Attend Bargaining Session 12 & Next GMM!
Table of Contents:
Events
Announcements
Bargaining Session 12
[Image description: A flyer with an orange-colored background and an image of a megaphone with waves of sound in the upper right. Blue and white text reads “FULL CONTRACT BARGAINING SESSION #12 9/19/22.” In a paragraph below, smaller black text reads, “On Monday, September 19 from 10:30 to 1:30AM, 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, white text reads “Illini Union - Illinois Rooms A&B. Please wear a mask if attending in-person! Email officer1@uigeo.org for link to join online. On the bottom left is a white logo with the letters “GEO” inside.]
The next bargaining session will be on Monday, September 19 from 10:30am-1:30pm! We’ll be bargaining in person in the Illini Union, Illinois Rooms A&B (on the main level of the Union, next to the Courtyard Cafe). Childcare, food, and coffee will be offered for this session!
The administration has given us a proposal with a wage increase that fails to account for inflation, has only two years of summer healthcare, and includes 0 childcare resources. They’ve also presented their proposal as a package, and threatened to take it away. In the last session, the administration’s lead negotiator, Robb Craddock, said “You have our full response. Any statement to the contrary is false. If you all consider that disrespectful, then I don’t know what would be respectful.”
What would be respectful? Not making us wait 6 months for a proposal that fails to address our concerns, which the university also admits they’re not fully committed to!
Let’s show up for each other to demonstrate to the administration that this is unacceptable, and that we’ll keep working together until we get a proposal that truly meets our collective needs. We need you in the room to make it happen.
We also still need volunteers to help run the bargaining session! Sign up to contribute to:
Note-taking (you’ll receive a brief training on how to do this!)
Childcare
Procuring coffee/food
Checking members in
Sign up here: https://bit.ly/BARGSUPPORT12
General Membership Meeting
[Image description: Flyer with three blue squares at the top. The left-most square contains a drawing of two hands shaking, the middle has a black circle with the white letters “GEO” inside, and the right has a drawing of a megaphone with sound waves radiating out. Underneath is a yellow rectangle with white text reading “General Membership Meeting.” Beneath that, two columns separated by a vertical line list dates and times. On the left: “Thurs. September 22nd 5:30-7:00pm In-Person Channing Murray Foundation 1209 W Oregon St. Urbana, 61801.” In the right column, text reads, “Wed. September 21st 12-1:30pm Virtual Scan the QR code to register or go to https://tinyurl.com/GMM921.” There is a QR code under the line between the columns of text. A blue rectangle at the bottom has white text reading, “Topics: Bargaining strategy for better wages & healthcare.” Black text at the very bottom of the flyer reads, “Questions? Email: geo@uigeo.org.”]
Our next General Membership Meeting (GMM) is coming up! We’ll have two meeting options, one online and one in person. Both meetings will discuss the same content so feel free to attend whichever works best for you.
The online GMM will be held on Wednesday, September 21st from 12-1:30pm on Google Meets. Register to receive the meeting link here: https://tinyurl.com/GMM921.
The in-person GMM will be held on Thursday, September 22nd from 5:30-7:00pm at the Channing Murray Foundation (1209 W Oregon St Urbana). You don’t need to register ahead of time for the in-person meeting.
In this GMM, we’ll give an update on bargaining, talk through bargaining strategy surrounding wages & healthcare, and vote to fill vacant officer positions! We will also be voting on an amendment to the GEO constitution regarding the secretary role, which you can review in advance here.
GEO Open House
GEO will host a Fall Open House on Friday, September 16th from 10:00am to 7:00pm. If you are a new graduate worker but did not have a GEO presentation at your orientation, or if you’re a new or returning graduate worker looking to learn more about GEO, join us! You can drop in at any time to talk with other GEO members and ask questions, or attend one of the orientation presentations that will be held throughout the day at different times and in different languages.
Orientation Presentation Schedule
11:30am - 12:30pm | Orientation Presentation in English
1:30 - 2:30pm | Orientation Presentation in Portuguese
3:00 - 4:00pm | Orientation Presentation in Spanish
4:30 - 5:30pm | Orientation Presentation in Mandarin Chinese
5:45 - 6:45pm | Orientation Presentation in Arabic
The Open House will be held in-person at the GEO office in the McKinley Foundation (Geneva Room 809 S 5TH St. Champaign, IL, 61820). You can also join the orientation presentations online (Register here to receive the link: www.tinyurl.com/GEOopenhouse).
Action at the Board of Trustees Meeting
GEO is organizing an action at Huff Hall during the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting, at 9:15 am on September 22nd, Thursday. Our contract is currently expired, and after six months of bargaining process the admin has only provided a package proposal that they could withdraw at any time. The admin needs to know that we won't tolerate anything less than a fair contract ! The time is NOW to show up for your Union, your co-workers and yourself. RSVP here: https://tinyurl.com/GEOBOTAction
[Image description: A Flyer with a black box with graduate workers marching in the background. In blue at the upper-left corner of the black box it says “Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO)”, with an orange text below it says “FAIR CONTRACT NOW!” On the bottom-left corner of the black box there is a drawing of a megaphone with sound waves radiating out. In the middle of the black box, white text says “In defense of accessible public education, a living wage, and year round health care for ALL GRADUATE WORKERS!,” below that the date and location of the action is written with white text “Thursday, September 22nd 9.15am Huff Hall”. At the very bottom text reads: for more information email geo@uigeo.org, https://tinyurl.com/GEOBOTAction]
Grad Social: Board Game Night
[Image description: A flyer with a peach background with black, yellow, and pink squiggles that surround text reading "GEO BOARD GAME NIGHT" in purple lettering. Beside an image of a pair of dice text reads, "Thursday, Sept 15 7:00-9:00pm." Below, smaller black text reads, "McKinley Foundation Courtyard 809 South 5th Street *Will meet inside in case of rain* Family, friends and non-members welcome!" There are images of a chess board and another board game at the bottom.]
GEO is having a board game night tonight!! Meet up with other grads & feel free to invite family and friends. Everyone is welcome, whether you’re a GEO member or not.
See you there on Thursday, September 15 from 7-9pm in the McKinley Foundation courtyard (or inside if it's raining)!
Update on Dental Insurance Provider Change
The administration recently switched dental insurance providers without notifying grad workers, leading to issues with dental care and insurance coverage. The provider changed when the contract went into bidding, and United Healthcare Dental is now the provider. The coverage should be largely the same, but dental offices will need more than your student ID, as was often previously the case. Admin (finally) sent out a massmail about this change on September 2nd.
You should now be able to access your dental plan information by logging into http://myuhc.com/. Insurance cards are in the mail, so you should have already received your new card or will receive it shortly. We have confirmation from several local dentists that we are within coverage for the new provider: Hessel Park, West Main Dental, Anderson Dental, and Illini Smiles.
We asked the administration about the change and here are their responses:
Why did the plan change? The contract with Delta Dental ended and the process went to bidding.
Why were regular employees not switched as well? The contract for staff is different.
The university pays $133.86 per student under United Healthcare, they paid $100.20 per student under Delta Dental.
Students with waiver-generating appointments are still auto-enrolled (and should see it now on their UHSR site!) and TAs/GAs continue to have 100% of the premiums covered.
Get Involved in Department Outreach
If you’re looking for an easy, low-commitment, and fun way to organize with GEO, consider signing up for either an outdoor Tabling event or an indoor Office Visit!
Tabling information and sign-up: https://forms.gle/91Wf93pLAX9TwYby7 (contact Kel at kellylevick@gmail.com for questions)
Office visit information and sign-up: https://forms.gle/qPDEvKACFKtx18LL7 (contact Daniel at D.RodriguezArrizon@gmail.com for questions)
New Episode of After Bargaining
In this episode of After Bargaining, the leads from Bargaining Session 11, Essam (Education Policy) and Sam (History), discussed the clarifying questions they asked admin about the nature of their proposal. Listen to the episode here.
The host, ben (History), gets some detailed insights about the difference between a full comprehensive counter proposal and admin’s comprehensive counter package proposal. The episode also delves into the burden the international students who come from non-white, English-speaking countries endure to obtain employment and how that contradicts admin’s language of equity. Lastly, the episode concludes with Essam highlighting how the admin’s language on modality employment is exclusionary and discriminatory, which contradicts the admin’s stance on their proposal being equitable.
The leads and ben end the episode with a plea to members on the importance of showing up to these bargaining sessions. It is time to constantly remind the administration that the university works because we do! Show up on the September 19!
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! For more about full contract bargaining, check out the GEO website.
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. Meetings are open to membership, and coming to a meeting does not commit you to joining a committee.
Upcoming schedules:
RA/PGA Working Group (Contact Bram at bram.osterhout@gmail.com) - First meeting of the semester will is being scheduled for next week (9/19-9/23), fill out this When2Meet to get involved.
Bargaining Team (Contact Sam at officer1@uigeo.org) - Work session on Saturday, September 17, 10am-2pm. Next regular meeting is Monday, September 26, 10:45am-12:45pm. Regular fall meetings will be every Monday from 10:45am-12:45pm. Online and in the GEO office, contact email for the link.
Grievance Committee (Contact Dante at grievance@uigeo.org) - Tuesday, September 27, 4:00pm-5:00pm. Meets every other Tuesday from 4-5. Online and in the GEO office, contact email for the link.
Stewards’ Council (Contact Grace at sc@uigeo.org) - Thursday, September 15, 5:00-6:30pm. Meets every other Thursday from 5-6:30. Online and in the GEO office, contact email for the link.
Communications Committee (Contact Megan and Savannah at commcomm@uigeo.org) - Monday, September 19, 4-5pm. Meets online every other Monday from 4-5pm. Google Meets link: https://meet.google.com/vej-hmah-tks
Disability Caucus (Contact Grace at GEOdisabilityUIUC@gmail.com) - Monday, September 19, 12:00pm-1:00pm. Meets online via Google Meets on Mondays from 12-1. Email for more information. Contact email for the link.
Solidarity Committee (Contact solcomm@uigeo.org) - Contact email to get involved.
People First Cancel Debt Committee (Contact Karla at cc@uigeo.org) - Contact email to get involved, currently scheduling the next meeting time.
Work Action Group (WAG) (Contact Karla at cc@uigeo.org) - Monday, September 19, 7-8:30pm. Meets every Monday from 7-8:30 in the GEO office and online. Google Meets link: https://meet.google.com/nky-novo-xjc
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org