Table of Contents:

ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS
- RA/PGA Unionization Bill HB 253 Passed
- RA/PGA Unionization Townhall
- Admin dues deduction error
- IFT Convention 2019
JOIN A GEO COMMITTEE!
CONNECT WITH GEO!

ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS

RA/PGA Bill HB 253 Passed!!

Illinois state legislators passed HB 253, reclassifying RAs and PGAs as "workers" rather than "students," opening the door to unionization. The bill is currently awaiting Gov. Pritzker’s signature and would go into effect on January 1, 2020.

RA/PGA Townhall

Come learn how ALL graduate employees can gain the protections of a union contract - what that legal process looks like, possible timelines, etc. There will be a presentation plus Q&A. Open to the public!

Join us this Saturday (7/27) at 1:30PM at the Urbana Free Library in the Lewis Auditorium! A link to the Facebook event is here.

Admin has overcharged TA/GA member dues

On April 25th, our membership voted in favor of raising the dues for RAs and PGAs from $3 to $8. We communicated this change with UIUC administration and payroll such that this change could be instituted as soon as possible. This month, we saw an additional deduction of $5 from all members of GEO. While this means that RAs and PGAs were charged for the correct, member-approved $8, TAs and GAs were overcharged by $5. GEO is currently in the process of communicating with administration to have this change corrected to ensure it does not happen in the future and that all TAs and GAs will receive a reimbursement for the $5 they are owed!

Please reach out to us if you have any further questions, but we assure you that this will be taken care of as quickly as possible.

IFT Convention 2019

The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) is our parent union, which connects us to the nationwide labor movement and provides us with organizers, grants, and legal aid. As such, a significant portion of your union dues go to the IFT to support these efforts. This support, while valuable, is costing our union and other graduate locals more than we can all afford. While most other unions in IFT would simply up their union dues, we know that, according to American Community Survey data compiled by the US Census Bureau, roughly 1 in 5 Graduate and Professional students in Illinois and 1 in 3 Graduate and Professional students in Champaign County are in poverty, so that is not an option. As such, we wrote a proposed amendment to reduce the IFT dues for graduate employee unions. To make this amendment pass, we need people to join us for the convention as voting delegates in Chicago from October 18-20. Please contact our IFT Convention Working Group at geo@uigeo.org if you want to and are able to help us stay union strong!

JOIN A GEO COMMITTEE!

We are a member-run union; we depend on the commitment of our members to stay as strong as possible. You can find details about what each committee does and how to contact them on our website. No special knowledge is required. You can also follow the calendar of events on our website for the date and time of upcoming meetings: http://uiucgeo.org/events/. Meetings are open to membership, and coming to a meeting does not commit you to joining a committee.

Upcoming meetings:

Constitutional Committee (cc@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more

Healthcare Working Group (health@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more

Stewards’ Council (sc@uigeo.org) - Tuesday, August 6, 5:30-7:00 pm

Finance Committee (treasurer@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more

Solidarity Committee (solcomm@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more

Grievance Committee (grievance@uigeo.org) - Wednesday July 24, 5:15-6:15 pm

Communications Committee (commcomm@uigeo.org) - Monday August 5, 5:00-6:30 pm

Coordinating Committee (cc@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more

RA/PGA Working Group (geo@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more

CONNECT WITH GEO!

Have comments about the GMM? Other kinds of feedback for us? We want to hear it! Reply to this email or use our anonymous google form. You can also get in touch through our website and social media:

Website: www.uiucgeo.org

Twitter: @geo_uiuc

Facebook: @uigeo @geosolcomm

Instagram: @geo_uiuc

In Solidarity,

Graduate Employees’ Organization

809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room

Champaign, IL 61820

Email: geo@uigeo.org