The State of Your Union
The State of Your Union
A video statement on GEO’s current state of bargaining and organizing from the co-presidents, Karla and Nachiketa.
Dear GEO member,
Our contract expired three months ago, on August 15. Inflation has been in the double digits since the last time we got a raise. Graduate workers are being forced to make ends meet with increasingly meager resources while rents soar, top university administrators get extraordinary raises and the University celebrates over $2.6 billion in fundraising gains that are not going to workers on campus. Health insurance premiums have increased and there is no guarantee that the summer health coverage that GEO fought for and won during the pandemic will continue.
We have been negotiating our new contract with the university administration since March. The GEO came prepared with a full contract proposal on the first day of bargaining, while the administration waited five months to respond in August. They claim the GEO's proposal is too expansive and does not concentrate on the issues concerning the majority of workers: wages and healthcare. By doing this, not only are they reducing the diversity of the needs and aspirations of graduate workers to two items, but they are also ignoring demands around better working protections and quality of life. The administration's proposal includes only a 4% raise, no raise to the health insurance subsidy and summer healthcare for only two out of the five years of their contract proposal. GEO's proposal, in contrast, includes a raise well above inflation, 100% healthcare coverage and guaranteed summer healthcare for anyone teaching in the preceding fall or spring. GEO's proposal also includes protections against discrimination and harrassment and provisions, such as dependent healthcare and childcare, that will make it easier for parents, D/disabled individuals, international students and LGBTQ+ individuals to access higher education and work at this university. We surveyed over 1000 graduate workers in Fall 2021 and developed our proposals along three pillars: Access and Justice, Wages and Waivers, and Health and Safety. These aren't issues concerning a minority of workers: they have been voted on and demanded by our members, who we represent at the bargaining table.
The administration thinks they can keep stalling, wait us out and force us to accept their meager crumbs because they think we are weak. But they are wrong. The GEO has a long history of workers coming together to fight collectively. In 2018, we went on a twelve-day strike for raises, an 87% health subsidy and guaranteed tuition waivers. We live in a time of increasing union participation and worker consciousness not only on university campuses but also in other industries; the recent Amazon and Starbucks unionization efforts are but two examples of such mobilization.
But these wins were not achieved by union presidents or staff alone. They were achieved when the vast majority of workers got involved, not just in the more public actions like building occupations, rallies, protests and strikes, but also in everyday nuts-and-bolts organizing: talking to colleagues, classmates, office-mates, students, staff and professors, trying to understand the problems faced by our fellow workers, and implementing solutions—collective solutions—that can address our collective problems.
Our union is at a critical juncture. If we cannot achieve the all-important goals that we have set ourselves for this contract campaign, it will become difficult to sustain the union; a union that cannot win the most basic raises and protections for all its workers—including the most disadvantaged ones—is prone to weakening and eventually getting busted. This is why you need to get involved in any and every way you can, starting by attending our next bargaining session on December 1st from 12:45pm-4:30pm at the Illini Union Room A and help as much as you can to invite your co-workers, colleagues and friends to attend and become members as well.
We need you to attend our bargaining sessions, meetings and protests. We need you to convince your co-workers to become members, and bring them to the bargaining sessions, meetings and protests. We, all of us, need to show up for ourselves as a community, devoting our time, skills and energies towards our common goal: a livable and accessible campus and workplace for all of us.
The future of higher education in this university depends on what we do together in the next couple of months. You have already indicated your commitment to and solidarity with your fellow workers by signing a card and paying dues. We now need you to contribute your time, your skills and all your energies towards our common goal: a livable and accessible campus and workplace for all of us. Join us in the fight today, because when we FIGHT, we WIN.
[Image description: Blue flyer with the title Bargaining Session #18, 12/1/22 next to a white illustration of a megaphone. Time and date specifics under the title read, Rally 12:00pm CT at Main Quad Illini Union, Session 12:45-4:30pm CT at Illini Union Room A. Underneath is a picture of two graduate workers holding up signs with GEO logos that read Fair Wages for Grad Labor, next to the quote, We need a living wage above inflation, free year round health care, child care, overwork protections, and justice. Underneath is a picture of Robb Craddock, the administration’s lead negotiator, next to the quote, Your proposals are far too much and too many, and in many cases so operationally burdensome that we wouldn’t do it. Text at the bottom reads The time is now to show up for ourselves. Divided we beg, united we bargain. There is a yellow GEO logo in the bottom right corner.]
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org