GEO denounces the irresponsibility of University administration during their second bargaining session
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, April 4, 2022
Contacts:
Lesley Owens
Co-President & Bargaining Team Member
CC@UIGEO.org
Karla Sanabria-Véaz
787-203-5958
Officer-at-Large & Bargaining Team Member
Officer2@UIGEO.org
Owen MacDonald & Angela Ting
Communications Officers
commcomm@uigeo.org
913-944-2676
The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) denounces the irresponsibility of the University administration during their second bargaining session.
Champaign-Urbana, IL - Robb Craddock, the lead negotiator for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and his team came unprepared to the second bargaining session with the GEO without a full contract proposal and showed unwillingness to move bargaining sessions to a hybrid format.
Rank and file GEO member Megan Mericle said, “The administration came to today's session unprepared, and disrespected the time of graduate workers. They failed to hear and respond to the issues surrounding access, healthcare, and wages raised by GEO members that matter to the entire university community.”
While negotiating ground rules for bargaining, Craddock rejected GEO’s proposal to host bargaining sessions in a hybrid format to accommodate safe member participation due to COVID-19.. Craddock claimed that he was “not comfortable” with hybrid modality but provided no other justification. The University administration’s 7 page contract proposal excluded wages, healthcare, and other mandatory subjects of bargaining, while categorizing the GEO’s over 40 page comprehensive contract as “voluminous”.
After caucusing with membership, GEO lead negotiators Karla Sanabria-Véaz and Michael Klajbor-Smith responded that the accessibility of GEO’s bargaining sessions and members’ safety are the Union’s highest priority. The GEO agreed to meet with the administration online for the next bargaining session in late April to prioritize the attendance of disabled and immunocompromised workers.
Co-president and Bargaining Team member Lesley Owens said, “This session was insulting. I expect more from the undergraduates I teach which come prepared with their homework before every class. These are public university employees who are paid by taxpayers and are disrespecting graduate workers.”
The parties will continue negotiations on Thursday, April 28 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm CT. At that time, GEO’s membership expects a full, fair contract proposal from the administration and is prepared to answer UIUC’s questions about our proposal.
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 a 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.
For more information, please contact geo@uigeo.org. More information can also be found on GEO’s website at www.uiucgeo.org.
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