URGENT: Next Impact Bargaining Session and Summary of Last Session
COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Session #17 on Friday, October 22
Do you feel a chill in the air? I do after encountering a pumpkin orange background with a brown burst entering from the top left, red burst entering from the right, and green burst entering from the bottom left. A black GEO logo is in the top right of the poster. in the middle, a large serif font reads in black “COVID-19 IMPACT BARGAINING SESSION 10/22. In the bottom right the text reads: “Pack the screen! attend virtually and support our union’s impact bargaining team! COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Session #17 on Friday, October 22. Friday, October 22, 2021 12:00-1:00 pm CDT. Online--Register to attend at https://tinyurl.com/COVIDBargSess17. IBT members will be negotiating for a more comprehensive COVID-19 notification system, worker choice, sick leave, and more with the university administration. Register to pack the screen!
Friday, October 22, 2021 | 12:00-1:00 pm CT
Online--Register to attend at https://tinyurl.com/COVIDBargSess17
IBT members will be negotiating for a more comprehensive COVID-19 notification system, worker choice, sick leave, and more with the university administration. Register to pack the screen! The more members we have in the room, the more power we have.
Announcements
COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Session Summary from Session #16 (9/24/21)
On September 24, GEO’s COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Team (IBT) met with the administration for the 16th time to bargain our working conditions during the pandemic. Over 40 GEO members packed the screen and saw firsthand how unprepared, callous, and unwilling to bargain the administration was. This is particularly concerning given that more than 727 cases have been documented on campus this semester with only 5% of the campus population testing on any given day.
The IBT reiterated the demands of GEO workers from our protest in front of the Henry Administration Building on 9/23, calling for an enrollment-based automatic notification system for in-person COVID-19 exposure in classrooms, the right of workers to choose the modality they will work in, hiring adequate Wellness Support Associates (WSAs) to check people’s building access at doors, overwork pay for TAs due to student illness and absences, extending our past COVID-19 sick leave Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), demanding masks to teach and work in, and expanding test site availability.
COVID-19 Exposure Notification System: GEO members have reported being informed of COVID-19 exposure in classrooms by their students, though they never received any notification from the university or CU’s Public Health Department (CUPHD). Because of this, IBT demanded that the university implement a notification system that would inform all students and instructional staff in a classroom when someone in that class tests positive for COVID-19.
The administration responded that CU public health were unable to find any cases where they were not able to contact trace and alert exposed individuals within 48 hours. IBT then responded by asking GEO members if any of them had failed to be notified of COVID exposure at all. 6 respondents said that this was the case. Administration’s response? “We understand your request.” The university provided no counteroffer, no negotiation, and deflecting by saying that at least the UIUC was doing better than Rutgers and other Big 10 universities.
Worker Choice: IBT asked that graduate workers be given the choice to do their work either online or in-person to protect themselves, their family members, and their housemates from COVID-19 exposure. The administration responded that they have discontinued this policy due to the vaccine mandate and that “undergraduate students and their parents” want an “in person campus experience.” When IBT brought up that graduate workers were able to just as effectively perform their duties online in past semesters, administration responded that they were unwilling to negotiate because they wanted to “fulfill the needs of our [. . .] client base”.
Building Access Checks at Building Doors: Finally, when asked to hire more Wellness Support Associates (WSAs), administration responded that they were “hiring more WSAs, but won’t commit to anything.” Given that the vast majority of us could easily say that they have been checked at the door by WSAs no more than a handful of times, the administration’s response is too vague and insufficient to suggest any tangible safety for students and employees.
Overwork: IBT presented demands for redress for stress/overwork related to COVID, including increased pay to make up for student illness, absences, and stress and at least 2 weeks of advance notification in the case that the university moves classes online. The administration’s response was to tell us that we should work only the hours we are paid for. When we counted that this would mean doing a worse job as instructors to cover the increased demands for hybrid instruction and student support, the administration responded that we should talk to our departments and reduce our work as needed to stay within our appointment percentages. No solution was offered except the instruction that we should do a worse job for our students if we wanted to stay within our paid hours.
COVID-19 Sick Leave, PPE, & Testing Site Expansion: After the discussions above, there was little time left for our final issues. The administration promised to send us more information about a “bridge” sick leave policy, said they would look into the possibility of providing us with masks to teach in, and said that there were no plans to increase testing sites to increase access.
Conclusion: The administration refused to negotiate on any of the proposals from our previous meeting on September 10 or even present a counteroffer.
Our next COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Session is on Friday, October 22 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. All members are encourage to attend this bargaining session to show our strength. Register to attend at https://tinyurl.com/COVIDBargSess17.
If you are a grad worker with COVID-19 concerns or testimonials, or if you would like to get involved with the COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Team, please reach out to geo@uigeo.org. If you would like to get involved in planning actions, email Karla officer2@uigeo.org.
The classic Drake Hotline Bling meme. Drake, labeled “UIUC Admin” in his puffy, orange jacket raises his hand and shakes his head avoiding the caption “doing something about graduate worker overwork.” Below, the same Drakified admin points his finger and ascends to the second caption “not doing the work we’re literally paid for.”
GEO’s Impact Bargaining Team Proposals
General Goal for the Session: Force UIUC to assume institutional responsibility and keep us safe!
Stop Grad Worker Exposure in Classrooms
Provide an effective notification system where instructors and the class are informed if they were exposed to COVID-19 during class.
Contact tracing should be done by the university based on student enrollment, NOT left to individual students and instructors!
Worker Choice
All grad workers should be able to choose whether to work in-person, hybrid, or online.
Checking Building Access
Hire enough Wellness Support Associates (WSAs) to check all building doors.
Instructors are being exposed to COVID-19 when they check their students, and this contributes to lost class time and overwork.
Renew the MOU for COVID-19 Sick Leave
Give grad workers 2 weeks paid sick leave for COVID beyond September 30 (end of current agreement.)
Overwork Pay
Get overwork pay for dealing with increased workload related to students quarantining and a potential move to an online or hybrid format.
Materials
Provide PPE and tech subsidies so graduate workers can work without their personal property.
UIUC Administration’s Responses:
Stop Grad Worker Exposure in Classrooms
Admin Response: “That hasn’t been [our] understanding of how things are working.” They said they were following CDC guidelines and would “pass the information along and look into it.”
Worker Choice
Admin Response: “We’ve said this should be addressed in the department but we’ll take a look at it.” They added that “things are nuanced.”
Checking Building Access
Admin Response: “You aren’t required [to check building access status] but it is something you are allowed to do.” They continued that they have been unable to find people willing to work as door checkers (also known as Wellness Safety Associates or WSAs). When GEO IBT members brought up that more people would apply as door checkers if they offered living wages and benefits, admin responded, “we appreciate the feedback.”
Admin then requested that grad workers report every building where there is not a door checker. GEO IBT members stated this is not our members’ jobs and noted that admin is making this request of already overworked overextended graduate workers, rather than the people who are paid to employ and supervise WSAs. Admin responded they need the information from us, since they “can't get people to fill the positions” and they “have to prioritize” which buildings to staff.
Renew the MOU for COVID-19 Sick Leave
Did not get to it, but we sent the same proposal they had previously signed.
Overwork Pay
Did not get to it
Materials
Did not get to it
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org