Latest Impact Bargaining Updates, Mutual Aid + B2P Book Drive, Defund UIPD Meeting, and More
Table of Contents:
Events and Points of Interest:
Announcements
COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Session #10 Summary
On January 19, members of the COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Team (IBT) met with university administration to talk about COVID-19 numbers on campus in Fall 2020, vaccination plans, testing exemption application evaluation, summer healthcare, and Proctorio.
COVID-19 on Campus: IBT members pointed out that 4,147 people tested positive for COVID-19 during the Fall 2020 semester. 10% of the entire campus community contracted COVID between August and December, including 13% of the entire on-campus undergrad population. When asked how UIUC planned to keep us safer in the spring as COVID rates increase nation-wide, the administration responded that they planned to do exactly what they had done in the fall. IBT members stated that this course of action was extremely unsafe based on the current rates of COVID-19 nationally and the new, more contagious variants of COVID circulating in the US and abroad.
Vaccine Distribution: At this session, IBT asked about how vaccines would be distributed on campus. The administration responded that UIUC will not be involved with distributing vaccines to employees and students. The Illinois Department of Public Health and CU Public Health are distributing vaccines in the community primarily based on age. It is unclear if in-person grad workers will be considered essential employees in Phase 1B or Phase 1C according to the CUPHD’s chart, but as of now, only medical workers, first responders, and those with similar occupations can receive the vaccine in addition to people 65 and older with underlying health conditions. We have been told to expect emails from the University when the 18-30 age group is eligible for vaccination.
Testing Exemptions: In a massmail from Vice Chancellor Young on January 15, the University announced that they were tightening the restrictions on who could be exempted from on campus COVID-19 testing. (For further information on this issue, please see the section below.) At this bargaining session, UIUC administrators said that they were not aware of this change and asked IBT members to send along member information so that the administration could research this change. IBT asked that the administration give us specific details on how these exemption applications would be evaluated and why or why not an exemption might be denied. The administration agreed to look into this issue.
FFCRA: The University administration will extend the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) through March 31, 2021, which would extend two weeks of paid sick leave to those with COVID-19 related issues. For more information on who is eligible to request this leave and the leave request form, click here. This extension does not renew the amount of leave already used.
Summer Healthcare: Due to the slow rollout of vaccines, the recent increases in COVID-19 numbers, and the high unemployment rate, IBT argued that UIUC should cover the summer health insurance premium for all grad workers and their dependents without on-campus summer appointments. This would keep unemployed grad workers from having to pay $929 for summer healthcare and up to $2,739 for dependents, right as their last Spring 2021 appointment paychecks run out. The administration said they would consider this proposal.
Proctorio: IBT reiterated our demand that UIUC cancel their Proctorio contract when it expires in March due to concerns about privacy, as well as our concerns about the racism, ableism, and classism of that software, per the GEO’s prior statement. The administration continued to refuse to bargain on this issue.
Update on COVID-19 Testing Exemption Application Process
In a massmail from Vice Chancellor Young on January 15, the university announced that they were tightening the restrictions on who could be exempted from on campus COVID-19 testing.
For context, in Fall 2020, all grad workers living in the CU area were required to participate in twice weekly COVID-19 testing, regardless of whether or not they were taking classes, working, or participating in any other activities on campus. However, there was an exemption process through McKinley that grad workers could use to opt-out of the testing process if they were sheltering in place and not planning to participate in any on-campus activities. This allowed medically vulnerable grad workers to avoid potential exposure to COVID-19 by traveling to campus for testing.
However, the January 15 massmail said that this exemption process would be changing, stating that “Exemptions will be granted rarely and only to students who can demonstrate that participating in the testing program is especially burdensome to them.”
Many GEO members have expressed concerns about this. From what IBT has heard, anyone who has a medical condition that puts them at risk for complications from COVID-19 or who lives with someone at risk for complications has been getting their exemptions approved.
As always, we encourage all GEO members who are living in the CU area to make use of the university’s twice weekly COVID-19 testing program. But if you need to be exempted from COVID-19 testing for your safety or that of your housemates, please apply for an exemption at go.illinois.edu/COVIDExemption. Be sure to be clear about the medical need behind your request.
If you have applied for an exemption and been denied, please complete our feedback form to let us know.
Join the GEO Disability Caucus!
Image Description: Over a marbled blue, green, and white watercolor background, black type through the center of the flyer reads: “Graduate Employees Organization (GEO). Join the GEO Disability Caucus! Spring 2021. Meet and organize with other Disabled graduate workers! Email aacker02@gmail.com.” The GEO logo appears at the bottom of the flyer.
The GEO Disability Caucus meets regularly to organize around issues that affect Disabled graduate workers. Email aacker02@gmail.com for more information or to join our next meeting!
Events
Mutual Aid Books to Prisoners Book Drive
The Spring 2021 semester is gearing up! To welcome everyone back to campus, we'd like to invite you to donate to the GEO Mutual Aid & Books 2 Prisoners book drive. We’ll be running the book drive from 1/24 to 2/14 to support the Urbana-Champaign Books 2 Prisoners lending library program in Champaign County jails. Check out the flyer below for book drop locations across UIUC and C-U as well as the document linked here for books that folks on the inside have requested. Thank you for building library collections for our incarcerated community members!
Be sure to read this Daily Illini article by Payal Rathore, featuring GEO Mutual Aid & CU Books 2 Prisoners leaders on their ongoing book drive!
Image description: Cream-colored poster with green trim on the top and bottom. GEO Mutual Aid is written in orange, followed by UC Books 2 Prisoners Book Drive in green. The dates Jan. 24th and Feb. 14th, 2021 are also written in orange. At the center of the flyer, there is a yellow book lying open with a red and pink hard floating out of the pages.
The words Book Drop Locations are written in green. The following book locations are written in orange with green descriptive text below:
GEO office (McKinley Foundation, 809 S. 5th St., Champaign, IL)
Orchard Downs (main office vestibule)
iSchool (inside arched doors)
Grainger Library (outside North door)
Independent Media Center (official B2P box)
Common Ground Co-Op (official B2P box)
Materials Science & Engineering Building (south door / main entrance)
Defund UIPD General Meeting on Thursday, January 28
Join Defund UIPD on Thurs, Jan 28 from 6.30p-7.30p CST as we kick off this semester with a general meeting. Find out what we’ve been up to, our vision and demands for the coming term, and how you can get involved in organizing with us for a cop-free campus! Click here to register for the event.
If you have any questions, contact us at DefundUIPD@protonmail.com. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @DefundUIPD! You can also join the Facebook event for the meeting.
In the meantime, be sure to check out this two-part digital story series in Illinois Newsroom featuring Defund UIPD: “A Debate Over Defunding The Campus Police Takes Root At The University Of Illinois” by Lee V. Gaines!
Image description: Images of police cars with flowers on them, with the hashtags #defunduipd, #abolitionnow and #copsoffcampus; The text "Join DefundUIPD for a General Meeting" in the center, along with the date and time: "Thursday, Jan 28, 2021, 6:30-7:30pm CST", followed by the event description: "We'll talk about what we've been up to, our vision and demands for the coming term, and discuss how you can get involved in organizing with us for a cop-free campus." Two pigs with red Xs on them, then the URL tinyurl.com/y6necxpk, followed by the email address DefundUIPD@protonmail.com, the Twitter handle @defunduipd and the GEO logo."
Building Transnational Solidarity: A Conversation with GEO and Garment Workers Trade Union (GWTU), Feb. 4, 9am CST
Image Description: A red flyer with an image in the upper portion depicting many striking Garment Workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh waving red flags. Under that reads “Building Transnational Solidarity” in bold white font, followed by “A Conversation with GEO & Garment Workers Trade Union” in larger black bold letters. Under that reads “From Champaign-Urbana to Bangladesh” in small white font. The lower portion of the flyer includes the virtual event details. The conversation will occur on February 4th, 2021 at 9am CST. The registration link is included. In the bottom lefthand corner of the flyer is a graphic of a white megaphone with lines emitting from it indicating sound
For several years, the GEO has supported and learned from the struggle of the Garment Workers Trade Union (GWTU) based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We are continually inspired by the dedicated organizing of Bangladeshi garment workers for fair wages, better working and living conditions, and the right to join a union, even when faced with severe union-busting tactics from their employers. Join the GEO Solidarity Committee on February 4th at 9am CST for a conversation between GEO and GWTU organizers. We will discuss the similarities and differences in our respective workplaces and union histories, the importance of international solidarity, organizing challenges in the context of COVID-19, and more! You can read GEO’s statement of solidarity with GWTU from 2018 here.
Register for the event here. Questions? Email the Solidarity Committee at solcomm@uigeo.org
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org