Solcomm Critical Bulletin October 2024
The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) at UIUC, IFT/AFT Local 6300 would like to formally acknowledge an array of local, national, and international tragedies and injustices that are currently affecting our members. We understand that these struggles are intertwined and cannot be addressed in isolation from one another.
Locally, we stand with our international student workers who are living through a precarious era of changing immigration policy. Under both the Trump and Biden administrations, increasingly stricter interpretations of immigration law have been adopted, particularly targeting visa holders and applicants from Global South nations, such as the collection of policies that constituted the “Muslim ban.” Not all of these policies were rolled back under the Biden administration.
Our labor union is currently campaigning to include Research Assistants (RAs) as full members of our bargaining unit. International students make up half of GEO membership and the majority of RAs on campus. The topic of RA labor rights is especially pertinent to international students, who must legally work under 20 hours to maintain their F-1 visa status, but are often exploited by advisers and departments to illegally work extra hours. We aim to be the voice for international RAs who are vulnerable to exploitation for fear of losing their visas. Over the next month, we will be distributing resources and information for international graduate students to navigate their labor rights, and will host an educational teach-in as well. We understand that this is a particular moment of uncertainty, fear, and precarity as international students await the Presidential election which may have a significant impact on federal immigration policy, and we extend our support in navigating this unsettling policy landscape.
Graduate student workers should not be afraid to lose their jobs for exercising their rights and speaking out against injustices. We stand in solidarity with graduate students in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning who along with faculty members, have been met with harassment and doxxing for speaking out against the normalization of Israeli institutions amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza and escalating warfare against civilians throughout the Levant. This is creating a hostile work environment not only for GEO members, but for an entire department on this campus. We stand with all workers on campus and in the Champaign-Urbana community who may face repression for exercising their freedom of speech and expression as they organize for Palestinian safety and freedom.
Nationally, we have seen the dire impacts of the federal government’s choice to continue funding Israeli military expansion and the military industrial complex in lieu of supporting its own citizens in crisis. We stand with our graduate students from the Southeastern United States who have seen their hometowns battered and flooded by Hurricane Helene. Last week, the same day that FEMA announced a $9 billion shortfall for Hurricane Helene efforts, the federal government sent $8.7 billion in military aid to Israel. Natural disasters have social consequences that disproportionately harm the working class. For example, employees at an Impact Plastics factory in Tennessee reported that their employers refused to let them leave work despite evacuation warnings. Two workers were killed and 6 are presumed dead due to this cruel exploitation. The United Way is one reputable organization that has proven its abilities to provide on-the-ground relief efforts. Their fundraiser can be found here.
Internationally, we reiterate our staunch solidarity with Palestine as we reach one year of genocide in Gaza, and stand with all our graduate students from the Levantine region who have loved ones in the direct line of fire amidst Israel’s escalating war campaign. We acknowledge the fear and loss that is spreading throughout the Levant and greater Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. We stand with no nation-state or national political party. Our solidarity commitment is to the everyday people facing a relentless cycle of violence and loss. Over 1,800 people have been killed in Lebanon this year, and 1.1 million Lebanese people are currently displaced. This is an unacceptable state of affairs. The President of the United States holds unparalleled power to restrict and halt this violence due to its longstanding allyship and financial support for Israel. We remain deeply disappointed in the Biden administration’s refusal to enact an arms embargo.
From Champaign-Urbana to Appalachia to the Levant and beyond, we acknowledge that our graduate students’ struggles extend far and wide, and it is unreasonable to expect workers to maintain a “business as usual” attitude under conditions of extreme stress and trauma. As always, the Solidarity Committee of the GEO remains an open space for graduate students and community members to voice their needs and concerns. Our members remain physically active in local, national, and international efforts to fight against the global economic structure which prioritized profits over people. Solidarity Committee meetings are always open to newcomers who would like to collaborate or simply learn more about these efforts. Our co-chairs Matthew Heinrichs and Asha Sawhney are available at solcomm@uigeo.org.