GEO Demands UIUC COVID-19 Contingency Plan
On Monday, August 31 and Tuesday, September 1, there were 429 new COVID-19 cases on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus. That is 1,212 positive COVID-19 cases between August 16 and September 1. As the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) Local 6300, we believe that UIUC’s reopening plan has been irresponsible, ignoring worker concerns and unnecessarily putting the lives of students, workers, and community members at risk. Given the rise in cases, we demand that the University administration release a detailed contingency plan for mitigating the spread of COVID-19, which includes criteria for a campus closure, to the public by September 4.
GEO’s COVID-19 Impact Bargaining Team (IBT) has delivered this demand to University representatives. Additionally, GEO demands that UIUC implement online instruction for Fall 2020 for all classes for which online instruction is possible, give graduate workers the choice of whether to work in-person or from home, continue pay and benefits for all its employees, guarantee no layoffs, provide proper protective equipment to all workers, provide a tech subsidy for graduate workers, address privacy and discipline concerns with the Safer illinois app, and provide GEO representation on reopening committees.
We strongly support the University’s requirements for wearing masks and mandatory free twice weekly testing for anyone coming to campus. We recognize the effort made by the University and affirm that free and frequent testing is good for the community. We have been advocating for PPE and distributing masks to campus workers via our mutual aid efforts since the beginning of the pandemic. We support these measures, and also insist that these measures are not enough when human lives are on the line.
Through the IBT, GEO has been bargaining with the University Administration since March to address the impacts of COVID-19 on graduate workers. University Administration rejected our request for a seat at the table to participate in conversations regarding the University’s reopening plan. Administration said that if the University gave GEO a seat on the reopening committee, they would have to offer a seat to all of the campus unions.
We have already surpassed the 700 (± 100) positive COVID cases estimated by UIUC’s initial model in just over two weeks, and University officials estimate we could reach 8,000 cases if current trends continue. Additionally, the University has not presented COVID-19 data honestly and transparently. This analysis and set of questions by U of I Professor Dan Simons represents some of the concerns we have about how the University is reporting and utilizing COVID data.
The University’s current plan of mass testing and mask-wearing is necessary but not sufficient to prevent COVID illness and death on campus. The University’s call to students in the massmail to commit to only essential activities is similarly too little too late; UIUC must take responsibility for its own actions, which include putting people’s lives at risk to bring thousands of students to campus and hold in-person courses. We must do absolutely everything it takes to protect the lives of campus workers, students, and the Champaign-Urbana community. Nothing can be more important than people’s lives.
The Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, represents approximately 2,700 Teaching and Graduate Assistants on the UIUC Campus. In November 2009 and in February 2018, over 1,000 GEO members and allies participated in a strike to secure a fair contract and more accessible UIUC campus. With an active presence in the community, the GEO continues to work for high-quality and accessible public education in Illinois.