies; violating University regulations
or policies related to discrimination and harassment; acting outside the appropriate
exercise of University responsibilities so as willfully to physically harm,
threaten physical harm to, harass or intimidate a visitor or a member of the
University community with the effect of interfering with that person’s
performance of University duties or academic activities; or damaging, destroying
or misappropriating property owned by the University or any property used in
connection with a University function or approved activity. Dismissal may result
from an accumulation of minor infractions as well as for a single serious infraction.
The assistant will be provided with written notice and an opportunity to respond
to the Unit Executive Officer prior to dismissal.

A supervisor alerted to the possibility of misconduct by an assistant shall
attempt to resolve the issue and clarify the facts directly with the assistant.
Discipline shall be issued in a private manner so as not to cause embarrassment
to the assistant. Discipline short of dismissal may be taken which may include
a Written Reprimand. A Written Reprimand shall state the facts supporting the
discipline and be in the form of an official, signed letter. The assistant
will be provided with an opportunity to respond to the supervisor and, if desired,
to the Unit Executive Officer. Discipline in the form of a Written Reprimand
is not required prior to seeking to dismiss an assistant.
If any discipline is taken against an assistant, the assistant will receive
a copy of the disciplinary action.
When an investigatory interview is appropriate, the University shall give the
assistant two (2) business days advance notice of its intent to hold an investigatory
interview. An assistant shall be entitled to the presence of a Union Representative
during any investigatory interview if he/she has reasonable grounds to believe
that the results of the interview may be used to support disciplinary action
against him/her and requests the Union representation.

K. Appeals
If a determination results in a dismissal or a reduction in fraction of employment
and pay during the term of appointment, a grievance may be submitted beginning
at Level 2 of the Grievance Procedure, provided the grievance is submitted
in writing within the fifteen (15) calendar days following notice of the dismissal
or reduction. In the event of arbitration, if the arbitrator does not find
for the University, the arbitrator may only make a finding of fact and award
pay but not reinstatement. Such pay shall not exceed an amount that the assistant
would have earned from the date of dismissal to the end of the term of appointment.

V. Orientation and Training
A. Campus and departmental responsibility
The campus and the units that appoint teaching and graduate assistants are
jointly responsible for providing appropriate orientation and continuing training
programs for the assistants they appoint. Appointing units are responsible
for defining the requirements and duties of TAs specific to their disciplines
and job duties for GAs. TA duties vary widely across campus and within departments,
ranging from classroom teaching and lab instruction to individual instruction
and grading. GA duties primarily support administrative functions and range
from clerical and technical duties to advising and outreach.

B. TA orientation or pre-service training
Mandatory orientation or pre-service training is provided to teaching assistants
prior to their first term of service as a TA. The campus-wide TA orientation
program covers topics such as the role of the teaching assistant, pedagogical
theory and practice, and diversity in the classroom. Departmental orientation
programs focus on discipline-specific content and teaching practices. Course-specific
information is provided by the instructors or directors of courses to which
TAs are assigned. New international TAs must also attend the International
TA Orientation offered by the Office of Instructional Resources.

C. TA continuing or in-service training
Appointing departments or course supervisors are required to explain to their
TAs the nature of the in-service training program in which they are required
to participate. Throughout their service as teaching assistants, TAs participate
in staff meetings with their faculty supervisors and other TAs assigned to
the same course. These meetings provide formal and informal opportunities to
address with peers and supervisors any problems and concerns, to clarify the
department’s and supervisor’s expectations for TAs, and to develop
the TAs’ skills as teachers. Through these meetings TAs may request more
information or individual attention to address subjects and skills where they
feel the need for improvement, and supervisors may identify areas that need
improvement and devise means of addressing these areas (e.g., additional discussions
of pedagogical strategies and techniques, micro-teaching, class visitation
to provide feedback about progress, visiting classes taught by other TAs to
observe their teaching).
For a classroom TA, an important component of training and development is direct
observation of the TA’s teaching by a faculty supervisor or other staff
member, often a more experienced TA. Such a class visitation is followed by
a meeting between the TA and the observer to discuss observations and suggest
improvements. The first visit to a TA’s class shall be scheduled at least
24 hours in advance. Subsequent visits may be scheduled or unscheduled.

D. GA training
The units that appoint graduate assistants are responsible for providing appropriate
training related to their assistantship duties.

E. Attendance
Attendance at mandatory orientation or training activities is required for
continuation of a teaching or graduate assistantship. In the event that mandatory
training begins before an assistant’s appointment term, the assistant
will be compensated at a rate proportional to the assistant’s stipend
for time spent in training only.

F. Oral English proficiency of international students
In order to qualify for appointment as a teaching assistant, all non-native
English speaking graduate students must first satisfy the English proficiency
admission requirements of the Graduate College and the appointing academic
unit. These requirements may be satisfied by earning a minimum required score
on the TSE test or on-campus by earning a minimum required score on the SPEAK
test. Final screening for oral English proficiency takes place during the all-campus
orientation for new international students. [Campus Administrative Manual,
section IX-C-8].
If a unit makes a written offer which is conditioned on the student satisfying
the oral English proficiency requirements for teaching established by the campus
and the appointing academic unit, then the offer must state that condition
as part of the terms of the appointment. If a unit makes a written offer of
a teaching assistantship to an assistant and does not state the condition of
satisfying the oral English proficiency requirements for teaching, and the
assistant accepts the offer in writing, but the assistant subsequently fails
to satisfy oral English requirements, then so long as the assistant has met
the other conditions of the offer, the unit must appoint the assistant to a
non-teaching position with equivalent compensation and duration as the position
originally offered and accepted. Such assistant will not be allowed to provide
instruction until a passing score on the SPEAK test has been achieved. All
such assistants who have not passed the SPEAK test will be required to participate
in an approved proficiency training program prior to retaking the SPEAK test.
Units may require such assistants to repeat the proficiency training program
and re-take the SPEAK test until a passing score is attained. The University
shall make approved, on-campus English language proficiency training programs
available at no cost to the assistant.

VI. Evaluations
A. Performance of TAs and GAs will normally be reviewed at least once during
the academic year or term of the appointment, whichever is greater.

B. Appointing units shall inform new TAs and GAs of their evaluation procedure
during orientation or at the beginning of the appointment and inform re-appointed TAs and GAs of the evaluation procedures upon beginning new assignments or when evaluation procedures are changed. Evaluations shall be based on the assistants’ performance of assistantship duties.

C. Evaluations of teaching may include input from sources such as: (1) student
evaluations of the teaching performance of a teaching assistant; (2) faculty
and staff review of the assistant’s performance; (3) scheduled and unscheduled
classroom observations; and, (4) self-review.

D. Supervising faculty are encouraged to informally discuss a TA’s performance
with the TA on an ongoing basis throughout the appointment period. The faculty
supervisor may provide a formal evaluation for the TA’s personnel file
in the department, in which case a copy must be provided to the assistant and
so noted on the evaluation.

E. Supervisors of a GA are also encouraged to informally discuss a GA’s
performance ‘
or the appointment period directly with the GA. The supervisor may provide
a formal evaluation for the GA’s personnel file in the department, in
which case a copy must be provided to the assistant and so noted on the evaluation.

F. An assistant may request that his/her supervisor observe the assistant’s work performance and/or provide a written evaluation. The supervisor will use his/her best efforts to conduct such observation and/or provide a written evaluation to the assistant (once per semester) within a reasonable period of time, normally thirty (30) days.

G. Assistants shall have the opportunity to comment in writing upon any written
evaluations provided by faculty and staff, including their department supervisors.
Such comments shall be placed in the assistant’s personnel record maintained
by the appointing unit. The evaluation material in the personnel record shall
be signed and dated by the author(s) and may be signed and dated by the assistant
indicating the assistant has received a copy of the evaluation. If an assistant
signs his or her evaluation, the assistant shall have the option to request
the following disclaimer: “Assistant’s signature confirms only
that the supervisor has discussed and given a copy to the Assistant and does
not indicate agreement or disagreement.”

VII. Hours of Work
A. Assistants’ hours of work are reflected in their percentage of appointment.
Such hours of work are separate and distinct from the time required for an
assistant’s own academic coursework.

B. It is understood that assistants in this bargaining unit are engaged in
professional activities of such a nature that the output produced, or the result
accomplished, cannot be precisely standardized or measured in relation to a
given period of time and that the time necessary to accomplish an assignment
may vary.

C. The appointment level (full time equivalency or FTE) shall be based on the
appointing department’s determination of the amount of time it should
normally take to perform the assigned duties including orientation and training.
It is expected that a .5 FTE assistant will devote an average of 20 hours per
week over the course of a full appointment period. Assistants appointed for
other FTE levels would be expected to perform work for a proportionately greater
or lesser average number of hours per week.

D. If an assistant reasonably believes that his/her duties routinely require
hours which will cumulatively exceed the hours of effort required by the appointment
percentage over the full term, he/she must raise the matter within 5 calendar
days from the point the assistant deems the cumulative workload to be excessive
with his/her department supervisor. Upon meeting with the assistant, if the
department supervisor concludes that the assistant is working excessive hours
based on his/her assigned FTE, the supervisor may suggest with the assistant’s
cooperation, that the assistant meet with and be mentored by more experienced
assistants or other academic staff members in order to develop strategies for
completing the assigned duties at a high level of quality in time contemplated
by the assistant’s FTE appointment. Further, the supervisor may determine:
(1) that certain duties be reduced and/or reassigned to others; (2) the assistant’s
FTE be increased; or (3) the assistant’s FTE be reduced with the consent
of the assistant; and/or (4) that the assistant be reassigned to a different
position.

E. An assistant may appeal the department supervisor’s final determination
in writing to the Unit Executive Officer (UEO) within five (5) calendar days of
the determination. The UEO will review the department supervisor’s determination
and issue a letter to the assistant either agreeing with, modifying or reversing
the determination within five (5) calendar days of the appeal.

VIII. Use of University Resources
An assistant may not utilize University of Illinois’ course materials,
curricula, facilities, resources, or other materials in non-University activities.

IX. Management Rights
A. Except as specifically abridged by this Agreement, all powers, rights, and
authority of the University are reserved by the University, and the University
retains sole and exclusive control over any and all matters in the operation,
management and administration of the University, the control of its properties
and the maintenance of order and efficiency of the workforce, and complete
authority to exercise those rights and powers by making and implementing
decisions with respect to those rights and powers. Such rights and powers
include, but are not limited to, the exclusive right and power
(1) to determine the mission of the University, the organizational structure,
and the methods and means necessary to fulfill that mission, including the
transfer, alteration, curtailment or discontinuance of any services;
(2) to adopt and amend budgets and make budgetary allocations or reallocations
affecting the University as a whole or any of its departments or units;
(3) to establish qualifications, appoint, and determine the appointment fraction
and duration of employment upon appointment for all assistants, including whether
assistants will be re-appointed and, if so, the terms and conditions governing
such reappointment;
(4) to determine the number of assistants to be appointed or reappointed;
(5) to determine, assign, and schedule the type and kind of services and the
work to be performed by assistants or by others, including the job content
and the location of such services or work;
(6) to establish, modify, combine or eliminate job classifications within the
bargaining unit;
(7) to determine the number, location, or relocation of facilities, buildings
and rooms, and ancillary facilities such as parking lots, including the policies
governing the use of such buildings, rooms or facilities;
(8) to discipline, suspend, or discharge assistants for just cause;
(9) to supervise, train, and evaluate assistants;
(10) to determine materials and equipment to be utilized by assistants and
the methods and means by which work shall be performed and services provided;
(11) to establish quality and performance standards rules for assistants;
(12) to adopt and enforce policies, rules and regulations, including rules
and regulations governing tuition waivers and the work, training, and conduct
of assistants;
(13) to utilize personnel, methods, and means in the most appropriate and efficient
manner possible as determined by the University; and
(14) to perform all other functions inherent in the administration, management,
and control of the University.
B. It is further agreed, except as abridged by the specific terms of this Agreement,
that the University retains sole and exclusive control:
(1) to make all academic judgments concerning: (a) courses, curriculum, and
instruction; (b) the content of courses, instructional materials, the nature
and form of assignments required including examinations and other work; (c)
methods of instruction; (d) class size; and (e) grading policies and practices.
(2) the right to determine all academic policies, procedures, rules and regulations
in regard to assistants’ status as students, including, but not limited
to, all questions of academic standing, intellectual integrity, and any matter
relating to academic progress in a University educational program; and,
(3) to make academic evaluations and determinations of assistants’ progress
as students, including the fulfillment of degree requirements.
C. Nothing contained in this description of Employer’s rights waives
the Union’s right to collectively bargain mandatory subjects of bargaining
not covered by this

Agreement. X. Employee Rights
A. An employee’s department or unit shall make arrangements for the employee’s
access to his/her office, lab, studio or similar work place and to the building
containing that work place.

B. Each department or unit shall make available a designated mailbox for employees
to receive mail.

C. A department or unit will provide telephone access and suitable workspace,
as necessary for the fulfillment of the employee’s work obligations

D. A department or unit will provide access to supplies and equipment as necessary
to fulfill the assistant’s work obligation without cost to the assistant.

E. The University shall make a good faith effort to make accommodations for
international assistants experiencing difficulties acquiring the documentation
necessary for employment. This shall include the use of temporary control numbers
or other means to process the employment information of international employees,
and may include an offer of deferred employment

XI. Expenses
A. Travel
When assistants are required by their appointing units to travel in relations
to their TA or GA duties, the University will reimburse the assistants for
such travel. The University’s Business and Financial Policies and Procedures
provides complete guidelines for these reimbursements. Travel for University-related
business should be conducted as economically as possible within the assistant’s
constraints of time and convenience.

B. Laboratory Equipment
Assistants shall not be expected to pay for laboratory equipment necessary
for the fulfillment of work-related duties. Nor shall assistants be expected
to pay for laboratory equipment that is broken or damaged in the execution
of approved or authorized work-related duties.

C. Immunizations and Certifications
If a department determines that an immunization or certification is required
for an assistant to perform the functions of an appointment, the department
shall pay for such immunization or certification. Nothing in this section is
intended to apply to any immunization or certification required for immigration
purposes, as part of the admissions process, or to obtain a professional license

XII. Distribution of Information
A. The University shall notify all new assistants hired to work in the categories
covered by this contract that the Union is the exclusive representative for
all employees described in Article II.

B. The University will notify the Union of the name, Net I.D., local address
and phone number, department of employment, job classification, appointment
title, percentage assistantship, stipend, office address and telephone number,
and email address in electronic format of all new appointments in the classifications
covered by this contract within five (5) working days after the first pay date
in each semester. An update in the same format shall be given to the Union
on a monthly basis thereafter.

C. The Union shall have the right to utilize campus mail under University policy.

D. The Union shall furnish the University with a full list of elected officers
within five working days of the first payroll. An update on any changes shall
be given to the University on a semester basis thereafter.

E. The Union shall not redisclose an assistant’s personal information
obtained from the University to any other party without the prior written consent
of the assistant.

XIII. Personnel Files
A. The University’s Campus Academic Human Resources Office maintains
the official personnel file for covered assistants. The University may maintain
other official personnel files.

B. Assistants will be permitted to review their official personnel file(s)
pursuant to provisions of the Illinois Employee Access to Records Act (820
ILCS 40/1 et seq.) All files shall be open, accessible, and available for an
assistant’s review, except for records which are not required to be produced
under this Act, within seven (7) days of such request. If authorized by an
assistant in writing, the Union may also review the official personnel file(s)
pursuant to relevant provisions of this Act. Requests by assistants or their
designated representative for copies of personnel files will be honored at
a cost not to exceed the actual cost of duplication.

C. Neither the files nor any of their contents shall be copied or otherwise
made known to any person outside the University without the assistant’s
written permission or as otherwise allowed by law. Unless a release of a file
is ordered to a party in a legal action or arbitration, disciplinary reports
or other records of disciplinary action which are more than four (4) years
old shall not be disclosed.

D. Assistants may dispute information in the file(s) and if unable to reach
an agreement with the University on correcting or removing that information,
may submit a statement to be attached to the disputed material as long as it
is part of the file(s).

E. Personnel record information which was not included in the personnel record(s)
but should have been as required by Act shall not be used by the University
in a grievance or arbitration proceeding. However, personnel record information
which, in the opinion of the grievance hearing officer or an arbitrator, was
not intentionally excluded from the personnel record(s) may be used by the
University in the proceeding if the assistant agrees or has been given a reasonable
time to review the information. Material which should have been included in
the personnel record(s) shall be used at the request of the assistant.

F. Records relating to the grievance process, such as appeals, responses, and
settlement documents, shall be maintained separately from the TA or GA personnel
file(s).

XIV. Stipends
Effective August 16, 2006 through August 15, 2007, assistants will be paid no less than the campus minima for assistants (which is $12,586/year for a 50% appointment on a 9 month service basis). Also, the minimum percent increase for continuing assistants (who held an assistantship appointment during 2005-06) will be 3% (three percent) over their 2005-06 stipend rate (based on a 50% 9 month service basis). Pay shall be awarded retroactively for this academic year.

Effective Year 2 (academic year 2007-2008), assistants will be paid no less than $13,002 or the campus minima for assistants, whichever is greater. Also, the minimum percent increase for continuing assistants (who held an assistantship appointment during 2006-7) will be 3% (over their 2006-07 stipend rate based on a 50% 9 month service basis), or the campus salary program for non-represented graduate assistants, whichever is greater.
Effective Year 3 (academic year 2008-2009), assistants will be paid no less than $13,430 or the campus minima for assistants, whichever is greater. Also the minimum percent increase for continuing assistants (who held an assistantship appointment during 2007-08) will be 2.75 % over their 2007-08 stipend rate (based on a 50% 9 month service basis), or the campus salary program for non-represented graduate assistants, whichever is greater.
Appointments of different duration or percentage shall be figured proportionally.
The parties agree that the assistant’s appointing unit may pay above
the minimum stipend and minimum percent increment for continuing assistant
appointments, and that this amount may vary from unit to unit.

XV. Health Care
1. All Assistants covered by this agreement are eligible for health care benefits
described below:
a. Coverage through McKinley Health Center and Counseling Center:
Assistants shall have access to the McKinley Health Center and Counseling Center.
The University will pay 100% of the student Health Service fee.

Assistants may purchase coverage for spouses and same-sex domestic partners
in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations governing such coverage.

b. Health Insurance:
Assistants are eligible for coverage under the University’s Graduate
Student Health Insurance plan. Assistants must pay their share of the Student
Health Insurance Fee or document that they have other health insurance coverage
equivalent to the University plan. The University will contribute $100 per semester (fall, spring, summer) towards the Student Health Insurance fee for any assistant holding an assistantship who chooses to be covered by the University plan, and the assistant will pay the balance of the cost. Assistants may purchase coverage for spouses, same-sex domestic partners, and dependants, in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations governing such coverage. Information about coverage may be obtained from the student insurance office.
Effective August 16, 2007, the University’s contribution to the Student Health Insurance fee shall increase to $130 per semester (fall, spring, summer) or 50% of the Student Health Insurance Fee (whichever is greater) for any assistant holding an assistantship who chooses to be covered by the University plan, and the assistant will pay the balance of the cost.
Effective August 16, 2008, the University’s contribution to the Student Health Insurance fee shall increase to $140 per semester (fall, spring, summer) or 50% of the Student Health Insurance Fee (whichever is greater) for any assistant holding an assistantship who chooses to be covered by the University plan, and the assistant will pay the balance of the cost.
Assistants may purchase coverage for spouses, same-sex domestic partners, and
dependents in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations governing
such coverage.

c. Vision Insurance
Costs of the vision program for assistants will be borne by the University
and will be paid in accordance with the program’s provisions.
Assistants may purchase vision coverage for spouses, same-sex domestic partners,
and dependents in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations governing
such coverage.

d. Dental Insurance:
Costs of the dental insurance program for assistants will be borne by the University
and will be paid in accordance with the program’s provisions.
1. Assistants may purchase dental coverage for spouses, same-sex domestic partners,
and dependents in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations governing
such coverage.
2. During the term of this agreement, the University has the sole discretion
to alter the
terms of health coverage including but not limited to coverage, carriers, or
other program provisions so long as such alteration does not conflict with
a provision of this Agreement. If the cost to an assistant to purchase Student
Health Insurance for the assistant increases more than 15% in any given academic
year, then either party may request to reopen negotiations on Section 1b. above
only.
3. The Union shall designate two (2) assistants to meet with University officials
responsible for campus health services at least annually for the purpose of
providing input and recommendations to the University with respect to the University’s
student health insurance program. The Union and the University are committed
to working to improve health care benefits available to assistants at the University.

Article XVI. Dues Deduction and Fair Share

Section 16.1. Upon receipt of a written and signed authorization card the Employer
shall deduct the amount of Union dues certified by the Union and/or other authorized
deductions set forth in such card and any authorized increase therein, and
shall remit to the Union at the address designated by the Union. The Union
shall notify the Employer of any increase in dues at least 30 calendar days
before the effective date of the increase.

Section 16.2. Fair Share.
Section 16.2 (a). It is recognized that the negotiation and administration
of this Agreement results in expenses which are appropriately shared by all
employees. To this end, if an employee does not join the Union within thirty
(30) days of commencement of his/her duties, or the effective date of this
Agreement, whichever is later, and the employee does not execute an authorization
for the deduction of Fair Share, the Employer shall deduct the fair share fee
in monthly payments as certified by the Union from the regular salary check
of the employee. Such fee shall be paid to the Union by the Employer no later
than 10 days following deduction, or as soon thereafter as practicable.

Section 16.2 (b). The parties expressly recognize the rights of nonmembers
based upon their bona fide religious tenets or teachings of a church or religious
body as provided for in Section 11 of the Illinois Education Labor Relations
Act.

Section 16.2 (c). In the event of any legal action against the Employer brought
in a court or administrative agency because of its compliance with this Article,
the Union agrees to defend such action, at its own expense and through its
own counsel, provided:
1. The Employer notifies the Union promptly, in writing, and permits the Union
to intervene as a party if it so desires.
2. The Employer gives full and complete cooperation to the Union and its counsel
in securing and giving evidence, obtaining witnesses and making relevant information
available at both trial and all appellate levels.

Section 16.2 (d). The Union shall indemnify and hold harmless the Employer,
its members, officers, agents and employees from and against any and all claims,
demands, actions, complaints, suits, or other forms of liability that shall
arise out of, or by reason of, action taken by the Employer for the purposes
of complying with the above provisions of this Article, or in reliance of any
list, notice, certification, affidavit, or assignment furnished under any of
such provisions.

Section 16.2 (e). It is expressly understood that this hold harmless provision
will not apply to any claim, demand suit or other form of liability which may
arise as a result of willful misconduct by the Board.

XVII. Leaves and Holidays
A. Paid Leaves
Assistantships typically require services on a 9-month or semester-by-semester
basis (“E” service), and some assistants will have separate summer
appointments for part or all of the summer. Assistants on a 9-month or semester-by-semester
basis do not earn any vacation.
Assistants who are appointed on a 12-month basis (“Y” service)
are eligible for vacations of 24 work days each year at the percentage they
are appointed, with a maximum accumulation of 48 work days at the percentage
of their appointment. Vacation days are earned based on two days of vacation
for each month of service to a maximum accumulation of 48 work days. The scheduling
of vacation time is determined with the supervisor and may include time taken
during semester breaks, at the discretion of the employing department.

B. Sick Leave
Assistants are eligible for 13 noncumulative and noncompensable work days of
sick leave at the percentage of their appointment for each appointment year,
whether they are appointed on a nine-month or a twelve-month basis. Graduate
students appointed to one-semester assistantships earn 6.5 days of sick leave
at the percentage of their appointment.
Assistants must promptly notify the department head or supervisor so that arrangements
for coverage of duties can be made and the usage recorded. Assistants are subject
to University policies (contained in the Campus Administrative Manual) concerning
use of sick leave.

C. Parental Leave.
Eligible assistants are entitled to up to two weeks of parental leave without
loss of pay immediately following the birth of a child, or upon either the
initial placement or the legal adoption of a child under 18 years of age. Eligible
assistants are those who hold an active appointment at the time the parental
leave is taken. The requirement that academic staff members must have six months
of service to receive this benefit does not apply to graduate employees. Parental
leave will be counted as part of the twelve-week entitlement accorded by the
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for FMLA-eligible individuals and may be
used in conjunction with other paid or unpaid leaves for which the individual
is eligible.

D. Jury Duty
Assistants are eligible for leave of absence without loss of pay for the duration
of jury duty or for service as a witness in response to a subpoena which is
related to an assistant’s past or current duties, on the day or days
when the assistants would have otherwise been performing assistant duties.
An assistant may also retain funds paid in compensation for jury duty in keeping
with University policy.
An assistant summoned as a juror or as a subpoenaed witness related to their
past or current University duties shall immediately inform his/her supervisor
of the absence. Teaching assistants who are called for jury duty shall discuss
with their supervisor whether jury service will conflict with their teaching
obligation and if so, whether requesting a deferral from jury duty is appropriate.
An assistant who reports for jury duty and is dismissed shall resume his/her
normal duties as soon as possible.

E. Military Leave
Military leave shall be in accordance with applicable state and federal law,
and University policy.

F. Bereavement Leave.
Assistants are eligible to receive up to three days of paid leave to attend
the funeral, for travel, and bereavement time upon the death of an assistant’s
immediate family, same-sex domestic partner or household member, in-laws, grandchildren,
and/or grandparents; and one day of paid leave for a relative other than the
above, who is not a member of the assistant’s household.

G. Coverage Responsibility
If an assistant must be absent from work, it is the assistant’s responsibility
to follow established departmental policies and procedures. This may include
a responsibility to inform the assistant’s supervisor in advance of the absence,
to explain to the supervisor the reason for the absence, to secure the supervisor’s
approval of the absence, and to follow the employing unit’s policies concerning
arranging for substitutes to perform the assistant’s duties.

H. Personal Leave of Absence
An assistant may be granted an unpaid leave of absence during the term of his/her
appointment, upon request to and at the sole discretion of the Employer and
subject to such terms and conditions as the Employer may establish.

I. Holidays
Assistants shall receive holidays off without loss of pay in accordance with
the campus holiday schedule, which may be modified from time to time.

J. Family Medical Leave Act of 1993
In compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”)
and applicable rules and regulations, the University may adopt policies to
implement the FMLA that are in accord with what is legally permissible under
the Act and the applicable rules and regulations.

XVIII. Grievance Procedure
A. Grievance Definition and Applicability
A grievance is a complaint filed by an assistant or group of assistants (grievant(s))
alleging a violation by the University pertaining to the grievant of a specific
provision or provisions of this Agreement.
Every assistant covered by this agreement shall have the right to present grievances
in accordance with these procedures, with or without representation. An officer
of the Union may also file a grievance on behalf of the Union pertaining to
the rights of the Union as specified in this Agreement.
Any individual assistant or group of assistants may at any time present grievances
to the University and have them adjusted without the representation of the
Union as long as the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of the collective
bargaining agreement then in effect and provided that the Union has been given
an opportunity to be present at such adjustment.
An assistant who participates in the grievance procedure shall not be subject
to discipline or reprisal because of such participation.
Meetings, conferences and hearings under this procedure shall be conducted
at a time and place which will afford a fair and reasonable opportunity for
all persons, including witnesses to attend and which respects the assistant’s
coverage responsibility under Article XVII, Section G.
All records of grievances will be kept separate from the official personnel
file maintained by the University’s campus Academic Human Resources Office.
The time limits specified in this procedure may be extended in any specific
instance by mutual agreement in writing. Any step of the grievance procedure
may be waived by mutual agreement in writing. A request for an extension of
time or waiver of a level within the Grievance Procedure shall be addressed
to the Associate Provost and Director of Academic Human Resources for the University
or to the Grievance Officer of the Union.

B. Time Limits
Failure to file a grievance within thirty (30) calendar days following an occurrence
on which the grievance is based shall constitute a waiver of the grievance.
In calculating calendar days under this grievance procedure, designated campus
holidays will be excluded. Failure to appeal a grievance from one level to
another within the time periods hereafter provided shall constitute a waiver
of the right to appeal a grievance. If the University fails to respond to a
grievance within the applicable time limit, the grievant may appeal the grievance
to the next level. By mutual agreement, the parties may extend in writing any
and all time limits.

C. Adjustment of Grievances
An effort shall first be made to adjust an alleged grievance informally between
the assistant (and his/her union steward, if so desired) and the immediate
supervisor.
1. Level 1. If the grievance is not resolved through informal discussion, the
grievant shall thirty (30) calendar days following an occurrence on which the
grievance is based to file a written grievance with the assistant’s Unit
Executive Officer or designee. The written grievance must contain the following
information in order to be considered eligible for processing: a specific description
of the dispute, the facts giving rise to the dispute, a listing of the article
and section violated, a statement as to how the article and section were violated,
the date(s) of the violation, and requested remedy. The Unit Executive Officer
(UEO), or designee from within the department, may meet with the grievant (and
his/her Union officer or designee, if so desired) and shall give a written
decision on the grievance to the grievant within fourteen (14) calendar days
after receipt of the written grievance or within fourteen (14) calendar days
of the meeting if one is held, whichever is later.
2. Level 2. In the event the grievance is not resolved in Level 1, the decision
rendered may be appealed to the Dean of the College in which the assistant
is appointed (or Executive Officer to whom the UEO reports), provided such
appeal is made in writing within fourteen (14) calendar days after receipt
of the decision in Level 1. If a grievance has been appealed, the Dean or designee
may meet to discuss the grievance. Within ten (10) calendar days after receipt
of the appeal or within ten (10) calendar days after the meeting, whichever
is later, the Dean or designee shall issue a decision to the Union and the
grievant(s).
3. Level 3. In the event the grievance is not resolved in Level 2, the decision
may be appealed to the Associate Provost and Director of Academic Human Resources,
or designee, provided such appeal is made in writing within fourteen (14) calendar
days after receipt of the decision in Level 2. If a grievance has been appealed
to Level 3, as described above, the Associate Provost or designee may meet
to hear the grievance. Within ten (10) calendar days after receipt of the appeal
or within ten (10) calendar days after the meeting, the Associate Provost or
designee shall issue a decision in writing to the parties involved.

D. Arbitration Procedure
1. Request. The Union may submit a grievance to arbitration provided written
notice of intent to arbitrate is delivered to the office of the Associate Provost
within twenty-one (21) calendar days following receipt of the decision in Level
3 of the grievance procedure. More than one grievance may be submitted to the
same arbitrator if both parties so agree in writing.
2. Selection of Arbitrator. Upon submission of a request for arbitration, the
parties may within ten (10) calendar days after the request to arbitrate, attempt
to agree upon an arbitrator. In the event the parties are unable to agree upon
the arbitrator within said ten (10) calendar day period, the parties shall
jointly request the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS) or American
Arbitration Association (AAA) to submit a panel of five (5) arbitrators, all
of whom are members of the National Academy of Arbitrators. Each party retains
the right to reject one panel in its entirety and request that a new panel
be submitted. Both the University and the Union shall have the right to strike
two (2) names from the panel. The party requesting arbitration shall strike
the first two names; the other party shall then strike two names. The person
remaining shall be the arbitrator. The parties shall promptly notify the arbitrator
of his/her selection.
3. Hearing. The grievance shall be heard by a single arbitrator and both parties
may be represented by such persons as they may designate, and the parties shall
have the right to a hearing at which time both parties will have the opportunity
to submit evidence, offer testimony, and make oral or written arguments relating
to the issues before the arbitrator.
4. Decision. The arbitrator so selected shall confer with the Employer and
Union representatives and hold hearings promptly and shall issue her/his decision
not later than thirty (30) calendar days from the date of the close of the
hearings or, if written briefs have not been waived, then from the date the
final statements and proofs on the issues are submitted to her/him. The arbitrator’s
decision shall be in writing and shall set forth her/his findings of fact,
reasoning and conclusions on the issues submitted. The arbitrator’s authority
shall be limited to determining whether the University has violated arbitrable
provisions of this contract. The arbitrator shall not have jurisdiction or
authority to add to, amend, modify, nullify, or ignore in any way the provisions
of this contract nor shall the arbitrator have the authority to review any
academic judgment. To the extent that the University’s action is based
upon academic judgment, the arbitrator shall have no authority or jurisdiction
to substitute his/her judgment for that of the University and its agents. The
decision of the arbitrator shall be submitted to the parties and, if it is
rendered in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall be final
and binding on the parties.
5. Expenses. The cost for the services of the arbitrator, including per diem
expenses, if any, and actual and necessary travel and subsistence expenses
shall be borne equally by the University and the Union. Any other expenses
incurred shall be paid by the party incurring the same.

Article XIX. Health and Safety
The University is committed to the safety and well being of its students, staff
and the public it serves. The administration, faculty, and staff have the responsibility
to promote health and safety in their environment and operations and shall
do so in accordance with any and all applicable federal and state laws. This
contract is subject to the University’s policies on health and safety
enumerated in Section V.(B) Environmental Health and Safety of the Campus Administrative
Manual, as they exist on the effective date of this Agreement, or as amended,
and are incorporated herein by reference.
Assistants shall report any unhealthy or hazardous work condition. The University
shall consult with the appropriate unit of the Division of Environmental Health
and Safety to review the situation, determine whether the work environment
is hazardous, and if so, attempt to resolve the matter.
Upon written request from the Union, the University shall provide a report
of the most recent Division of Environmental Health and Safety inspection for
specified University buildings in accordance with the Illinois Freedom of Information
Act, 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.

Article XX. Labor Management Meetings and Consultation
Section 20.1. It is the joint intention of the Union and the Employer to meet
on a regular basis to promote a sound and mutually beneficial relationship.
Section 20.1 (a). The University and the Union shall each designate two members
to meet.
Section 20.1 (b). There shall be at least one (1) meeting each semester. Additional
meetings may be called by mutual agreement. A mutually agreeable place and
time will be established.

XXI. Scope of the Agreement
The University and the Union acknowledge that during the negotiations which
resulted in this Agreement each had the unlimited right and opportunity to
make demands and proposals with respect to any subject or matter not removed
by law from the area of collective bargaining, and that the understandings
and agreements arrived at by the parties after the exercise of that right and
opportunity are set forth in this Agreement. Therefore, the University and
Union, for the life of this Agreement, each voluntarily waives the right, and
agrees that the other shall not be obligated to bargain collectively with respect
to any subject or matter referred to or covered in this Agreement.
This Agreement represents the entire agreement between the University and the
Union. Any agreement(s) which supplement this Agreement shall not be binding
or effective for any purpose whatsoever unless reduced to writing and signed
by the University and the Union.
No past practice, course of conduct, or understanding prior to the date of
ratification which varies, waives, or modifies any of the express terms or
conditions contained herein shall be binding upon the parties hereto unless
made and executed in writing by the University and the Union.

XXII. Savings Clause
Should any part or provision of this Agreement be rendered or declared illegal
or invalid by operation of law or by decision of any tribunal of competent
jurisdiction or if compliance with or enforcement of any provision should be
restrained by such tribunal pending a final determination as to its validity,
the remaining part(s) or provision(s) of this Agreement shall not be affected
thereby. In the event any provision herein contained is so rendered invalid,
upon written request the University and the Union shall enter into collective
bargaining for the purpose of negotiating a mutually satisfactory replacement
for such provision.

XXIII. No Strike
There shall be no strike during the term of this Agreement. Neither the Union,
through its officers or representatives, nor any assistant covered by this
Agreement shall authorize, institute, participate in, aid or condone any
strike, work stoppage, slowdown, or any other concerted action against or
any concerted interference with the operations of the University. Any or
all assistants who violate the provisions of this Article may be subject
to disciplinary action, including dismissal under Article IV, Section I of
this Agreement. Nothing in this paragraph, however, shall be construed to
limit participation of individual assistants in an activity that is unrelated
to their assistantship duties.
If the Union, through its officials, fully performs its obligations as set
forth in this provision, the University agrees that it will not file or initiate
any action for damages against the Union or its officials.

XXIV. Duration
A. This Agreement is effective from August 16, 2006 through August 15, 2009.
This Agreement shall be automatically renewed from year to year thereafter
unless either party shall notify the other in writing at least sixty (60) days
prior to the Agreement’s expiration date that it desires to modify this
Agreement. In the event that such notice is given, negotiations shall be undertaken
without undue delay, in any event, no later than forty-five (45) days of such
written notice.

B. Once the notice called for in Section A above has been given, this Agreement
shall remain in full force and effect indefinitely throughout the negotiations
until a new Agreement has been entered into or until an impasse has been reached
pursuant to procedures of the IELRA.

C. The party giving notice of a desire to modify the contract as provided for
in Section A above shall commence negotiations by submitting a list of modifications
or changes desired. The party receiving said notice may propose additional
changes in the contract.

MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING
During the term of the 2006-09 agreement, the G.E.O. and the University shall each select two representatives that will form a committee to monitor test-taking conditions for English language proficiency exams such as the SPEAK. The committee will observe and document test-taking conditions, and work in mutual cooperation to ensure that test-taking conditions allow the assistant to do his or her best work. This committee will meet within two months of ratification of this agreement, and either party may request additional meetings at any time, so long as the requests are not excessive or unreasonable.

The Union agrees to drop its proposals on Article VII: Hours of Work.

]]> http://www.uigeo.org/2007/04/05/full-text-of-2006-2009-taga-contract/feed/ 0 http://www.uigeo.org/2006/12/15/in-the-news/ http://www.uigeo.org/2006/12/15/in-the-news/#comments Fri, 15 Dec 2006 23:30:39 +0000 staff http://new.uigeo.org/2006/12/15/in-the-news/ The News-Gazette Graduate employees hold rally for higher pay Published Online Dec 7, 2006 By Christine Des Garennes With temperatures hovering around freezing and less than a week to go before final exams begin, University of Illinois graduate employees took a break from studying and grading Wednesday to rally on campus for higher pay. The Graduate Employees’ Organization and the [...]]]> The News-Gazette
Graduate employees hold rally for higher pay
Published Online Dec 7, 2006
By Christine Des Garennes
With temperatures hovering around freezing and less than a week to go before final exams begin, University of Illinois graduate employees took a break from studying and grading Wednesday to rally on campus for higher pay.
The Graduate Employees’ Organization and the UI have been negotiating for a new contract since April. Several rallies and more than a dozen bargain sessions later, the two sides are still in discussions. Recently, tensions rose between the UI and the union when they started negotiating wages.
The current minimum graduate stipend – the salary a graduate student earns as a research assistant or teaching assistant – is $12,220. That salary is for a 50-percent time, nine-month appointment. That stipend can be higher depending on the student’s appointment. About one in five graduate employees earns the minimum stipend, said UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler.
Under the current UI proposal, the stipend would rise by 2.5 percent to $12,586 for 2006-2007. For 2007-2008, assistants would make a minimum of $12,963 and in 2008-2009 the minimum would increase to $13,354.
But that’s not enough to cover the rising costs of living for a student, said union members.
The stipend “is the primary source of income for students,” said Christopher Simeone, graduate student and negotiator for the union. “Our own minimum stipend doesn’t meet the published figures (by the UI’s Office of Admissions and Records) for what it takes to live in Champaign-Urbana,” Simeone said.
According to that office’s Web site, graduate student expenses average close to $14,000 a year in Champaign-Urbana for room, board and other living expenses.
Also at issue are health care costs and the other student fees the graduate employees pay the university.
“Fees eat a significant portion of the stipend,” said William Hope, graduate employee and union member.
The health care premium for a graduate employee is $256 per semester or $756 a year. But add a spouse and children to the plan, and graduate employees could spend more than $1,000 per semester for health coverage.
“For some students it’s more cost effective to fly back to their home country to receive care there, and that includes the cost of airfare,” Simeone said.
Completely waiving the health fees is “not doable because it’s very expensive to do. We’ve waived many fees – vision, dental fees, the McKinley Health Center fee,” Kaler said.
The UI currently covers $100 per semester of the student health care fee. In the current proposal to the union, the UI would increase that amount to $130 per semester beginning Aug. 16, 2007. And it would increase up to $140 per semester in 2008.
The next bargaining session is scheduled for Dec. 13.
“We have an outstanding offer and have been waiting four weeks for a response. We’re hoping for a response at that meeting,” Kaler said of Dec. 13.
If there is no settlement soon, the two sides can request federal mediation.
The union’s contract expired at the end of August.
Grad workers, officials begin contract talks
Published Online Apr 27, 2006
By Christine Des Garennes
URBANA – After he turned 25, David Morris had to strike out on his own to find health insurance.
No longer covered under his father’s health care plan, the University of Illinois graduate student turned to the UI for coverage.
Keeping himself healthy hasn’t come cheap.
Morris, now 26, spent about $3,600 last year on unreimbursable medical expenses, most of which were associated with treating his diabetes.
That’s about 20 percent of his annual income from working as a graduate teaching assistant.
And then there are the student fees and health insurance fees to contend with.
Money’s tight.
Health care “is a very important issue for many, many graduate employees,” Morris said.
With the rising cost of health care and student fees on their minds, members of the UI’s Graduate Employees’ Union started negotiations with university administration this week.
Their aim: to assemble a new contract they hope will lower student fees and provide for better health care.
The negotiations come at a time when the university has increased tuition for undergraduate and graduate students and created a new $250 per semester fee to cover maintenance on its buildings. The UI is expected to receive a 1.4 percent increase in state funding from last year.
“We’re hoping to come up with the best package we can, within the constraints of what we can afford to do,” said UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler.
“The big concern for me is (health insurance) cost,” said Patrick Berry, a graduate student in English. Berry, who has a wife and a 6-year-old daughter, pays about $4,000 a year for health insurance through the UI.
“When you’re a graduate student and funded on a stipend, that’s a big chunk of your income,” he said.
The current union contract, which was finalized in July 2004 (but retroactive to 2003), will expire in August. It included a 9 percent cost-of-living increase over the course of the contract, about 3 percent each year; a full waiver of the McKinley Health Center fee; and a $100 per semester subsidy of the Student Health Insurance fee. The McKinley Health Center fee is not part of the Student Health Insurance Plan fee.
Current health insurance fees for graduate students are $230 per semester for a student and $940 for a spouse. Coverage for children is $454 per semester, no matter how many children. The summer session is considered a semester.
“We want to make sure graduate students don’t have to choose between paying fees, which are a substantial part of your income, and buying some groceries,” said Michael Simeone, a UI graduate student and union member.
The first meeting between the union and the UI was on Tuesday, and the next is scheduled for May 19, Kaler said.
The negotiating team expects to meet every few weeks, for as long as it takes to come to an agreement.
The contract covers about 2,700 graduate employees.
The Daily Illini
LETTER: Financial issues with graduate students
Posted: 12/11/06
While the University’s president resolves to make Illinois the best public university in the nation, the University’s negotiating team proposes a contract for graduate employees that will make top quality graduate students think twice about coming to a university that offers them so little. While the University’s administrators take pride in the school’s excellent reputation for research and teaching, they ask the graduate students who contribute to the school’s reputation to accept a contract that will reduce their real wages each year, not match rising fees and leave hundreds of graduate students paying significantly more money than they make each year.
It is time for University administrators to recognize the growing divide between their rhetoric and reality. According to the University’s own statistics, the cost of living for graduate students is almost $1000 more than the minimum stipend for graduate employees. The University’s current proposal to graduate employees offers wage increases that will not keep up with inflation, insuring that each year graduate students will have to pay even more of their own money.
The University’s lead negotiator Steve Veazie has said that graduate students have “a pretty good deal” because they get a tuition waiver and a minimum $12,500 stipend. But this “pretty good deal” is not competitive with peer institutions. Steve Veazie might think paying hundreds of dollars more than you make each semester is a pretty good deal, but top quality graduate students won’t. Quite simply, Illinois cannot maintain its status, let alone strive for something higher, if it cannot attract top quality graduate students. Veazie has suggested that the University cannot afford to pay graduate students better. In reality, the University cannot afford to make graduate students accept a regressive contract.
Sarah Frohardt-Lane
Graduate Student
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
Graduate employees, University continue to negotiate earnings
DRAKE BAER
Posted: 11/29/06
The University and the Graduate Employees Organization are in continuing negotiations over the issues of earnings and insurance for teaching assistants and graduate students.
Steve Veazie, the University attorney involved with the negotiations, said that the University would like to make clear a number of ambiguities over GEO negotiations and the contracts that have been proposed.
He said that the remaining issues to be resolved are also perhaps the most important. The proposal made by the University was a three-year contract with increases to stipends in each of three years and changes made to the insurance plan.
The proposed graduate employee minimum salary rate for teaching assistants and graduate assistants, on average, was a $12,586 annualized salary or a 2.5 percent increase, whichever is greater, each year. The amount that graduate employees are paid varies for each department, with some, such as engineering, giving greater pay. He said that about 25 percent of the teaching assistants are paid at the minimum level.
“Graduate students are also getting a fee waiver, $12,500 added to the tuition fee waiver. It’s a pretty good deal,” Veazie said.
Others seem to disagree.
“It’s important to remember that a tuition waiver is not wages. A labor agreement includes wages, and tuition waivers are not included in our discussions about wages,” said Christopher Simeone, head spokesman for the GEO.
He also said that one would not want to be paid for one’s eligibility to be an employee and that if there was no tuition waiver, then a graduate student would have to pay simply to work at the University.
“The GEO is ignoring the fact that we’re putting substantial money on the line when we’re proposing a 2.5 percent increase for 2,800 assistants and about the same number of research assistants,” Veazie said.
Veazie said that one of the main reasons for difficulty in forging the contract comes from the fact that there are so many departments in the University, and each one has done something different.
“The University’s proposal is about $1.2 million, which is about the top administrators’ salaries added together,” Simeone said.
Brian Dolber, graduate student, said that the University has come across “as a completely disrespectful institution that doesn’t care about students or employees but only care about their bottom line.”
The GEO is not ignoring what the University has put on the table, but they are keeping things in “financial perspective,” Simeone added.
Departments are competing to attract the best students from California, Michigan and Wisconsin. The University is doing its best to bring in people at a competitive rate, Veazie said.
“It’s a sort of matrix of things,” said Veazie, referring to the complexities in the contract creation process.
The GEO is generally disappointed with the proposal, as it doesn’t meet the graduate students’ needs, Simeone said.
“We don’t want to talk about any wage deduction as a raise until it is a raise over the cost of inflation. Any raise under the rate of 3.6 percent isn’t really a raise,” Simeone said.
However, Veazie said that the inflation rate is not guaranteed to any University employee.
“There is no policy or practice to pay commensurate with inflation,” he said. “The cost of living is there, but there’s also the state budget, which has been pretty stagnant over the past three or four years.”
Veazie said that before his last meeting with the GEO, which was held on Nov. 14, the University was ready to “stay as long as it took to get things settled.” The GEO was unable to give any response that day and did not wish to meet for another four weeks.
The University would be willing to meet before then, he added.
“It’s very important at this stage of negotiations that the union respond directly to us, but instead they characterized our offer in the press,” Veazie said.
Simeone said that the union has been responding to the University throughout the process but that the public also has a right to know about the process.
“We’re not ashamed of anything that we’re doing at the bargaining table, and therefore we don’t have any problems talking about the bargaining process with the public,” he said.
“We think our offer is very fair given the context of state budget constraints and other employees,” Veazie said.
Veazie said that the University is ready to settle on a fair contract for graduate students and that they are frustrated by the delay, referring to the four-week break between meetings.
The University’s negotiating team has “repeatedly stalled and delayed” in regard to issues such as health care and wages, Dolber said.
This is not the absolute final configuration of the contract, but it’s close to that, Veazie said. He said that if the union wants “a lot more,” then the next step would be mediation.
“The next step for both parties is to listen. We’re happy that the University wants to settle sooner rather than later, but we won’t settle for anything that’s unfair,” Simeone said.
The next meeting will be held Dec. 13.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
Grad employees remain unsatisfied with contract
Wage increases deemed ‘disrespectful’
Drake Baer
Posted: 11/15/06
The University and the Graduate Employees’ Organization met in a bargaining session Tuesday in order to continue negotiations over a new contract. According to the GEO, the University’s new offer includes a 2.5 percent wage increase and a $15 increase to health care provisions.
Brian Dolber, communications officer with the GEO and graduate student in the Institute of Communications Research, said the economic package is “completely insufficient.” He said that the contract offered is “another sign of disrespect that they’ve shown grad employees.”
Dolber said the health care plan offered is “the same plan with $15 extra; they essentially offered us three espressos.”
The University has come across as a “completely disrespectful institution that doesn’t care about students or employees, but only cares about their bottom line,” Dolber continued.
Robin Kaler, University spokesperson, said that the University is trying to provide the best package possible to the Graduate Employees.
“I think that the University has great respect for grad students,” Kaler said. “I think we have some of the greatest grad students in the world and all our students are of our highest priority.”
The GEO expects a wage with which graduate employees will be able to live comfortably. The proposal offered does not include a living wage by the University’s standard, Dolber said.
Andrew Kennis, graduate student in Communications, citing the 3.7 percent increase in cost of living adjustment in Champaign-Urbana, said “while the administration maintains that it’s a raise, in reality it’s not keeping up with the cost of living, and so it is actually a pay cut.”
“This is especially painful in light of the fact that dependency on (teaching assistants) for the overall teaching load has been increasing for a long time,” Kennis said.
Christopher Simeone, lead negotiator for the GEO and graduate student in the English Department, said the terms that the University has offered are not acceptable.
Kaler said that the University is working within its means.
“If you look at the packages offered with any other employee group, we’re trying to do the best we can with the resources we have available,” she said.
Simeone said that if the University wants to be competitive in attracting the best developing scholars, it must also be competitive with peer institutions in regards to graduate employees’ wages and benefits.
“The progress is that the University is trying to push for a settlement sooner rather than later,” he said.
There has not been enough movement by the University toward the GEO’s proposals, Simeone said. He said that while some movement is good, it has not been enough to come to an agreement.
The University must make concessions on key issues if a settlement is to be reached, he said.
“We can’t accept proposals that are regressive,” Simeone said.
The GEO’s proposal would be affordable if the graduate employees were properly prioritized, he said. The message that the GEO is receiving is that they’re not a priority, he added.
The University is doing its best to provide the best package given its resources, Kaler said.
“We’ve been at this since April 25, and we’re going to make sure that we get something that’s to our satisfaction and to our members’ satisfaction,” Simeone said.
The University has recognized the critical role of graduate students from day one, Kaler said.
Simeone said the next bargaining session will be December 13 at 1:00 PM.
Kaler said that if the GEO would have proposed an earlier meeting, the University would have been ready to do so.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
LETTER: Grad students call for real increase
Posted: 11/17/06
At the Nov. 9 Board of Trustees meeting, the University’s top administrators laid out their goal to make the University of Illinois the best public university in the country. On Nov. 14, the University’s bargaining team offered graduate students a regressive contract in which graduate students’ salaries would not keep up with inflation. The University’s goal and its actions in negotiations are fundamentally incompatible.
As President White announced at the Board of Trustees meeting, in order for the University to become the top public university in the country, it must prioritize retaining and hiring the best possible faculty. No such plans exist for attracting and retaining top quality graduate students.
The proposal that the University’s negotiators offered to the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) on Tuesday calls for a wage “increase” that, again, will not even keep up with inflation. If the GEO were to accept this contract, TAs and GAs would make less money every year of their contract when cost of living increases are factored in.
If the University is serious about its desire to be the best public university, it must offer competitive wages to graduate employees, as well as faculty. The quality of education that the University of Illinois provides undergraduate students is closely linked to the caliber of its graduate students. It is in the best interest of all of us – graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty and everyone affiliated with the University – for the University to negotiate a fair contract for its valuable graduate employees.
Now is the time for all of us to show our support for the GEO in their efforts to establish a fair contract, a contract that will work toward the University’s goal to be the best public university in the nation, not against it.
History Graduate Students’ Association (HGSA)
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
Adjuncts forgotten amidst grad student negotiations
Drake Baer
Posted: 11/3/06
There have been ongoing negotiations between the University and graduate employees in an effort to come up with a fair and equitable contract for both sides. The graduate employees are organized and have made their presence known through demonstrations all over campus. However, another group of academic professionals has not received that recognition – adjunct faculty members.
The benefits, pay, and working conditions vary greatly amongst different members of University faculty because not every instructor at the University is full time. Adjunct faculty do not have the guaranteed work that their full-time colleagues receive.
“Most faculty in the majority of post-secondary classrooms are adjuncts,” said Joe Berry, non-tenure track instructor at the University of Illinois in the Chicago Labor Education Program Extension, part-time instructor at Roosevelt University, and author of “Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education.”
Berry said that there are no set time commitments for adjunct faculty.
“The situation varies from whole year, multi-year, to (contracts that are) per course and per hour, really the academic equivalent of day labor,” he said.
At the University there is yet to be an adjunct labor movement that has “gotten off the ground,” Berry said.
Many adjuncts have more than one teaching job at a time, and most work for multiple institutes, especially in major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Berry said. University of Illinois-Chicago has 1,112 part-time faculty members, whereas the Urbana campus has 850 part-time faculty, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
“Our teaching conditions are the students’ learning conditions,” Berry said.
He said that if adjuncts don’t have security of employment they cannot help but have a lack of preparation. He also said that the mercurial nature of adjunct life “eliminates the possibility of informal contact” on which undergraduate education depends.
Adjunct professors generally teach entry level courses, 100 to 200 level courses, said Tobias Higbie, assistant professor in the University’s Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations.
“It’s very enrollment sensitive,” Higbie said.
If a class has fewer students than expected, a professor would lose out on the opportunity, he added.
“It’s piecing together your living (as a teacher),” Higbie said.
He said that an adjunct will earn from $600 to $1200 a course at an average institution (but significantly higher at the University).
“You can’t live on that,” Higbie said.
He said that in many cases a single adjunct will work for the same university over a series of years, and potentially stay with one university for many years. He said that this results in adjunct faculty that work for a university as much as full-time professors, but don’t get near the benefits or security of a full-time professor. He said that when this happens, the adjuncts can become “second-class citizens” in an institution.
“How long can you carry on the University’s principles when you’re exploiting certain sections of your workforce?” Higbie asked.
Higbie said that the University should be a “model employer,” and not simply follow what corporations are doing.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
University, graduate employees continue talks
Two parties still in negotiations for wages, benefits
Drake Baer
Posted: 10/27/06
After months of deliberation, the University and the Graduate Employee Organization are continuing negotiations over wages and benefits. On Oct. 16 they came to an agreement over professional evaluation for teaching assistants.
However, there has been little progress on the major issues of pay and other contentious matters, according to Christopher Simeone, lead negotiator of the GEO. He said that the GEO is awaiting the University’s agreement to additional bargaining dates.
Frank T. Higbie, assistant professor of history at the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, said that he has been involved with the GEO since his days as a doctoral student in the mid-1990s.
He said that much of the consternation and unwillingness of the University to recognize the union came from an unclear clause in state law as to whether or not graduate employees can organize. The University’s reading was that students cannot organize as a union, while the union’s position was that employees have the right to unionize, Higbie said.
“There is a misconception that workers stay in one place,” Higbie said, in regard to the charge that graduate employees shouldn’t organize because they are only at the University for a fixed period of time.
He said that denying workers the right to organize due to working for a limited amount of time is illogical.
“People are working for shorter and shorter periods of time at a single workplace,” Higbie said. “I worked at my first job after graduating for five years before coming back to the University and worked here for 10 years as a graduate employee.”
He said the issue comes down to whether or not workers have a right to organize and that the question of a limited term of employment is a “red herring.”
“What are they afraid of?” asked Higbie. “That the grad assistants are going to tear down the University?”
Higbie said graduate employee unions are at nearly all of the University’s peer institutions.
The University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin have been “unionized for decades,” and the University of California has been unionized for nearly a decade, said Higbie.
“The GEO fought for and won improvements in pay, dental insurance, eye-care insurance and other things,” Higbie said. “The University gave us nothing. They resisted every step of the way, and apparently they are still resisting today.”
Cary Nelson, English professor and president of the American Association of University Professors, said that the union has provided a few areas of concern to the University, such as asking it to inform international graduate students of the American 911 system.
Nelson said that when the union asked the University to inform the international graduate students of the 911 system, the University declined on the grounds that “they would not have the union micromanage their affairs.”
“Like many corporate entities, the University is not bargaining in good faith,” said Nelson. “Their primary aims are to pay grad students as little as possible, to exhaust union leadership and to decrease students’ faith in the union…I call that bargaining in bad faith.”
Nelson said that the University should be interested in doing the best for their students and not “simply extracting their labor for the lowest possible cost.”
“We are working very hard to try to make progress, and we will continue to do that,” said Robin Kaler, University spokeswoman. “We are willing and ready to work with the union to try to create a contract.”
Graduate students enrich campus, said Kaler, and the University is happy to have them. She said that the University hopes that the experience of the graduate students’ is the best that it can be.
Other University officials contacted declined to comment.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
Graduate employees plan Union picket
Drake Baer
Posted: 10/13/06
Since late April, the Graduate Employees Organization has been in negotiations with the University over a new contract, but no agreements have been made. In the past few months, the union has picketed at Grainger Library, the Illini Union and other locations across campus.
Today they plan to picket at the Illini Union again.
Union members have said that they are displeased with the state of health care and other benefits offered by the University and are in intense negotiations with the University.
“It cost me $1,800 to get a root canal,” said Rachel Shulman, graduate student and employee. “That’s more than a month’s salary for me. I had to take out a student loan. And that’s always their answer: ‘Take out a student loan.’”
The poor wages and benefits offered by the University are not “financially commensurate with our responsibilities” as teaching assistants and graduate employees, Shulman said.
Robin Kaler, University spokeswoman, said the University is giving all it can to graduate students.
“We are always doing what we can to provide the best package possible with the resources we have available,” she said.
Schulman, though, said that graduate students work too hard for too few benefits.
“We’re the ones who make contact with the students, and not the professors, so informally a lot of the work falls on us,” she said. “When you become an instructor, there’s a whole slew of responsibilities beyond grading papers and tests.”
Shulman said that she also writes letters of recommendation and deals with issues of plagiarism.
She said that while she welcomes these additional responsibilities, the pay she earns does not properly correspond to the time she invests. Undergraduate education suffers due to the University’s treatment of graduate employee instructors, she added.
She said that the graduate employees have fought very hard for the right to organize, but it is the union that will fight for greater benefits.
“What we’ve experienced is a basic unwillingness to cooperate from the University,” said Christopher Simeone, graduate student and lead negotiator for the Graduate Employees Organization. “The University is not interested in genuine rational dialogue. They are interested in dragging it out as long as possible.”
“I would best describe the University’s approach as incredibly disappointing and unproductive. It’s not exaggerating to say that they have (historically) been dragged to the bargaining table,” he said.
David Morris, a graduate employee and former co-president of the Graduate Employees Organization, also said that the graduate employee health plan is similar to the undergraduate health plan but with some minor changes.
“We provide a professional service. We want professional treatment,” Morris said.
“It’s student insurance, not employee insurance,” Morris said. “The University assumes that many grad students are provided for by their parents, but that’s simply not the truth. Grad employees have partners and children.”
Simeone said that he is concerned with how the University is marketing itself toward prospective academics.
“What they’re telling developing scholars is that you’ll be impoverished and disrespected,” Simeone said. He added that if the University desires to raise its prestige, it must treat its students and employees well.
“We are not asking for a handout but instead fair compensation for the work we do,” Simeone said.
Graduate employees, he said, don’t desire luxuries but income competitive with the cost of living, studying and teaching at the University.
“It’s a sinister rhetorical trick to turn a request for compensation into a whiney plea for handouts,” Morris said.
Simeone said that the University should also supply graduate employees with the resources that they need, such as guaranteed access to an office.
“It’s a good thing that we don’t treat our jobs the way that they treat our jobs,” Simeone said.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
University, unions talk to iron out to iron out
Meghan O’Kelly
Posted: 9/6/06
Poster-wielding University employees crowded the corner of Wright and Green streets last Wednesday, coming together in an effort to call attention to their expired labor contracts.
The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 698 are currently in talks with the University to iron out details for new agreements.
The GEO began negotiating its labor contract with the University April 25. The old contract had expired Aug. 15. The graduate employees are asking for an enhanced health-care plan that includes affordable care for their spouses, dependants and children. GEO Co-president Andrew Ó Baoill said the organization plans to discuss the specifics of the health-care components of the contract at its Sept. 13 meeting with the University.
“We’re looking to implement the health-care plan to be more suitable and better meet the needs of graduate students,” he said. He described the current plan as “run-of-the-mill preventative care” that better serves the needs of undergraduates than graduate students.
According to Ó Baoill, the University’s health-care plan for graduate employees is not on par with peer schools identified in the University’s 2006 strategic plan. At the University of Michigan, University of California-Berkeley and UCLA, graduate employees do not pay for basic health insurance. The same coverage at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is $99 annually.
By contrast, the campus GEO members are protesting the $260 annual fee for basic health insurance, which has improved since the GEO gained a $100-per-semester subsidy in its last contract.
Although the AFSCME contract, which expired in the fall of 2005, is stalled on issues concerning fair pay, Chris Simeone, lead negotiator for the GEO, said collaborating with groups who have similar interests is an effective way to bring attention to important issues and achieve its goals.
“We’re interested in a lot of the same kinds of issues and have a lot of the same concerns as these other unions, especially fair pay and benefits,” Simeone said, noting that the University has implemented a pay freeze on teaching assistants until an agreement is reached. “It’s not a secret that the University likes to use stall tactics and slow things down when it comes to negotiations.”
University spokesperson Robin Kaler said she hopes both unions can come to resolutions soon but appreciates union laborers voicing their opinions.
“A university is a marketplace of ideas, and I think we would be a little disappointed if we had students and employees who didn’t express their feelings,” she said.
The AFSCME Local 698 is further along in contract negotiations. A meeting between the union, the University and a federal mediator on Thursday moved things forward, Union Vice President Margaret Lewis said. However, she added, issues that have been holding up negotiations remain unsolved.
“There has been some movement on both sides since we started this,” she said. “However, I still don’t believe we’re where we need to be.”
The AFSCME Local 698 is asking for a 3-percent raise to keep up with inflation.
Lewis said the University is offering a raise equal to that of academic professionals and other employees’ pay minus 1.5 percent.
“If we let something like this into our contract, we’ll never get a raise of more than 1 percent or 1.5 percent a year,” Lewis said. “We are adamant that we can’t let this into our contract.”
Kaler said she is confident that an agreement can be reached with both sides working together.
“We feel that we’re continuing to make steady progress,” she said. “We’re working very hard to get what we can, and we hope the unions will continue to work with us to do the best we can with the resources we have available.”
With another meeting scheduled for Oct. 3, Lewis hopes that negotiations come to a timely resolution to avoid the possibility of a strike. Right now, she said, the executive board of the negotiating committee is not ready to present an offer to union members.
“We’ve never been in this position,” she said. “We’re getting close to the end, and we need to get someplace on our next negotiation session.”
As members of both unions continue to work without new contracts, they are striving to gain support for their causes.
“When we look at what the administration is willing to give themselves versus what they are willing to give front-line workers, something is seriously wrong,” Lewis said.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
LETTER: The purpose of unions
Martha Althea Webber
Posted: 9/1/06
In John Bambenek’s column “Unions: A Relics of the past, taxpayer frustration” Bambenek makes several value judgments about what is “not a bad wage” for teaching assistants and how “difficult” or “hard” living should be expected while one is a graduate employee, since it is not “impossible” to live.
Acting much like large employers, Bambenek forgets a fundamental purpose for the existence of labor unions: it is not for one person – like John – or one side of labor – like the University – to determine the value of labor or what conditions and benefits employees can live on, either comfortably or difficultly. Labor unions like the Graduate Employee’s Organization argue instead that employers and employees should be able to negotiate in a productive dialogue, with mutual respect on both sides of the table, what the conditions and benefits of employment should be. An employment contract that has been agreed upon by both sides ensures fairness and transparency of process to all those involved and it guarantees enforceability of the conditions laid out in the contract as well. Without such a contract, employers like the University will continue to make often uninformed and arbitrary one-sided value judgments about what its graduate employees need to be able to support themselves and their families.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
Unions rally for raises, benefits
Kiran Sood
Posted: 8/23/06
Members of the Central Illinois Jobs with Justice chapter hosted a rally at the Alma Mater to discuss issues concerning University union workers Tuesday afternoon. Issues included living wages, decent health care coverage and employee benefits.
The protest began at the Hallene Gateway, continued to the Main Library, the Swanlund Administration building and ended at the Alma Mater.
Protestors marched through campus with signs reading, “We will strike for equity and fairness” and “I deserve a fair raise.”
Gene Vanderport, member of the Illinois Education Association, said the intent is to give the University a message. He said important goals of the program include pension issues, retroactive pay and working together at the same time.
“This morning, President White spoke about respect. He said that the most important thing for workers is respect,” said Chris Simeone, a negotiator present at the Rally for Local Workers and graduate student. “Being respected is a start. It is about respect when it comes to payday, well-being as employees and, most importantly, respect at the bargaining table.”
Simeone said the workers are demanding decent health care and living wages.
Phil Martini, a Union Representative and member of the Service Employees International Union, was an organizer of Tuesday’s rally. He said the negotiations currently under way with the University are not going well.
Martini said the University is denying the union “retroactive pay, and refusing bargains in parking, and health care.”
Germaine Light, member of the Illinois Education Association, said the people represented here are not just limited to the University, but include community members, churches, and politicians as well.
“We are fighting for employees everywhere,” Light said. “We want good health care and pay for all employees.”
Jobs with Justice is a national organization with a branch in Chicago, Light said, and their protests are not limited to the University. Light and other members of the organization were on hand at the opening of the new Hilton Garden Inn, 1501 S. Neil St., and have protested the non-union labor at Wal-Mart Supercenter, 2610 N. Prospect Ave., before.
The University Unions United were sponsored by Central Illinois Jobs with Justice, a chapter of the National Jobs for Justice in central Illinois. The members of the Central Illinois Jobs with Justice present at the rally were the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, The Illinois Education Association, the Graduate Employees’ Organization, the Service Employees International Union.
Victor Osuna, chief negotiator of the Municipal Employees, said the unions have been in negotiations with the University for a year now. They have still not reached a contract agreement, he said.
He said the reason the unions chose to march today was to make their presence known.
“We are not going to be divided, and this is going to be an interesting process,” Asuna said.
Robin Kaler, University’s associate chancellor for public affairs, said the school is working on the contracts, and she said that she recognizes the union’s rights to organize and protest.
“We are doing everything we can to come up with a fair and equitable contract that is within the boundaries of what we can afford,” she said.
Howard Berenbaum, member of the Union of Professional Employees and professor of psychology, said his goal is to negotiate in good faith with the University and support the unions. Carol Pruett, employee of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and member of the International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees, a labor union representing technicians, artisans and crafts persons in the entertainment industry, said there has been much difficulty reaching an agreement with the University. She said that she and her co-workers are among the lowest paid University employees.
Pruett said there has been difficulty reaching an agreement and a federal negotiator has been called.
Nancy Coddington, fellow Krannert employee, emphasized that the most important thing is a fair contract. She joined the protests when they began in late spring. She said the contract negotiations have not gone well, thus far.
“We are fighting for fairness and pay,” Coddington said.
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

]]> http://www.uigeo.org/2006/12/15/in-the-news/feed/ 0 http://www.uigeo.org/2002/03/13/text-of-the-agreement-reached-between-the-geo-and-the-university/ http://www.uigeo.org/2002/03/13/text-of-the-agreement-reached-between-the-geo-and-the-university/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2002 20:36:15 +0000 staff http://new.uigeo.org/2002/03/13/text-of-the-agreement-reached-between-the-geo-and-the-university/ The University and the GEO will meet at least once a week beginning March 29, 2002 with a goal of reaching an agreement by April 28, 2002 on the composition of a bargaining unit.* The parties hope that substantial progress will be made by April 15, 2002 so that said progress can be communicated to [...]]]> The University and the GEO will meet at least once a week beginning March 29, 2002 with a goal of reaching an agreement by April 28, 2002 on the composition of a bargaining unit.* The parties hope that substantial progress will be made by April 15, 2002 so that said progress can be communicated to the various constituencies. The final agreement would be jointly submitted to the Labor Board to certify a bargaining unit and conduct an election.
* It is understood that the final list of names of assistants to be included in the bargaining unit cannot be determined until assistantship appointments are finalized during fall semester 2002.
Richard Herman
Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

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