Wage Bargaining Session #6 Summary, GMM, Local Solidarity, and More
Table of Contents:
Announcements
Wage Bargaining Session #6 Summary
Administration came to Bargaining Session #6 with a proposal that, while keeping Year 4’s $533 (3%) raise from the current minimum constant, raised Year 5’s minimum to a $468 (2.5%) raise over their Year 4 proposal from the previous $229 (1.5%). The GEO reiterated our belief that our raise, for any semblance of livable conditions for our membership, needs to be more substantial than the administration’s current, incremental offerings. The GEO did not offer a new proposal in BS6.
| Contract Year | The Admin’s Proposal as of session 5 (Minimum for a 9 month 50% Appointment) |
The Admin’s Proposal as of session 6 (Minimum for a 9 month 50% Appointment) |
Difference in Admin’s Proposal Since Last Session | Our Proposal as of session 4 (Minimum for a 9 month 50% Appointment) |
Our Proposal as of session 5 (Minimum for a 9 month 50% Appointment) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 4 | $18,321 | $18,321 | 0% | $25,107 | $22,500 |
| Year 5 | $18,550 or Campus Wage Program | $18,780 or Campus Wage Program | 1.24% | $26,614 | $23,625 |
Main Takeaways
In this last session the Administration’s representative has claimed their ceiling for wages is around $19,000 over two years. However, this same representative also revealed that their initial suggested wage proposals to the Administration were much higher.
Representative was quoted as saying:
“So when I brief decision makers, the points we’re making have more mustard. So what we did was we came up with various scenarios for consideration of provost office. For example, giving us all a 7% increase in Year 4 and 7% in Year 5. What that does is takes us to $19k next year and $20k in year 5.That would be insanely ridiculous for you to say no to, ... , but that’s just cost prohibitive and the colleges did not feel remotely comfortable.”
In Wage Bargaining Session #5 the Administration suggested $20,000 as their ceiling for bargaining, which seems much closer to this past plan.
Who are the administrators ultimately deputized to make these decisions, and why are they not the ones talking to us in the room instead?
The Administration has claimed to consider proposals which are “difficult for your membership to say no to”, but they have yet to propose them.
The Administration’s representative repeated his previous claim that by saying that Colleges such as LAS -- and hence the departments within them -- will not have enough money to hire graduate workers; however, it is the Administration that decides how much money is allocated to Colleges and is unwilling to support those necessary funding increases.
When challenged on why UIUC wages were non-competitive with peer institutions, (U. Michigan minimum $22,497, U.W. Madison minimum $20,500, U. Iowa minimum $20,041), Representative tried to handwave these shortfalls:
“The issue is the humanities really. If you look at the equity and amounts in hard sciences and engineering, you’ll see that rates are extremely competitive.”
This is not true. Even many “hard sciences” have salaries less than our peers. As an instructive example, consider Mechanical Engineering: Even though MechSE is one of the highest-paid departments at UIUC, salaries are still not particularly competitive with Michigan: a master's student in MechSE makes $90 less per year than the campus minimum at Michigan.
This is a tactic to sow division between humanities and STEM graduate workers — the Administration does not want us to stand together because they know we are stronger together.
The Administration will hope that you ignore the hard facts: even in the midst of a pandemic, UIUC is financially prosperous enough to pay its workers a living wage.
Even the GEO’s initial wage proposal presented less than 1.3% of the University’s net unrestricted revenue! This is the revenue allotment at a university where 20% of revenue comes from Tuition alone, and the majority of campus instruction is simply not possible without Graduate Labor.
Mutual Aid Update
Our first mutual aid deliveries went out this week! Thank you to all who have volunteered to donate or distribute PPE so far. If you would like to contribute, or if you need PPE (masks, gloves, or hand sanitizer), please fill out our Mutual Aid PPE Request/Volunteer Form. We have also launched our UIUC Mutual Aid Facebook group, and we invite all of you to join!
Unfair Labor Practices and Grievances
On June 22 the Grievance Committee filed two Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) and one Level 3 (L3) grievance with the UIUC administration. The first ULP is the GEO's response to our exclusion from the Spring/Summer Orientation of International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS). This exclusion is in violation of Illinois Public Act 101-620, which guarantees unions access to new employees. Access is always important, but it is essential for international students, who may be unfamiliar with federal and state labor law and their rights as employees of the University.
Our second ULP, combined with the L3 grievance, addresses changes the University administration intends to make on how departments issue tuition waivers. These changes would be detrimental to the GEO membership, particularly masters students, and should have been bargained as a change in compensation. Grievances and ULPs are one way the GEO holds the University accountable. Contact the Grievance Committee at grievance@uigeo.org to help with this work, or to let us know about any concerns you may have.
UIUC Divestment From Police Letter and Community Organizing
Have you signed the UIUC Divestment from Local Police letter? If not, please read, sign on, and share widely! Also, consider sharing this letter with any organizations you are a part of that might consider signing on in support.
The GEO stands in solidarity with the CU community’s calls to defund the police and invest in the community. Ways you can help:
Read our BLM solidarity statement.
Donate to/share the Aleyah Lewis Defense Fund.
Follow HER, Paign to Peace, and Champaign ABLM to learn more about the work these organizations are doing, and how you can support them.
Events
General Membership Meeting
We are holding a General Membership Meeting on Thursday, July 9th, 6-7PM CT. The main purpose of the GMM is to collectively discuss the current state of Wage Bargaining and tell the Bargaining Team what we, GEO, must demand from the Administration. RSVP to the Facebook event and tune in through Google Hangouts!
Abolition at UIC Session #2
This Thursday 7/2 from 2-4PM CT there will be a virtual teach-in on abolitionist and anti-racist student activism on UI campuses. There will be a panel conversation featuring student organizers from UIC and UIUC moderated by Dr. Naomi Paik (GWS at UIUC), as well as a Q&A and breakout sessions to discuss abolitionist visions and strategy. More information about how to register and attend can be found on the Facebook event.
People First, Cancel Debt Committee
The People First, Cancel Debt Committee was organized by the GEO to address the need of increasing community participation in the fiscal decisions that impact our lives. Debt plays an important role in austerity measures, particularly in Higher Education that has seen a huge increase in both student and institutional debt. We deserve to live in a society where the rich assume their responsibility with debt in order to live a happy life that is debt free. Our next meeting will be on July 10th at 5:00pm via JitsiMeet and we will be discussing some short readings to understand how debt works. If you're interested in attending, please reach out to the lead organizer, Karla, at karla.veaz@pm.me.
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org