GEO-L: General Update including Mutual Aid, COVID-19 Impact Bargaining, and CSEU Affiliation
Table of Contents:
Announcements:
Announcements
Voting Information and Fair Tax Reminder
You can still participate in early voting today, drop off your mail-in ballot in a 24-hour ballot drop box or mail in your ballot today or tomorrow. You can also vote in-person on election day tomorrow (be sure to wear a mask!). See more information here on your voting and registration options and status in Champaign County.
Image description: Blue text on a gray background reads “VOTE YES FOR FAIRNESS to raise $3 BILLION per year TO HELP FUND PUBLIC EDUCATION.” Five rows of clipart school buildings are in the background.
As a reminder if you haven’t already voted, the GEO encourages you to vote yes on the Fair Tax Amendment! The proposed amendment grants Illinois the authority to impose higher income tax rates on higher income levels, which is how the federal government and a majority of other states do it. Our current tax system is unfair and inadequate, allowing millionaires and billionaires to avoid paying their fair share of taxes while underfunding critical public services we all depend on. Fair Tax means anyone who makes $250,000 a year or less gets a tax cut or pays no more than they do now—in other words, 97% of Illinois residents will pay less or the same amount in taxes if the Fair Tax amendment passes. The Fair Tax also raises $3 billion that can be used to fund education, health care, jobs, human services, and infrastructure in our communities. Check out the Fair Tax Calculator to calculate how the Fair Tax would impact your taxes.
People First, Cancel Debt GMM Slides
The People First, Cancel Debt Committee was created in the Summer of 2020 with the intention of creating a University that puts People First by debunking austerity myths that perpetuate the financial power of the rich over our public University. We were very pleased to see you all during our last GMM where we presented most of our findings on how the rich have created the current financial crisis, and why the University's $878 million USD in reserves should be used to guarantee accessible tuition, dismantle systematic racism, and better working conditions for all workers. If you're interested in joining our committee, please fill out this Airtable form and let us know your availability to meet during the week of November 9th-13th.
GEO Has Affiliated With the CSEU
At our GMM last Wednesday, GEO members voted unanimously to affiliate with the Coalition of Student Employee Unions (CSEU), an independent network of student-workers’ unions and organizing drives, building transnational solidarity and collective power against exploitation and oppression in academia. GEO’s affiliation will have no impact on our current affiliation with IFT, AFT, and AFL-CIO, as the CSEU is not a parent union, but instead a coalition of independent academic labor unions with equal power and voice. To learn more about the organization, check out the CSEU website, or get in touch with Cassidy Wagner, GEO’s Communications Co-Officer and a Coordinating Committee member of the CSEU, at cassidymwagner@gmail.com.
Mutual Aid Updates
GEO's Mutual Aid Working Group is in its seventh week of facilitating our Cross-Campus Mutual Aid Solidarity Fund. Since we launched the fund, we’ve raised more than $2,500 and have distributed funds to over 30 workers. We could not have done this without your contributions, so thank you! Please continue to share information about the fund and donate if you are able. Any campus worker, regardless of union affiliation, can request support from this fund for any financial need. Be sure to check out our website for more information and instructions on how to request funds or donate to support other workers! And if you’re part of an organization that would like to make a donation in a show of solidarity, please consider contributing.
Finally, the Mutual Aid Working Group is looking for more members! If you’re interested in learning more about and/or participating in acts of radical solidarity and support, please feel free to reach out to us at GEOMutualAid@gmail.com.
Image description: Two hands holding a mask with the words “GEO MUTUAL AID” written on it.
COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Updates
On Monday, November 2, we successfully won the right for TAs and GAs to choose their work location (in-person or remote) during COVID-19! University administration have agreed to a policy that guarantees members of our bargaining unit the ability to work remotely if they are concerned for the health of themselves, those they live with, and/or their coworkers due to the COVID-19 virus. The Covid-19 Impact Bargaining Team and university administration still have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, so we cannot yet share the exact language of the agreement, but the IBT considers this a significant win!
Additionally, in collaboration with the GEO Disability Caucus, the Covid-19 Impact Bargaining Team proposed language for a new policy to university administration that would mandate that all online content produced, hosted, or supported by the university have captions available. We are currently awaiting administration’s response.
The Covid-19 Impact Bargaining Team is also planning a bargaining session with administration in the near future to raise issues with Proctorio and other invasive proctoring softwares. Read the GEO’s official statement against Proctorio for more information.
Solidarity Committee Updates
On Oct. 31st, abolitionist student activists at Northwestern University were pepper sprayed, beaten, and arrested by heavily armed Evanston police during a protest demanding the abolition of campus police on Northwestern’s campus and divestment from law enforcement entities. We stand in unwavering solidarity with Northwestern University Community Not Cops and the Northwestern Graduate Workers Union campaign to disarm, defund, and disband police at NU.
Read our full statement of solidarity with NU student activists here.
GEO Member Receives Graduate Student Leadership Award
We'd like to wholeheartedly congratulate our member Efadul Huq for receiving the Graduate Student Leadership Award! Efad’s organizing work in the union and leadership in the Solidarity Committee embodied GEO’s commitment to social justice, and he continues to work with our members to build transnational solidarity with labor movements in Bangladesh.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Urgent 2-Minute Solidarity Action Item: The End of Money Bond in Illinois is Near
The Champaign County Bailout Coalition (CCBC) has been working in collaboration with the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and the Coalition to End Money Bond to promote new legislation that would end the use of money bail as a determining factor for release and would dramatically reduce the population of pretrial detention in our state. On November 12, CCBC will be participating in a Virtual Lobby Day to promote this new legislation, the Pretrial Fairness Act. You can read more about this bill on this one-page document and this breakdown of its seven essential elements. In preparation for that day, we need you to raise your voice for pretrial freedom in Illinois! Please use this form to urge your representative to pass the Pretrial Fairness Act and finally end wealth-based incarceration for good. It should take only two minutes.
Events
Tues 11/3: Practicing Organizing Conversations - Lessons from Strike School
Image Description: This flyer has a large, dark blue speech bubble over a yellow background. The text on the flyer is the same as the text listed above.
Want to talk to your friends and colleagues about GEO? Join the Stewards’ Council for a practice session on structured organizing conversations and semantics. You’ll learn lessons from a recent international Strike School workshop, watch example conversations, and practice your skills with other GEO members. All GEO members are welcome, regardless of past organizing experience! The meeting will be held through Google Meets at this link.
Post-Election Rally Hosted by PSL-CU: Democracy Requires a Whole New System
Image Description: A yellow flyer reads “2020 POST ELECTION RALLY” in orange block letters, “no matter who wins, working & oppressed people lose” in red letters, and “be there” in orange block letters. A red PSL logo with a flag is at the bottom right of the flyer.
Join the Party for Socialism and Liberation-Champaign-Urbana (PSL-CU) for a post-election rally on Wed Nov. 4 at 5 pm at University & Neil in Downtown Champaign. See more details and RSVP on the Facebook event.
Get Involved!
Join the #DefundUIPD Working Group
Our universities are not immune to the recent episodes of police repression and violence, and evidence of the harmful impacts of campus policing continues to mount. Several GEO members, along with faculty, undergrads and community members, have formed a coalition to work towards the defunding and eventual abolition of campus police at UIUC. As detailed in an open letter to university administration over the summer, campus police receive an enormous amount of funding while many student services--such as the counseling center, cultural houses, and minority student affairs--are chronically underfunded.
On October 1st, the coalition held a rally and march in solidarity with many other abolitionist student groups across the country calling for the defunding of campus police and a reinvestment in student and community wellbeing. The group is currently planning on hosting a virtual event in mid-November, and would love your input! Email defundUIPD@protonmail.com to get more involved, and follow @defunduipd on Twitter for updates.
Join the Bargaining Research Team
Next academic year (2021-2022) will be the fifth and final year of our current contract. This also means that spring of 2022 will be the beginning of our next round bargaining for our full contract. While a year may seem like a long time away, the amount of research and planning needed for a full contract is substantial, especially when GEO is pitted up against a whole team of paid HR employees and lawyers. So, the time is upon us to constitute a bargaining research team to ensure that GEO is more than prepared for the next contract cycle.
Right now, the group is just forming, but is looking for union members passionate about all the things GEO fights for: wages, healthcare, family leave, worker rights, and workplace conditions to name a few. If you are interested in joining the bargaining research team, please put your information in this spreadsheet and make sure to fill out the when2meet (also on the spreadsheet). The plan right now is to meet several times before the end of the semester to decide as a group preliminary strategy, work schedule, and expectations before starting regular meetings come spring. If you are curious as to what being on the research team would entail, feel free to email Sam Froiland (froilandsamuel@gmail.com).
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org