COVID-19 Resources

Resources and Information for Graduate Workers Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic

The GEO has compiled a list of resources for the Champaign-Urbana area during COVID-19. If you know of additional resources not listed below, please email geo@uigeo.org with more information.

Last updated 4/17/20 at 3:11 pm. Information Carle has set up an online screening questionnaire for COVID-19 risk assessment. https://carle.org/home/covid-19-screening AFT has also launched a new service offering trauma counseling programs , which is available to all GEO members. If you have trouble accessing this service, please email geo@uigeo.org.

Faculty Support for Graduate Student Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the GEO to revisualize and step up the pace on both our organizing and bargaining fronts. For the remaining few weeks of the academic year, GEO Committees and Working Groups are now coordinating our work around a central, 2-pronged project:

Secure healthcare coverage for ALL graduate students over the summer 2020
Revoke the healthcare fee hike for ALL students for AY 2020-21

GEO is approaching these goals from a number of fronts. In addition to Impact Bargaining the University’s response to COVID-19 (where summer health insurance is a line-item under negotiation), issuing a Joint-Statement with the Campus Labor Coalition (CLC), and conducting a call-out last month about the healthcare fee increase, GEO has been discussing the essential matter of healthcare with faculty and seeking to build solidarity for the long term. We are thrilled to announce that the Non-Tenured Faculty Coalition (NTFC) and the Campus Faculty Association (CFA), two other critical academic labor organizations at UIUC, have agreed to send this letter with us to the Provost, Chancellor, and Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. This letter has a chance at shaping Administration’s decisions -- if you circulate it!

Healthcare @UIUC: Open Letter to University Admin from Academic Labor Orgs
- Share this letter with your professors, mentors, and colleagues, especially Heads of Department, Directors of Graduate Studies, Unit Executives, and other influential individuals (i.e. representatives of campus ministries)
- Ask them to add their name and title if they support (letter is in a Google Form)
Email templates for contacting faculty
- Feel free to use the email templates we have drafted in the body of your emails asking faculty and others to sign onto the Healthcare Open Letter
- If you have any questions or concerns about writing to faculty or other individuals, contact geo@uigeo.org

Healthcare and COVID-19 Aid Surveys

GEO has put together two different surveys for membership:

Healthcare & Impact Bargaining Needs Survey

GEO needs to know what grads need in order to effectively bargain and organize for these needs.
For all graduate students on campus: you don’t have to be a GEO member or a Bargaining Unit member (TA/GA) to submit responses.

The purpose of this survey is assess graduate students' needs relative to: 1) the GEO's project to pressure UIUC Administration to cover all grad students' health insurance over the summer and to revoke the AY 2020-21 33% increase in healthcare fees; 2) GEO's current Impact Bargaining over the University's response to COVID-19 on UIUC campus.

COVID-19 Impact & Mutual Aid Survey

Please fill out this survey to help us get a sense of the issues, needs, and resources of campus workers and to join us in building a mutual aid network so we can come together to support each other's needs.
All campus workers are invited to participate in this survey. You do not need to be a GEO or union member to fill out the survey.

Hello fellow campus workers! While people experience changes in work hours, school closures and health concerns, many may find themselves needing some extra support or looking for ways to support their communities in the wake of COVID-19.