GEO Local 6300 IFT/AFT AFL-CIO at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Member Communications

Summary of Bargaining Session #4 and GEO Summer Socials

Bargaining Session #4 Summary

On Monday 5/23, GEO’s Bargaining Team and membership met with the UIUC administration for the fourth time. The bargaining session lasted three hours. The session began with the administration giving us a new ground rules proposal, which the Bargaining Team will consider carefully and respond to at an upcoming session.

Afterward, lead negotiators ben wallis (History) and Michael Klajbor-Smith (Communication Studies) spent more than 2.5 hours answering the administration’s questions about our proposal. Despite this lengthy session, the administration only made it through 8 pages of our total 39-page contract proposal, asking questions about nearly every change that we had proposed to the contract.

Once again, the administration wasted our time by showing up without a full contract proposal. We reemphasized the need for a comprehensive counter-proposal from the administration to move bargaining along. After presenting our original proposal on March 7th, the administration has now had over two months to respond. We came prepared to move forward on the four pillars voted on by our membership. 

While the Bargaining Team and membership are eager to come to a new contract agreement before our contract expires on August 15, 2022, the administration continues to show up unprepared, despite their massive collective paycheck (more than $1 million per year across the administration’s representatives) and ample time.

GEO successfully negotiated Illini Union as a member-friendly central location for bargaining sessions in the fall. For the summer, bargaining sessions will remain on Zoom. 

Grad Socials All Summer

GEO will be hosting social events open to all graduates this summer! You do not have to be a member to attend, and you are encouraged to bring your friends.

Here are our next two socials:

Ice Cream and Hessel Park
Saturday, June 4, 3-5pm

We'll meet at Jarling's in Champaign to get ice cream, then walk across the street to Hessel Park to hang out! Bringing family, friends, and games is encouraged! Everyone is welcome.

[Image description: A dark blue background has green, pink, and white ice cream cones around the top and right side. Green text at the top of the poster reads: “Graduate Employees’ Organization”. Large pink text in the center reads: “Grad Social - Ice Cream”. Green text below that says “June 4, 3-5 PM”. White text below that says: “Meet at Jarling’s for ice cream, then walk across the street to Hessel Park to hang out! Bringing family, friends, and games is encouraged!” Green text at the bottom reads “Contact sc@uigeo.org with questions.” There is a white GEO logo in the bottom right corner.]

Blind Pig Mug Club Night
Wednesday, June 8, 8-10pm

Join us outside the Blind Pig Brewery on Neil St. Come hang out with your fellow grads, and bring a friend! All grads and community members are welcome.

[Image Description: A poster with green, pink, and navy blue boxes has drawings of beer and a cocktail in the corner. In yellow at the top it says “Grad Socials” with a logo of the Blind Pig Brewery below; on the bottom yellow text says: “Every Other Wednesday”. Below that, white text says: “8-10 PM Starting 5/25”. Next to that is a pink box with a yellow GEO logo. At the very bottom in navy blue it says “For more information, contact sc@uigeo.org”]

Join a GEO committee!

 We are a member-run union; we depend on the commitment of our members to stay as strong as possible. You can find details about what each committee does and how to contact them on our website. No special knowledge is required. You can also follow the calendar of events on our website for the date and time of upcoming meetings: http://uiucgeo.org/calendar. Meetings are open to membership, and coming to a meeting does not commit you to joining a committee.

https://www.uiucgeo.org/committees-and-working-groups

Upcoming meetings:

RA/PGA Working Group (geo@uigeo.org) - Wednesday, June 1 6:30pm-7:30pm. Google Meet, RSVP to attend via this link.

Solidarity Committee (solcomm@uigeo.org) - Email for information about summer schedule. Hybrid. Google Meet https://meet.google.com/cjv-rvbu-aym and GEO Office (809 S 5th St Geneva Room. McKinley).

Bargaining Team (barg@uigeo.org) - Friday, June 3 2:00pm-4:00pm. Contact email for link.

Grievance Committee (grievance@uigeo.org) - Email for information about summer schedule. Usually Tuesdays 1:00pm-2:00pm. Virtual. https://meet.google.com/see-bcwq-gbn

Stewards’ Council (sc@uigeo.org) - Email for information about summer schedule.

People First Cancel Debt Committee (officer2@uigeo.org) - Email for information about summer schedule. Hybrid (online via Jitsi) and GEO Office (809 S 5th St Geneva Room. McKinley Foundation).

Coordinating Committee (cc@uigeo.org) - Sunday, June 4 4:00pm-5:30pm. Hybrid: Google Meet and GEO Office (809 S 5th St Geneva Room. McKinley Foundation. Contact email for more.

Communications Committee (commcomm@uigeo.org) - Email for information about summer schedule. Virtual. Contact email for link.

Disability Caucus (commcomm@uigeo.org) - Tuesday, June 14 12:00pm-1:00pm. Every other Tuesday, 12-1pm on google meet. https://meet.google.com/xyf-jcft-uid Contact geodisabilityuiuc@gmail.com or officer3@uigeo.org for more.

In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org