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Urbana-Champaign, IL (October 3): The Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has won a landmark arbitration ruling in a contract dispute with UIUC administrators over tuition waivers.

An independent arbitrator has ruled that an attempt by University of Illinois officials to reduce tuition waivers for some incoming graduate employees represents a clear violation of the contract between the union and the Illinois Board of Trustees.

Tuition waivers are a benefit of employment, which represent no cost to the University. Preventing reduction of tuition waivers will preserve quality of education at Illinois, organizers say, while protecting vital labor standards.

In November 2009, over 1,000 Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) members went on strike to prevent the reduction or elimination of tuition waivers for graduate employees. This was the fifth largest work stoppage in the United States in 2009. They GEO won contract language protecting tuition waivers for current and future Teaching and Graduate Assistants at UIUC.

In the Summer of 2010, the GEO learned of a policy change affecting tuition waivers for incoming graduate employees in several departments in the College of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA). Effective Fall of 2010, incoming graduate employees in these departments were no longer granted waivers for out-of-state tuition. Even with temporary scholarships, many Fine and Applied Arts graduate employees, earning between $7,000.00 and $9,000.00 per academic year, were left with additional fees totaling up to $1,000.00.

This change in tuition waiver policy was a clear violation of the GEO’s contract with the Illinois Board of Trustees. In 2010, the GEO filed a grievance alleging a contract violation, while GEO members launched a public awareness campaign that included email and letter drives, communication with elected officials, testimony to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, and other events.

By attempting to charge incoming graduate employees tuition in clear violation of its contract with teaching and graduate assistants, administrators have cost the University of Illinois as much as $100,000.00. This is yet another example of flawed budget priorities at UIUC, where the most vulnerable members of the University community are frequently asked to shoulder the burdens of budget shortfalls.

After an arbitration hearing in mid-July, an independent arbitrator on September 20 declared the University’s tuition waiver policy in violation of its contract with the GEO. The arbitrator ordered the U of I administration to make whole any harm done to graduate employees.

The arbitration victory marks a significant achievement for GEO members. According to GEO communications officer Rodrigo Pacheco-McEvoy, “not only does the ruling secure tuition waivers as a benefit of employment for graduate employees, which is absolutely necessary to maintain accessibility to public higher education at UIUC; it also helps protect the arts from budgetary cutbacks.”

While the GEO has much cause to celebrate, the story of tuition waivers and the arts at UIUC is not over. The GEO is entering another bargaining year. According to GEO Co- President Miriam Larsen, “our members are fully committed to protecting the tuition waivers that make a high quality graduate education accessible to a diverse student body.”

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For more information, please contact Rodrigo Pacheco-McEvoy, Communications Officer, at 858-382-2271 or rodrigo.pacheco.mcevoy@gmail.com. More information can also be found on the website at uigeo.org.

Click on the pictures for full size versions.  For .pdf files dimensioned exactly to 8.5×11 and 11×17 print sizes, please go to http://www.uigeo.org/seiu-solidarity-materials/.

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From: The Members of the Graduate Employees Organization, Illinois Federation of Teachers/American Federation of Teachers, Local 6300 (GEO)

We, the members of the Graduate Employees Organization, Illinois Federation of Teachers/American Federation of Teachers, Local 6300 (GEO), stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of the Service Employees International Union, Local 73, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (SEIU Local 73), in their struggle for a good contract.

SEIU Local 73 is asking for wage increases tied to inflation, and is trying to maintain staffing levels of full-time, permanent employees.

The Administration, claiming a difficult financial situation, wants to freeze wages, and eliminate permanent food service and facilities employees, replacing them with temporary workers or outside contractors. At the same time, the University is planning to raise students’ tuition by nearly 7% in Fall–an increase that will, if the recent past is any indication, go to funding a bloated administration.

The UIUC Administration is asking workers and students to share the sacrifice, while administrators get raises.

The GEO stands with SEIU Local 73, and calls on the UIUC negotiating team to stop the months of stalling and agree to the SEIU’s contract proposals.
We call on the University system and State of Illinois to settle their back payments issues, and fully fund education in the state of Illinois.
We say it is time for the spending priorities of the University to reflect its founding mission — “Learning and Labor” — rather than its recent unofficial attitude to its employees of “Learning to Labor for Less.”

If the UIUC Negotiating team does not bargain with SEIU Local 73, and forces SEIU Local 73 to take strike action on April 18, as the members of SEIU Local 73 have indicated they are willing to do, the members of the GEO will support the sisters and brothers of SEIU Local 73, just as members of SEIU Local 73 supported us during our strike in 2009. The GEO does not support a wildcat strike or withholding labor in any way, but GEO members will join the SEIU picket lines in solidarity in their free time.

The members of SEIU Local 73 are fighting for the future of public employees in the state of Illinois, just as hundreds of thousands did in Wisconsin earlier this year.

As GEO members stands with public employees in Wisconsin and elsewhere, we stand in solidarity with our fellow public employees here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In Solidarity,
The Members of the GEO

2. Come to the Illinois Student Senate on Wednesday, May 5th, at 7pm in the Illini Union Pine Lounge and support GEO member and Student Senator Rich Potter’s resolution in support of a Tuition Freeze! In advance of the meeting, contact your student senator and ask them to support the resolution.

3. Sign Prof. Bruce Rosenstock’s petition in support of an ethical financial policy and tuition freeze online! (http://www.gopetition.com/online/35805.html)

4. Write a Letter to the Editor of either the Daily Illini or News Gazette explaining your concern about the prospect of a tuition increase and in support of the ongoing initiatives by State Senators, students, and community members to ensure that the university remains accessible!

5. Attend the Rally and CFA Press Conference on May 5th at 12:15 pm on the steps of Swanlund Administration Building. CFA members will be raising questions about the ethics of the Administrations funding priorities raised by the breaking news that they will be paying close to half a million dollars to an outside consulting agency. (See, http://www.news-gazette.com/news/university-illinois/2010-05-03/consultants-bring-450000-more-work-ui.html)

Together we can stop the hikes and demand ethical financial policies!

Gina Gemmel
Phone: 773-413-0349
Email:  gmgemmel@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GEO, UNION REPRESENTING 1400 TEACHERS AND RESEARCHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHICAGO, OVERWHELMINGLY VOTES TO STRIKE

Over the last two days, 84% of the Graduate Employees Organizations (GEO) members voted to call a strike against the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. GEO members will hold a rally on Monday, April 5, in support of their last scheduled federal mediation session with the UIC administration.

The GEO’s first agreement expired in August 2009, and GEO members have been negotiating a new contract since April 2009. After a year of negotiations, GEO members are on the verge of a strike because the UIC administration refuses to secure tuition waivers or address tuition differentials.

“All TAs and GAs currently receive a tuition waiver,” said Charles Moss, GEO President, “so the fact that the university wants the freedom to discontinue this benefit is unacceptable.”

Many GEO members earn less than $15,000 per year, but because of “Tuition Differential Fees,” imposed by UIC, pay up to $11,000 per year in fees back to the university. “We are being gouged by TD fees which increase every year without warning,” said Sarita Heer, Teaching Assistant in Art History. “All we want is to have input and know why these fees keep increasing. Isn’t it fair for UIC to tell us where our money is going?”

The GEO and the university will hold their final scheduled contract negotiation session with the help of a federal mediator on Monday, April 5, and will hold a rally outside Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted, Chicago, IL at 8:00 AM.

“So far, organizations at UIC representing more than 25,000 students and dozens of faculty have issued statements of support,” said Gina Gemmel, Teaching Assistant in English and GEO Communications Chair, “so we expect Monday’s rally to be massive, and we remain committed to reaching an agreement on Monday which includes tuition waiver security and gives us a say in Tuition Differential fees.”

The Graduate Employees Organization, AFT local 6297, AFL-CIO, is the labor union representing more than 1400 Teaching and Graduate Assistants at UIC who teach undergraduate classes, grade papers, work in offices, design websites, maintain databases, and perform other work crucial to the teaching and research missions of the university.

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (March 4) – On March 4, 2010, over 300 members of the UC United Coalition of students, workers, and faculty staged a march and rally for an accessible, diverse, and democratic University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) on the UIUC campus as part of the March 4th National Day of Action to Defend Public Education.  Rally participants marched from the campus’ Alma Mater statue and around the entire Liberal Arts and Sciences Quad before staging a rally in front of the Swanlund Administration Building.

State funding for public education has been decreasing for years, and the University of Illinois administration has consistently accepted budget cuts as it transforms the University into a privatized and corporatized institution.  The UC United Coalition will be present at the April 21st lobbying day in Springfield, and we call on the University of Illinois administration to join us in not only pleading with the state to avoid further cuts, but in demanding that public education be recognized as vital for the future prosperity of the state and funded accordingly.

The major burden of the lack of state funding has been placed on low income workers and students, rather than on bloated administrative units and salaries.  Speakers at the rally called for a tuition and fee freeze in the face of University of Illinois Interim President Ikenberry’s recent statements that significant tuition increases, layoffs and furloughs are inevitable and necessary responses to the shortfall in Illinois state funding for the University.

The planned tuition increase will functionally transform the University of Illinois into a private institution that funds almost all of its instruction and research through tuition.  This is completely contrary to the mission of the University as a public, land grant institution.

Without direct action in support of public education, higher education in the state of Illinois will be available only to the wealthy.  As Susan Davis, CFA Executive Committee member and Professor in the Department of Communication said, the University of Illinois administration’s policy “places the burden of the current budget shortfall on personnel and students.”

The University of Illinois administration’s claim that tuition increases, layoffs, and furloughs are a necessary response to the state budget shortfall is especially disappointing given that President Glenn Poshard of Southern Illinois University (SIU) has pledged that SIU will not increase tuition.  SIU will instead explore other options to weather the shortfall including borrowing and drawing on University reserves.  President Poshard told Codell Rodriguez of The Southern on March 4 that “financial troubles have been on the backs of middle to low income families for too long.”

UC United Coalition members agree. Because Illinois citizens, students and low paid workers are suffering the most from the current economy, “it doesn’t make sense for the state to pull out of funding for higher education, and for the University to hike tuition and fees,” said Mukta Tripathy, Graduate Employees’ Organization Officer-at-Large.

Southern Illinois University faces an even more serious budget shortfall than the University of Illinois, as it receives a much higher percentage of its overall funding from the state.  The UC United Coalition applauds President Ikenberry’s public opposition to state budget cuts and his efforts to mobilize alumni lobbying campaigns.  However, these efforts are negated by the UI administration’s policies in response to existing cuts.  Speaking at the rally, UC United Coalition and GEO representative Peter Campbell called on President Ikenberry to follow the leadership of President Poshard and refuse to solve Illinois’ budget problems on the backs of those people who are hardest hit by the recession.

The UC United Coalition demands transparency and accountability in budget decisions so that the University of Illinois administration can work with the campus community to find creative ways to address the budget shortfall.  We reject the claim that there is no possibility of drawing on non-state revenue sources in the UI budget to fund instruction and personnel. For more information, please see the Graduate Employees’ Organization fact sheet “Myths and Facts about the University of Illinois Budget” attached to this release, which can also be downloaded at http://www.uigeo.org/2010/03/03/geo-disputes-administration-budget-claims-releases-ui-budget-myths-and-facts-document/.

The UC United Coalition includes the Graduate Employees’ Organization (AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO), the Campus Labor Coalition, the Undergrad-Graduate Alliance, the Campus Faculty Association, La Colectiva, and the Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority.  UC United demands that the University of Illinois (UI) administration center the priorities of the University of Illinois around access, diversity, democracy, and quality.  Specifically, UC United calls for a tuition and fee freeze, an end to layoffs and furloughs of workers and faculty, a democratic campus with shared governance in policy decisions, the recruitment and retention of a diverse campus population of workers, students, and faculty that is truly representative of the State of Illinois, and transparency about the UI budget.  The UC United Coalition also calls for progressive state and federal funding for all levels of public education.

For more information about the UC United Coalition, the March 4 rally, and other upcoming events, please visit our event page at uicrisis.org and/or contact any of the following representatives: Peter Campbell, GEO Communications Officer, 253-222-5861, odell.campbell@gmail.com, uigeo.org; Harriet Murav, Campus Faculty Association, 217-359-5394, and Jim Barret, Campus Faculty Association, 217-352-2714; Pete Rhomberg, Undergraduate-Graduate Alliance, (708) 828-9926, rhomberger3000@gmail.com.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION SAYS TUITION INCREASES ARE “NEITHER NECESSARY NOR APPROPRIATE” TO ADDRESS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BUDGET SHORTFALL
New fact sheet shows graduate employees generate surplus cash for University of Illinois

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (March 3): Promoting world-class public education at the University of Illinois does not require a tuition increase, the University of Illinois graduate employees union said today – but it does require transparency about the school’s budget.

“We applaud Interim President Stanley Ikenberry’s March 2^nd statements to the Champaign News-Gazette that the U of I will look to cut from administrative programs in response to the current state budget shortfall,” said Peter Campbell, communications officer for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO). “However, the facts show that a tuition increase is neither necessary nor appropriate. The UI administration has failed to explain why money from reserves, the UI Foundation, and cutting from the top will not be enough to address the shortfall.”

In a statement released today, the GEO calls on the UI administration to work transparently and creatively with workers, students and faculty to respond to state budget shortfalls in a manner that does not place the primary burden on workers and students.

The statement, “University of Illinois Budget Myths and Facts,” responds directly to administration budget claims that the GEO feels are questionable.

“Ikenberry’s statements signal a privatized U of I that is accessible only to the wealthy,” said Campbell. “Investing in the university’s workers and students is the best way to build an accessible, diverse and quality educational future for us all.”

Because Illinois citizens, students and low paid workers are suffering the most from the current economy, “it doesn’t make sense for the state to pull out of funding for higher education, and for the University to hike tuition and fees,” said Mukta Tripathy, GEO Officer-at-Large.

The GEO and the newly formed UC United coalition call for a tuition and fee freeze, an end to layoffs and furloughs of workers and faculty, a democratic campus with shared governance in policy decisions, the recruitment and retention of a diverse campus population of workers, students, and faculty that is truly representative of the State of Illinois, and transparency about the UI budget.  The UC United Coalition also calls for progressive state and federal funding for all levels of public education.

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, represents approximately 2700 Teaching and Graduate Assistants on the UIUC Campus.  On March 4^th, the GEO will join the “UC United” coalition of students, workers, and faculty in Urbana-Champaign will hold a major rally as part of the March 4^th National Day of Action to Defend Public Education.

For more information, please contact Peter Campbell, GEO Communications Officer, at 253-222-5861 or odell.campbell@gmail.com.  More information can also be found on our website at uigeo.org.

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Read the fact sheet after the jump:

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BUDGET MYTHS AND FACTS

MYTH: THE STATE BUDGET CRISIS HAS TO CRIPPLE UNIVERSITY FUNDING. Interim President Stanley Ikenberry says that while the state should “resolve its financial crisis immediately,” he sees no “signs of it happening.”  The GEO calls on President Ikenberry and the UI administration to do more to demand the money owed to the U of I, and to publicly join students, workers, and faculty on all three UI campuses in pressuring the legislature to fulfill its financial obligations.

Such public pressure has not been forthcoming from top UI administrators, making it more difficult for Illinois state legislators who favor improved public funding for higher education.

FACT: UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PUSH FUNDING FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION. The UI administration consistently implies that the current budget shortfall is a new crisis. However, for over a decade the UI administration has consistently failed to resist state cuts in public University funding.

President Ikenberry’s statements in the News-Gazette that the U of I will have to rely primarily on tuition dollars to fund instruction are reflective of several years of UI administration efforts to move to a privatized model of University funding that relies primarily on tuition and corporate funds.  Ikenberry even says that the University of Illinois will have to look to Northwestern and other expensive, inaccessible private schools as future models for UI policy.  This privatized University model is completely contrary to the mission of the University of Illinois as a public, land-grant institution.

By failing to invest in students and workers, the state of Illinois and the University of Illinois administration are ensuring that the residents of Illinois, students, and low paid workers are hardest hit by the state and national economic crisis.

MYTH: A TUITION INCREASE IS NECESSARY TO STOP THE UNIVERSITY FROM SHUTTING DOWN. While Ikenberry claims that up to a 20% tuition increase is necessary to keep the University from shutting down, an independent audit from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (download the .pdf at uigeo.org/publicity-materials/), the University of Illinois’ financial situation is “solid.”  The money currently owed from the state constitutes a very small portion (less than 1%) of the overall UI budget, and tuition increases, layoffs, and furloughs are not warranted.

According to the audit, the “UI system had approximately 12% of reserves as of June 30, 2008.”  As this is 12% of the TOTAL budget, including “restricted funds” that the UI administration claims cannot be used for instructional expenses, “a reduction in a few months of the state appropriation should easily be handled from current cash reserves,” according to Cary Nelson, AAUP President.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BUDGET MYTHS AND FACTS

FACT: ADMINISTRATIVE FAILURE TO ACT LEADS TO MORE PRIVATIZATION AND CORPORATIZATION, UNDERMINING PUBLIC EDUCATION. The GEO believes that the UI administration is using the current cash-flow problem to further the privatization and corporatization of the University, a policy that a recent national poll by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education claims is partially responsible for decreased public interest in state funding for Universities.   (http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/squeeze-play-2010).

FACT: INVESTING IN THE UNIVERSITY, ITS WORKERS AND STUDENTS, ACTUALLY GENERATES A SURPLUS.  INSTEAD, UNIVERSITY POLICIES SIGNAL A PUSH TOWARD PRIVATIZATION.

For example, graduate teaching assistants– even after their wages are subtracted– actually generate tuition dollar surpluses for the University for every course taught.  Yet a memo circulated by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to LAS department heads encouraged departments to further reduce the “cost per instructional unit” by hiring adjuncts to teach large classes rather than graduate instructors to teach small ones.

This directive not only ignores the goal of educational excellence, but also focuses on cutting a sector that is crucial to the University’s mission, when much larger economies could be made by curtailing spiraling administrative costs.

The response to the budget shortfall must not be to increase tuition, to fire and furlough workers and faculty, and to force colleges and departments into larger classes with fewer instructors.

I have a great respect for the GEO and understand its members play an important role at the University….

We set parameters with the negotiating parties and provided overall guidance to the University administration, expressed in terms of a range of our tolerance for certain changes, but the Board stayed out of day-to-day negotiations and did not become mired, publicly or privately, in the discussion….

I want to thank those members of the GEO who attended the Board meeting on November 12, 2009, and met with me as well as others. The concerns expressed at that time were heard and considered. I especially thank those who attended the Board meeting for their attention during the meeting and courtesy.

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