VICTORY IS OURS! Summary Bargaining Session #18
Bargaining Session 18 Summary
With approximately 140 attendees and nearly 4hrs of negotiations, VICTORY IS OURS! After months of hard work, we managed to push the administration to unpackage their “take it or leave it proposal” to advance negotiations in good faith. In other words, for the first time since March 2022 the administration came back with a unique proposal with only two sections “Recognition” and “Non-Discrimination” that we were discussing for over a month (i.e., it did not come with other articles attached). This is the result of showing our power!
We met this critical goal towards winning a living wage and year round health care with other issues of access and justice for all our members. The lead negotiators, Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Social Work) and Essam Elkorghli (Education) led the GEO inside the bargaining room after a very successful rally and showed the administration our power to reach agreement in important issues for all graduate students such as non-discrimination and harrasment. Members gave testimonials about discrimination related to English Proficiency requirements for international students and about including parental status as a protected category. A quote of two of our testimonials is included below.
“I had to take a semester-long class on how to speak English and communicate to my students. Even if this was the case that my English is incomprehensible, what can one semester do for my English?
Not only is this [EPI] dehumanizing, but it is also an international division of humanity. Where the people of the Global South can’t speak English, while the Global North can; where White speakers of English are not questioned [if] their English is good enough.”
- PhD Student from an English-speaking country in Africa
“I found out I was pregnant just before starting my first year of graduate school. I was due at the end of May. Because of that timing, I knew there would be no financial support for me over the summer. My nine-month appointment would be up, and maternity leave would swallow up a summer appointment. For the whole school year, my partner and I lived frugally to save enough money to pay for my own maternity leave. This is why it is important to include parents in this nondiscrimination article. Because the underlying culture of academia expects us to sacrifice ourselves and our families on the altar of scholarship”
-Tabbey Cochran, Ph.D. Student History
WHERE DOES OUR POWER COME FROM?
Our power comes from ourselves and our labor when we unite to show the administration that the University works because we do. The GEO is democratically run by ourselves as graduate workers and union members. Yesterday, we showed our power by picketing, chanting and attending the session to signal to the administration that our demands of Access & Justice, Waivers & Wages, and Health & Safety, are of all our members’ and not only from the dozen members of our bargaining team. This day exemplifies what democratic organizing looks like and that our most powerful weapon is when we show solidarity with one another by showing up in massive numbers as one of our members, Sam Cross, reflects:
“I have been a member of GEO since I came here in 2020, but this was the first bargaining session I have attended. I wanted to see what the bargaining process looked like, and it was both inspiring and encouraging to see that our ideas as members could reach the administration through the organization of the Union. I was impressed with how democratic process was. During caucus the stewards would make sure that everyone understood what was being discussed and what the implications would be, as well as ask for input, so that all members present were a part of the bargaining process.”
- Sam Cross (Physics)
[image description: graduate workers rallying in a circle outside of the Illini Union, a GEO member on the left holding a megaphone and a sheet of paper.]
WHAT'S NEXT TO KEEP BUILDING OUR POWER?
DIVIDED WE BEG, UNITED WE BARGAIN! The momentum must continue, and we must contribute to the collective and democratic process of bargaining. Contribute whatever time and experience you have so we can collectively pressure the admin and win the contract that we demand. Join us for our next bargaining session on Thursday, 15th/12 starting from 1:30pm-5:30pm at a soon to be announced location, and consider supporting the bargaining team by volunteering for a role here: https://tinyurl.com/GEOBARGROLES. No task is too big nor too small for YOU or your co-workers to get involved in the Union. Below are some good places to start!
Post the organizing TO-DO list in your office and share with friends so you can commit to at least one event.
Consider sharing a testimonial during the sessions (can be done anonymously). Email barg@uigeo.org
Joining the bargaining team! You can nominate yourself or a friend at https://tinyurl.com/jointheBT. Questions about what that entails? Email Sam at officer1@uigeo.org!
Share our “After Bargaining” podcast with your friends so they can stay tuned in to what’s happening in bargaining. Our new episode can be found in our bargaining website here https://www.uiucgeo.org/full-contract-bargaining-2022
The GEO will have a General Membership Meeting on Monday, 5th/12, at Channing Murray Foundation (1209 W Oregon) at 6pm.
All Day, All Night Tutor-In, which is a tradition of Teachers Assistants to offer free tutoring for extended hours. Join us from Noon-8am on Thursday, 8th/12, at the North Lounge, Illini Union. RSVP here (tinyurl.com/TUTORIN22). Show up and make your labor visible & support your students.
[image description: a flyer with a light blue background. On the top, a picture of people rallying outdoors in The Quad, holding signs, and chanting. An image of a megaphone with waves of sound in the upper right. Black and white text with green highlights reads, “FULL CONTRACT BARGAINING SESSION #19 12/15/22 1:45 PM - 5:30 PM CT”. In the paragraph below, “We’ve built power together and are seeing movement! Let’s keep it going until we win a fair contract!” A smaller text below reads “On Thursday, December 15th, GEO’s Bargaining Team will be negotiating with university administration on topics of access and justice, wages and waivers, and health and safety in our contract. The bargaining session will be from 2pm-5pm, and the bargaining team will caucus with members before and after the session from 1:45-2pm & 5-5:30pm. To the right is a white logo with the letters “GEO” inside. At the bottom, black text reads Location TBA. Please wear a mask! Childcare, food & coffee provided.]
[image description: light grayish-green, with title in black “GEO KEY EVENTS ~ Fall 2022 Finals Organizing Schedule ~” below is a grayish-blue box with white text “General Membership Meeting” followed by “Collaborate with other grads & share input on strategy!” On the right is three faceless figures. On the left three bullet points of calendar, clock, and map pin drop that respectively read “Monday, December 5”, “6:00-7:30 PM” and “Channing Murray Foundation (1209 W Oregon)”. Another box below of grayish-purple color and white text titled “All Day, All Night Tutor-In” followed by “Make your labor visible & support undergrads!” On the right there is QR Code, on top of it “RSVP” below it “tinyurl.com/TUTORIN22”. On the left three bullet points of calendar, clock, and map pin drop that respectively read “Thursday, December 8”, “Noon-8:00 AM” and “Illini Union, North Lounge” At the bottom of the main flyer, it reads “The time is NOW to show up for ourselves and fight for a strong end to the semester! When we fight, we WIN!” and a GEO logo with a black background on the bottom right.]
New Episode of After Bargaining
Essam and Karla are hosted by Abhishek Kodumagulla and Chelsea Birchmier to share the details of a victorious day. They speak about the rally before the session, the proposals that were handed back and forth during the session, and the powerful testimonials shared by members during the session. This episode includes a bonus where the four bargaining team members end the episode with a union song. Tune in to learn about what was inside the proposals and celebrate a successful day of organizing!!! Listen here: https://anchor.fm/after-bargaining
[image description: black and white, Karla (left) is smiling and sitting next to Essam (right)].
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org