Bargaining Session #5 Summary: Admin Continues to Fail to Have a Full Proposal
Summary of Bargaining Session #5
Our union has been bargaining our full contract with the administration for over three months now. In that time, gas prices in Illinois jumped from an average of $4.60/ gallon [1] to $5.56/gallon [2]. By the end of 2022, the USDA predicts all food prices will increase by an average of 8% [3]. In spite of rising inflation, the university’s bargaining team (paid over $1 million) once again failed to show up ready to bargain.”
On Tuesday, June 14, GEO’s bargaining team and membership met with UIUC administration for the fifth time. The bargaining session lasted two hours.
The session began with a discussion of ground rules. The administration proposed limiting the number of GEO members allowed in the bargaining room to 30 people, claiming that “it is my preference to have a smaller group in the room.”
The GEO lead negotiators, Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Linguistics) and Chelsea Birchmier (Psychology) emphasized repeatedly that GEO is a democratic, member-run organization and pushed for transparency in bargaining over arbitrary attendance caps.
Administration claimed the attendance cap is a space issue, despite saying that the ballroom and Illini Rooms at the Illini Union, which can comfortably accommodate far more than 30 people, are acceptable places to bargain as they’ve been used before, contradicting the administration’s ground rules proposal.
For the remainder of the session, Karla and Chelsea answered the administration’s extremely detailed questions about points of the contract, including our language proficiency proposal, hours of work, a proposal to eliminate overwork, and a proposal that would allow graduate workers to take compensated time off for GEO work. Only 3 pages of our 36-page proposal were discussed.
While GEO came to the table ready with clear responses and researched rationales for proposals that would make language proficiency requirements more equitable and prevent overwork, the administration once again failed to present any counterproposals. UIUC negotiators refused to account for issues experienced by graduate workers, once again wasting the time of graduate workers.
[1] https://review42.com/resources/average-gas-prices-by-state/
[2] https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=IL
[3] https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings/
Member Takes on the Bargaining Session:
"I was shocked to see how antagonizing university administration was to bargaining committee members—especially in his [lead negotiator Robb Craddock’s] attitude, nearly boasting that the university had not prepared a proposal or even fully responded to the one GEO had shared months prior. I did not feel like union members were respected, for their time or for their input, and it really emphasized the critical role GEO has in making sure graduate workers are being fairly and equitably treated." -Sreelakshmi Suresh (they/them), an MS Entomology student entering their second year and president of FUSE
“I recently just joined the union so of course I'm still learning along the way, but I was quite confused on why the admin did not have a counter proposal ready for us? Overall, I believe the leads did a great job even through the difficulty of when admin kept pushing about the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) question. In terms of admin, they just seemed unprepared. It felt like some of the questions they were asking were answered clearly but they just kept pushing the question. It was quite irritating to observe because I felt like we could have easily moved on to the next section.” -Jerny (she/they), GEO member in Educational Psychology
Next Steps & Ways to Get Involved in Bargaining
Want to know what you can do to work toward winning a fair contract for graduate workers?
Here are some next steps:
Join the Bargaining Support Team! BST provides support to the lead negotiators and bargaining team members. This includes taking notes on sessions and in caucus, helping facilitate caucus, sending out reminders about upcoming sessions, researching issues brought up in bargaining, and more! If you want to get involved, you can join the #bargsupportteam channel on Slack (if you’re not added to the GEO Slack, send an email to geo@uigeo.org to get added). The next BST meeting is today, June 15 from 3-5pm. You can attend in person at the GEO office (809 S 5th St Geneva Room, McKinley Foundation) or online.
Come to the next bargaining session and bring a friend! See information below about our next bargaining session on Wednesday, June 22 from 9am-12pm.
Send in testimonials! If you have personally experienced issues related to the points brought up in bargaining, your experience is a powerful reminder to admin of the real impact of these negotiations. You can include your story on the registration form for the next session (which can be anonymous!), or reach out to barg@uigeo.org for more information about sharing your story, written or directly in the online bargaining room.
Get involved in research! Post in #bargsupportteam about sections of the contract you’re planning to read closely, or examples you plan to look into from other universities and grad unions. For example, people on the Bargaining Team (BT) and BST are currently compiling information on overwork policies at other universities.
Have an idea, skill, or expertise but not sure where to get started? Send a message on the #general channel or email geo@uigeo.org to share other ways of getting involved!
Register for Bargaining Session #6!
Our next session is coming up soon, on Wednesday, June 22 from 9am-12pm. As always, we need to pack the screen to show our power!
The session will take place online via Zoom, and GEO will caucus in Google Meets. Register to attend through this link: https://tinyurl.com/GEOBargSess6.
Your presence there is powerful so please drop by for as long your schedule allows!
[Image description: A flyer with a green-colored background and an image of an orange megaphone with waves of sound in the upper right. Orange and white text reads “FULL CONTRACT BARGAINING SESSION #6 6/22/22 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM.” In a paragraph below, smaller white text reads, “On Wednesday, June 22 from 9:00-12:00 PM, 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.” At the bottom, text reads, “RSVP here: https://tinyurl.com/GEOBargSess6” On the bottom left is a white logo with the letters “GEO” inside.]
GEO Political Discussion and Strategy Retreat
The GEO will be hosting a retreat to set goals, share political education and discuss accountability surrounding organizing on Saturday, June 25, from 11am to 5:30pm and Sunday, June 26, from 11am to 5:30pm. All members are invited to attend for as much or as little of this retreat as you can! Drop in and share input as we collaboratively develop a plan for this coming year of organizing!
If you think you can make it, please RSVP here: tinyurl.com/retreat25-26! We will use your dietary preference for lunch orders.
We encourage those who are in the area and able to attend in person to join us in the GEO office (809 S. 5th St. Geneva Room, McKinley Foundation Champaign, IL, 61820). We will post a link on Slack and the GEO calendar on Saturday, June 25 for those who are joining virtually.
[Image description: A gray and yellow flyer with black and yellow polka dots around the side, in yellow at the top reads: “GEO political discussion and strategy retreat,” below that black text says “Saturday June 25th Sunday June 26th 11:00-5:30pm” below that yellow text says “open to all membership! Drop in for as long as you can either day for a discussion of our shared material conditions and our goals as a union *lunch will be provided” below that in black reads “rsvp here: https://tinyurl.com/retreat25-26” with a QR code beside it. At the bottom, yellow text says “GEO office 809 s 5th st. Geneva room, McKinley foundation Check the GEO calendar for a link to join virtually.”]
Salt of the Earth Watch Party
[Image description: Light green poster with wavy text in black at the top that reads: "GEO Watch Party" Below that on the left in black text reads "Join us in the GEO office for snacks and camaraderie to watch Salt of the Earth Friday June 24th 4-6pm 809 S. 5Th St. Mckinley Foundation Geneva Room Champaign, IL 61820” Next to that on the right there is a movie poster for salt of the earth with black and white images of protesters and red text reads “Salt of the Earth.”]
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 summer schedules:
RA/PGA Working Group (geo@uigeo.org) - Wednesday, June 22, 6:30pm-7:30pm. Google Meet https://meet.google.com/zem-kbvx-eqd
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). (TODAY!) Wednesday, June 15 3:00pm-5:00pm. Contact email for link. Tuesday, June 21st 4:30pm-6:30pm
Grievance Committee (grievance@uigeo.org) - Wednesdays 4:30pm-5:30pm. Virtual. Contact email for link.
Stewards’ Council (sc@uigeo.org) - Contact email to get involved this summer.
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) -Hybrid: Google Meet and GEO Office. Contact email for more.
Communications Committee (commcomm@uigeo.org) - Email for information about summer schedule. Virtual. Contact email for link.
Disability Caucus (GEOdisabilityUIUC@gmail.com) - 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 for more information.
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org