Summary of September 10th Impact Bargaining Session
On Friday afternoon, GEO’s COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Team (IBT) met with the administration for the 15th time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Unexpectedly, UIUC’s lead bargainer with GEO did not show; however, we continued our discussion with other members of the Labor & Employee Relations Office. Nationally, COVID-19 cases are at the highest they have been in over 10 months. With only 7.6% of the campus population testing, there have been 508 COVID-19 cases on campus since the start of classes 8/23.
Based on the many reports we have heard from members that TAs were being exposed to COVID-19 in their classrooms, the Team’s primary goal (see full proposal list below) was to get a consistent, enrollment-based notification system for instructors and students who have been exposed to COVID-19 in their classrooms. This is essential because of the multiple gaps in contact tracing at the University. First, not everyone on campus is using the Safer Illinois app. Second, the Safer Illinois app only notifies a person of exposure if they’ve been within 10 feet of someone with COVID-19 for at least 2 hours, which means that most people exposed in classrooms are not being notified of their exposure. Third, the CU Public Health Department is only notifying folks of exposure (which they define as being within 6 feet of someone for 15 minutes or more) if they are NOT vaccinated (see the recent COVID-19 Briefing Series around minute 39).
The administration dismissed our concerns at first by saying these were student concerns and not employment concerns, then by responding that they were not familiar with the exposure notification practices we reported, that they didn’t think exposure notifications worked that way, and that “close contacts” of folks testing positive are not getting COVID-19 (despite recent data showing that the majority of on-campus COVID-19 cases are now occurring among vaccinated folks). We were told that we were safer teaching in our classrooms than we would be if we were going to the mall, as if we are not forced to expose ourselves to COVID-19 while working to support ourselves.
IBT also demanded that UIUC return to worker choice.,We signed an agreement with the UIUC administration in the fall 2021 and this agreement was in place until the Spring of 2021.We proposed the same written agreement they had previously signed. the university administration’s past policy that allowed instructors to choose whether they would work in-person, hybrid, or entirely online. The administration responded that we should work with our departments on this. When we countered that departments sent us to HR saying they had no power to let us work online, the administration referred to the campus-wide policy requiring everyone to work in-person this fall (as if this wasn’t the exact policy we were asking to change). The administration gave us no answer besides refusing to change this policy, despite the major concerns of our membership and requests to teach online coming from all across the university.
Finally, we demanded that instructional buildings on campus be staffed with enough Wellness Support Associates (WSAs) so that they can check students’ building access at the doors. The IBT argued that not only is checking students building access not in our official job description as defined by the contract, but this practice also eats up valuable class time and exposes TAs to COVID when checking apps and boarding passes. The administration said that they could not hire enough people to work as WSAs (a temporary, part-time position without health insurance that pays less than a living wage) and said that instructors don’t have to check building access if we don’t want to. This response ignores the fact that COVID-19 is circulating on campus and that this virus is still a threat to worker safety, student safety, and the safety of our housemates and families. Between overwork caused by checking building access and this risk to our safety, we asserted that our contract is being violated and that proper university staffing is not our responsibility.
The administration’s callous and underwhelming response to these demands ate up much of our meeting time. We did not get to talk about grad worker overwork due to students quarantining and student stress, our request to extend our COVID-19 sick leave Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), our questions about the vaccination exemption process for grad workers with medical conditions, or our demand for adequate masks to teach in.
Because of this, we are meeting again on Friday, September 24 from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. Register for the bargaining session here. Here is the link to the Facebook event.
If you are a grad worker with COVID-19 concerns or testimonials, or if you would like to get involved with the COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Team, please reach out to geo@uigeo.org. If you would like to get involved in planning actions, email Karla officer2@uigeo.org.
The classic Drake Hotline Bling meme that appeals to a broad audience. Drake, labeled “UIUC Admin” in his puffy, orange jacket raises his hand and shakes his head avoiding the caption “doing something about graduate worker overwork.” Below, the same Drakified admin points his finger and ascends to the second caption “not doing the work we’re literally paid for.”
GEO’s Impact Bargaining Team Proposals
General Goal for the Session: Force UIUC to assume institutional responsibility and keep us safe!
Stop Grad Worker Exposure in Classrooms
Provide an effective notification system where instructors and the class are informed if they were exposed to COVID-19 during class.
Contact tracing should be done by the university based on student enrollment, NOT left to individual students and instructors!
Worker Choice
All grad workers should be able to choose whether to work in-person, hybrid, or online.
Checking Building Access
Hire enough Wellness Support Associates (WSAs) to check all building doors.
Instructors are being exposed to COVID-19 when they check their students, and this contributes to lost class time and overwork.
Renew the MOU for COVID-19 Sick Leave
Give grad workers 2 weeks paid sick leave for COVID beyond September 30 (end of current agreement.)
Overwork Pay
Get overwork pay for dealing with increased workload related to students quarantining and a potential move to an online or hybrid format.
Materials
Provide PPE and tech subsidies so graduate workers can work without their personal property.
UIUC Administration’s Responses:
Stop Grad Worker Exposure in Classrooms
Admin Response: “That hasn’t been [our] understanding of how things are working.” They said they were following CDC guidelines and would “pass the information along and look into it.”
Worker Choice
Admin Response: “We’ve said this should be addressed in the department but we’ll take a look at it.” They added that “things are nuanced.”
Checking Building Access
Admin Response: “You aren’t required [to check building access status] but it is something you are allowed to do.” They continued that they have been unable to find people willing to work as door checkers (also known as Wellness Safety Associates or WSAs). When GEO IBT members brought up that more people would apply as door checkers if they offered living wages and benefits, admin responded, “we appreciate the feedback.”
Admin then requested that grad workers report every building where there is not a door checker. GEO IBT members stated this is not our members’ jobs and noted that admin is making this request of already overworked overextended graduate workers, rather than the people who are paid to employ and supervise WSAs. Admin responded they need the information from us, since they “can't get people to fill the positions” and they “have to prioritize” which buildings to staff.
Renew the MOU for COVID-19 Sick Leave
Did not get to it, but we sent the same proposal they had previously signed.
Overwork Pay
Did not get to it
Materials
Did not get to it
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org