The Campus Labor Coalition (CLC) demands that the University pay workers and their unions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, July 20 2022
Contacts:
Karla Sanabria-Veaz
Communication Liaison
Co-President Elect
officer2@uigeo.org
787-203-5958
Megan Mericle & Savannah Wills
Communications Officers
commcomm@uigeo.org
The Campus Labor Coalition (CLC) demands that the University pay workers and their unions
Champaign-Urbana, IL - (Champaign, IL) With the slogan, “U of I, U owe US” the Unions that constitute the CLC highlight an array of money owed by the University from over 20K dollars owed in membership dues to wage theft of thousands of dollars to individual unionized members.
For the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), the University needs to pay up the over 20,000 dollars owed from incorrect dues deduction of unionized workers by the University. After receiving an offer of merely $1,000 by the administration, the GEO will continue the fight in the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board (IELRB) to resolve the three unfair labor practices against the University.
GEO Co-President, Karla Sanabria-Véaz stated, “the University administration does not respect the will of graduate workers to organize in a militant Union to fight back their working condition. Robbing the Union is robbing graduate workers. U owe US, U pay UP!” In SEIU, 150 building service employees were underpaid by amounts ranging from $21.60 to over $2,600.00. The UI has never ever disputed (1) that they should have paid the money, or (2) the amounts that they should have paid. After almost a year of trying to get UIUC to correct the unpaid wages, UIUC finally corrected the recurrent payment errors and provided backpay to an arbitrary date of Nov. 2020, leaving the employees still owed between $1.60 and some over $2,000.00. The UI simply refuses to pay the rest. This is wage theft.
The CLC notes that the problem with payroll across departments has to do with UIUC’s lack of payroll workers. The Unions constituting the Campus Labor Coalition plan to raise their concerns to the Board of Trustees Meeting of the University of Illinois on July, 21st, at the I-Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 South First Street, Champaign.
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.
For more information, please contact geo@uigeo.org. More information can also be found on GEO’s website at www.uiucgeo.org.
Twitter: @geo_uiuc
Facebook: @uigeo @geosolcomm
Instagram: @geo_uiuc