Summary of Bargaining Session 8: Full, Year-Round Healthcare Coverage Now!
Summary of 7/29 Bargaining Session!
On Friday, July 29, we met with UIUC administration for 3 hours. We pushed for fair wages, year-round healthcare coverage, and childcare resources. GEO lead negotiators Essam Elkorghli (Education) and Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Linguistics) calmly and decisively outlined the importance of more equitable wages for graduate workers. Meanwhile, the administration’s lead negotiator, Robb Craddock, interrupted and raised his voice over Karla and Essam, making condescending comments about GEO’s proposal.
GEO member Maria José Palacios Figueroa, a TA in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, said after listening to the session, “Often times I wanted to mute the meeting because the treatment from Robb was so enraging, but I didn't because I know that being in the loop is so important.”
With just over two weeks before our contract expires, the administration once again failed to show up with a full proposal. Karla and Essam pointed out that the process of answering the administration’s questions about GEO’s proposal could be sped up if the questions were provided in advance, but Robb did not explain why the questions could not be sent ahead of time.
The session focused first on wages. Karla and Essam argued for a wage increase that would bring graduate workers closer to a living wage and bring UIUC in line with other universities in the Big 10 conference. The administration continued to push back against this wage increase, but refused to make a counterproposal.
Next, GEO pushed for summer healthcare. The University of Illinois is one of the few schools in the Big 10 that does not provide full summer health coverage for graduate workers. As a result, many grads, disproportionately people of color, parents, disabled, and international graduate workers, suffer from a three-month long gap in coverage. With a $3.82 billion endowment, the U of I system has the resources to provide summer healthcare, but instead the Board of Trustees voted to raise healthcare premiums for UIUC students at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. GEO calls for summer healthcare NOW for the health and safety of all graduate workers.
We then moved on to our proposals surrounding childcare. Essam and Karla explained the importance of childcare subsidies and an increase in campus childcare facilities. Despite the fact that the university has never provided childcare, Robb questioned how many grad workers would use childcare services. Following a familiar pattern, the administration weaponized their ignorance of existing issues to justify their failure to meet the needs of current and future grad worker caregivers.
The session ended with a discussion of ground rules around moving to a hybrid format in future sessions. The administration once again pushed to limit GEO participation by capping bargaining to 30 members. They know how powerful it is when we all come together to stand up for each other. Take a minute to register for our next session now so we can drive that message home!
How can you contribute to bargaining?
Attend the next bargaining session August 11, 1-4 pm (https://tinyurl.com/GEOBarg9)
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.
Join the Bargaining Team: nominate yourself or someone else here (https://tinyurl.com/jointheBT). Questions about what that entails? Email Chelsea and Sam at officer1@uigeo.org!
Register for Bargaining Session #9!
Our next session is scheduled for Thursday, August 11 from 1-4pm CT. We need everyone to join so that we can show admin how serious we are about keeping sessions open and accessible for ALL GEO members!
The session will take place online via Zoom, and GEO will caucus in Google Meets. Register to attend through this link: https://tinyurl.com/GEOBarg9
Join the bargaining room and caucus for as long as you can, and invite at least one colleague!
[Image description: A flyer with a aquamarine-colored background and an image of a black megaphone with waves of sound in the upper right. Black and white text reads “FULL CONTRACT BARGAINING SESSION #9 8/11/22” In a paragraph below, smaller black text reads, “On Thursday, August 11 from 1:00-4:00 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/GEOBarg9]” On the bottom right is a white logo with the letters “GEO” inside.]
New Episode of After Bargaining Podcast
[Image description: Podcast logo with a black background. At the top is an image of headphones in purple and green with a neon light-styled font. Underneath, is the podcast title, “AFTER BARGAINING,” in pink neon-styled font, with a sub-title, “-WITH GEO-” in blue underneath.]
In the fifth episode of After Bargaining, lead negotiators for Bargaining Session #8, Essam Elkorghli (Education) and Karla Sanabria-Véaz (Linguistics) speak with ben wallis (History) who's swapped hosting with Essam! They debrief on the disrespect and interruptions they faced in Friday's session from the university's lead negotiator, Robb Craddock. They also dive into the most important issues from the bargaining session: wages, re-appointment raises, year-round healthcare, and childcare resources.
This podcast is a great way to get caught up if you missed the bargaining session, or want to hear more about the full contract bargaining process in general! Listen to the podcast here: https://tinyurl.com/bargpodcast5. You can access a transcript of the podcast episode at this link.
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org