2/23 Direct Action and Impact Bargaining Summaries, Next IB session, and Upcoming Events
Subject: 2/23 Direct Action and Impact Bargaining Summaries, Next IB session, and Upcoming Events
***February 25, 2022***
Table of Contents:
Announcements:
Events:
Announcements
Direct Action Summary
After two years of impact bargaining, GEO and allies picketed at Swanlund Administration Building Wednesday morning between 7 AM and 12:30 PM in support of the Impact Bargaining Team to demand improved health and safety conditions for graduate workers. Several GEO members and allies also engaged in an act of peaceful civil disobedience at the doors of the building. University of Illinois police, who arrived alongside Senior Director of Labor and Employee Relations and administrative lead negotiator Robb Craddock, threatened to arrest GEO members outside the Swanlund Administration Building. Despite threats, no arrests were made.
GEO is aware that an allegation of battery has been made, but this did not happen. As a university representative attempted to force entry into Swanlund, demonstrators locked arms, sunk backwards into the doors, and refused to move for this person to enter. It was in this process of refusal where the university representative alleges the offense occurred. GEO has many eyewitnesses who corroborate that there was no battery. Additionally, battery legally necessitates active intention to harm, which is clearly not the case.
Impact Bargaining Summary
At 8 AM on Wednesday, February 23, GEO representatives met with administration to negotiate health and safety policies. GEO continued to demand preventative public health measures to protect graduate workers; namely, that UIUC provide in-class exposure notifications, robust and safe testing policies, more high-quality N95 or KN95 masks for all campus workers, and an extension of the indoor mask mandate currently set to expire at the end of February. Impact bargaining continued until 1 PM.
What we won:
Thanks to the militant organizing of our members, we managed to get significant movement from the University administration for the first time since summer 2021. We left the bargaining session with the promise of counter proposals (known as MOUs, or memorandums of understanding) for several of our important safety demands that the University had been ignoring for months! We could not have done this without our members who participated in the direct action and joined the impact bargaining session! We are still waiting for the drafted proposals, so we all must show up and come together at our next impact bargaining session to ensure we win proposals that guarantee us the healthy and safe working conditions we deserve!
What’s next:
The fight is not over. We anticipate a surge in cases due to the changes in face covering guidance, student travel over Spring Break, and the potentially more contagious Omicron BA.2 subvariant. Though we appreciate the efforts made to curb the spread of COVID-19 over the years, the University administration’s recent update to the face covering guidance still contradicts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) new metric for determining risk: Community Levels.
Though Champaign County is ranked as Medium Community Level, these calculations were not made from the most recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). The more recent, IDPH data reports high levels of transmission, bumping Champaign County up to High Risk. These metrics indicate that everyone still needs to wear masks indoors.
[alt text: a table. The left column reads metric, the center “cutoff criteria,” and right column “champaign county. The first row reads: “New cases in the last 7 days per 100,000, If < 200, then low, 277*” The second row reads: “New COVID-19 admissions in the last 7 days per 100,000, If < 10, then medium, 11.5*” The Third row reads: “The proportion of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, on average, over the last 7 days, If < 10%, then medium, 5.5%. Beneath the table is an asterisk explaining “IDPH reports 277 per 100,000 and was last updated 2/25/2022. CDC reported 185.99 per 100,000 and was last updated 2/24/2022.”]
Simultaneously, our Contract Bargaining Team is taking the lessons we have learned over the past two years to build greater protections into our next contract! This is what will determine our working conditions such as wages, healthcare, and other benefits and protections. Keep an eye out for an announcement about the first full contract bargaining session sometime in March.
EVENTS
Virtual Impact Bargaining Session - Monday, February 28th 2022 from 2:00-4:00 PM
On Monday, February 28th at 2:00 PM, GEO will negotiate with UIUC administration over COVID-19 health and safety conditions! In addition to our demands for high quality masks, COVID-19 exposure notifications, regular testing and building access status checks, worker choice, and changes to mask mandate policy, which will directly impact graduate workers, our students, faculty, and staff. We can only demand change to this unscientific, undemocratic decision to disregard public health and leave workers and students to fend for ourselves if we come together to make our voices heard!
RSVP here to receive a link to attend the session: https://tinyurl.com/COVIDIBSess20
[image description: Dark blue poster, with white GEO logo on top right. Top left has red bar jutting out, bottom left has yellow bar, middle right has green bar. Left of the green bar in big white text is “COVID-19 IMPACT BARGAINING SESSION - 2/23/22”. On the bottom right in white says “PACK THE SCREEN! Attend virtually and support our union’s Impact Bargaining Team! February 28, 2022, 2:00-4:00 PM CDT, Register here: https://tinyurl.com/COVIDIBSess20. IBT members will be negotiating for a more comprehensive COVID-19 notification system, unlimited PPE (K/N95 masks), and extension of the UIUC mask mandate past February 28.]
Solidarity Committee Open House and Virtual Happy Hour - Wednesday, March 2nd 2022 at 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM (Happy Hour at 8:00 PM)
GEO’s Solidarity Committee invites you to our annual Open House on March 2nd! Join us to learn about all of the amazing work our team has been up to this past year - from supporting IL union picket lines to building international solidarity! Do you have ideas for what solcomm should focus on next? Or want to be more involved in building community but don't know how? We would love to chat and hope to see you at our Open House and/or our 8:00pm Virtual Happy Hour! RSVP for the Open House here: bit.ly/SOLCOMMGMM and the Happy Hour here: bit.ly/SolcommHappyHour.
[Mustard colored Flyer advertising G-E-O's Solcomm open house on March 2nd at 12:00pm and 6:00pm (R-S-V-P link: bit.ly/SOLCOMMGMM), and a virtual happy hour at 8:00pm in Gathertown (Join link: bit.ly/SolcommHappyHour). Pictured are four cartoon individuals holding protest signs that read National Strike, S-E-I-U Local 73, Anti-racism, and Stand with Women.]
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org