UIUC administration

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Roll on, UIC United!

Posted by odellcampbell on October 24, 2011
Posted in: Bargaining, Current Issues, Higher Ed Unions, Labor Movement, News, Take Action!, UIUC Coalitions. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

“The faculty union at the University of Illinois at Chicago won another victory Friday, with a ruling by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board rejecting a request by the university to stay an order certifying the union. The union is the result of a major organizing drive conducted by the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers, which have hoped that the effort at UIC would pave the way for more faculty unions at doctoral institutions.”

Read more at the Inside Higher Ed ‘Quick Takes’ Blog.

GEO Tuition Waiver Victory in Landmark Arbitration Ruling!

Posted by odellcampbell on October 3, 2011
Posted in: Bargaining, Current Issues, Grievances, Labor Movement, News, Press Coverage, Take Action!. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TEACHING ASSISTANTS’ UNION WINS LANDMARK ARBITRATION CASE AGAINST MAJOR PUBLIC UNIVERSITY   

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.

GEO STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF SEIU LOCAL 73, UIUC

Posted by odellcampbell on April 14, 2011
Posted in: Bargaining, Events, Labor Movement, News, Take Action!, UIUC Coalitions. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 comment

To: the members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 73, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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

EMERGENCY TUITION WAIVER FORUM – STOP THE ATTACK ON THE ARTS AT UIUC!

Posted by odellcampbell on July 8, 2010
Posted in: Calendar, Events, News, Take Action!, UIUC Coalitions. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The Graduate College has taken away full tuition waivers in several programs and replaced them with only base-rate (in-state) tuition waivers. Incoming students in these programs may have to cover the almost $14,000 difference out-of-pocket. During our strike, the administration promised that they would not do this. THEY LIED.

We went on strike in November precisely to guard against this kind of change in waiver policy, and because of all of your efforts and sacrifice we won language protecting GA’s and TA’s tuition waivers. The union will utilize every tool at its disposal to ensure that the rights and benefits of all graduate employees are protected. However, as past struggles for tuition waiver security have demonstrated, the single best way to ensure that access does not become delimited is to organize collectively and apply pressure to the University through protest and direct action.

Help defend the Arts at UIUC! Join us for an emergency Tuition Waiver Forum on the evening of July 19, 5:30 pm.

Join the Facebook Event page here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: UIUC GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION TO JOIN UC UNITED COALITION ON LOBBY DAY AT SPRINGFIELD APRIL 21

Posted by odellcampbell on April 19, 2010
Posted in: Activities, Current Issues, Events, Labor Movement, News, Press Coverage, Take Action!, UIUC Coalitions. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 comment

GEO SENDS OPEN LETTER TO UIUC ADMINISTRATION ASKING TOP ADMINISTRATORS TO JOIN EDUCATION EMPLOYEES TO LOBBY FOR STATE SUPPORT

Urbana-Champaign (April 19): On April 21, about 50 members of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) will join the UC United Coalition at the Illinois state capitol to lobby for increased support for public education.

The UC United Coalition, a consortium of labor unions and student activist groups at UIUC, has prepared a legislative action platform for its members to take to Springfield.

The platform includes support for tax increases that will support public education in Illinois, opposition to a bill that would strip 50% tuition waivers for children of University employees, principled opposition to furloughs for civil service employees, and a bill that would eliminate the ability of politicians to nominate persons for General Assembly scholarships.

GEO members have been preparing for “lobby day” for several weeks.  “Our members are highly educated about our platform, and we look forward to productive conversations with state lawmakers,” said Stephanie Seawell, GEO Co-President and co-chair of the GEO’s lobbying and legislative action committee.

The GEO has also published an open letter to top University of Illinois administrators, urging them to join the UC United Coalition on lobby day.  “Clearly, the University is facing a crisis in state funding, and President Ikenberry has been vocal in demanding more money from the state,” said Natalie Uhl, GEO Communications Officer.  “We see lobby day as an excellent opportunity for President Ikenberry and top UIUC administrators to join campus workers and students to demand that Springfield recognize the benefits of adequate public funding for higher education.”  A copy of the open letter is available on the GEO website.

The GEO and the UC United Coalition call on President Ikenberry to follow the example of Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard and pledge not to increase tuition.  “Ikenberry’s statements about how the University should respond to the state budget shortfall signal a privatized U of I that will only be accessible to the wealthy,” said Peter Campbell, GEO communications committee member.

“Public funding for higher education pays dividends for the state economy,” said Uhl.  “We hope that top U of I administrators join us in Springfield to send the message that for our flagship public institution, tuition increases, layoffs and furloughs are not an acceptable substitute for state funds.”

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.  In November 2009, over 1,000 GEO members successfully went on strike to secure a fair contract and more accessible UIUC.  With events like lobby day, the GEO continues to work for high quality and accessible public education in Illinois.

For more information, please contact Natalie Uhl, GEO Communications Officer, at 317-652-7298 or natalieuhl@gmail.com.  More information can also be found on our website at uigeo.org.

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