Bargaining Session #10 Summary: We Have a Counter-Proposal!
Summary of 8/25 Bargaining Session
The first week of classes saw the Graduate Employees’ Organization’s (GEO) first in-person bargaining session with UIUC administration. The session saw our highest turnout of members, an outstanding rally prior to the session, an agreement between the GEO and the administration on ground rules, and the GEO finally receiving the administration’s counter-proposal.
The GEO met in front of the Illini Union and chanted, demanding the university deliver a contract that guarantees a living wage, health care benefits and job protections for graduate workers. Undergrads, as well as allies from the community and other unions stood in solidarity with GEO.
After the rally, the GEO went inside the Illini Union to meet with administration. GEO and the administration came to an agreement on ground rules, or how these sessions are to be conducted. The GEO has been very adamant about removing any limits to attendees, which the university wants to cap to limit our powerful presence during the bargaining session. The two sides agreed on the ground rules, including a hybrid option that allows GEO members to join sessions online.
For context, the GEO provided the admin a full contract proposal roughly 6 months ago. Our language asks for year-round health care, tuition and fee waivers, child care, accessible healthcare, and much more. Our contract proposal, which amounts to roughly 40 pages, has now been countered with an inadequate counter-proposal of barely 16 pages. The admin passed some copies to the attendees and here is one GEO member’s response:
“This was the first bargaining session I've attended. I was very impressed with the bargaining team's passion and attention to detail. The University's proposal was vastly disappointing to me, especially for a document that took them 5 months to write. The fact that they said their wage proposals were rough estimates was astonishing to me. Furthermore, their proposal for healthcare, specifically the part where they proposed summer healthcare waivers being offered only two out of the five summers, was very lackluster and not satisfactory.”
The administration’s proposal disregarded many of the issues that the members had voted for at the beginning of the year when the Bargaining Team conducted a membership survey on graduate workers' living conditions and demands for the new contract.
In terms of the administration’s wage proposal, they presented an increase commensurate with increases provided to non-Bargaining Unit members (Research Assistants and Professional Graduate Assistants). That increase is less than 80 dollars a month when inflation is nearly 10%. Because of inflation, this “raise” actually amounts to a pay cut, and is far from a fair wage.
The administration, however, did offer summer health care for those who are enrolled in summer classes. The university’s proposal guarantees coverage for the two upcoming summers, but not for the five summers of the contract term, as the testimonial points out. The university did not provide rationale for this proposition.
After caucusing, the process in which the respective bargaining teams pause negotiations and have discussions with their bargaining unit, the administration returned, and the lead negotiators, ben wallis (History) and Chelsea Birchmier (Psychology), brought questions that the membership raised during caucus. GEO brought up that though administration stated that wage increases were commensurate with increases for other campus graduate workers (RAs and PGAs), the counter-proposal was actually inconsistent with those numbers. The administration’s lead negotiator, Robb Craddock, only responded, “we said roughly.” After ben and Chelsea presented GEO’s questions, the session ended with scheduling the next bargaining sessions.
Going forward, the most effective way for us to pressure the administration is by attending these bargaining sessions and showing the administration that our demands represent a massive number of graduate students. Be there for the next bargaining session, on September 6 from 4-6pm!
Next Steps
How can you contribute to bargaining?
Send in testimonials! If you have personally experienced issues related to the points brought up in bargaining, your experience is a powerful reminder to the 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!
Even if you’re not ready to commit to joining the bargaining team, you can still join BT meetings and help with research, note-taking during our sessions, and other behind- the-scenes tasks. If you’re interested, please email Chelsea and Sam at officer1@uigeo.org.
Join us for Bargaining Session #11
[Image description: A flyer with a pink-colored background and an image of a black megaphone with waves of sound in the upper right. Black and white text with green highlights reads “FULL CONTRACT BARGAINING SESSION #11 9/6/22” In a paragraph below, smaller black text reads, “On Tuesday, September 6 from 4:00-6:00 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, “Location details coming soon! Email officer1@uigeo.org for link to join online.”]
Now is the time where the negotiations are becoming more intense. Being present in these sessions shows the university that it works because we do. Let’s show them that the issues we’ve brought to the table in our proposal matter to all graduate workers. Attend the next bargaining session on Tuesday, September 6 from 4pm to 6pm!
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.]
The After Bargaining Podcast hosted the lead negotiators of the 10th bargaining session, which was the first of its kind in many ways. Tune in to listen to ben and Chelsea share their insights on the first in-person bargaining session, the agreement on ground rules, and the counter proposal offered by the administration.
Please share this episode with your union and non-union friends, so we can build solidarity and people can learn about our struggle for a living wage.
Listen here: https://anchor.fm/after-bargaining/episodes/We-Have-a-Counter-Proposal--After-Bargaining-Session-10-e1n0uke
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org