GEO is in Solidarity with Illinois State University Graduate Workers United
The Graduate Employees’ Organization at UIUC, IFT/AFT Local 6300, is firmly in solidarity with Illinois State University Graduate Workers Union (ISU-GWU) in their struggle for a fair contract. After bargaining with Illinois State for nearly a year and a half, the GWU has entered a “strike readiness” phase. ISU administration has refused to make significant movement on economic issues faced by the more than 400 Teaching Assistants GWU represents. The GWU has simply asked to be adequately compensated for the vital labor that they provide to ISU. This includes wages comparable to those received by colleagues at their peer institutions like SIU-Carbondale, reduction of mandatory fees, more accessible healthcare, and protections for international students.
By not substantively addressing these concerns, ISU’s President Dietz and the university administration have demonstrated that they do not feel that the widespread poverty, debt, housing and food insecurity faced by the workers of GWU is a problem worthy of redress. While the workers, which make his university run, struggle to survive on the poverty wages they receive, President Dietz earns $375,000. Not included in this salary is the recent $46,000 “bonus” he received from the ISU Board of Trustees--this bonus alone eclipses the combined average salaries of nearly five GWU workers. This is yet another example of how public universities are increasingly becoming corporatized.The pay disparities between contingent academic laborers like Teaching Assistants and university administrators mirror those between low-wage workers and company CEOs. Such income disparities have always been unconscionable, but given the context of the pandemic, ISU’s inaction in the bargaining room is simply deplorable. Given the callousness with which ISU treats its employees, they have left the GWU with no choice but to move towards a strike!
We at the GEO are all too familiar with this struggle, as the needs of our members are continually dismissed while UIUC administrators receive incredibly bloated salaries. Our members have also struggled with housing insecurity, paying medical bills, and crushing debt. We too are subject to wage theft in the form of massive mandatory fees each semester, which cut into our already low-wages. These unfair working conditions also have negative impacts on the thousands of students we teach. When TAs are struggling to survive, they cannot be effective instructors. Our working conditions are our students learning conditions.
When things have become dire for grad workers at UIUC, our membership has voted to strike in order to force the university to treat us equitably, and each time we were successful in gaining wins in the form of higher wages, better benefits, and stronger workplace protections. Moving to strike is a serious and difficult decision that is never made lightly, but sometimes it is the only avenue workers can take in the face of such grave injustice. The GEO offers its unwavering support to our fellow workers at ISU-GWU, and condemns President Dietz and ISU administration for offering such paltry compensation to their employees. We will do all we can to support the struggle of grad employees at Illinois State, and, should they vote to strike, we will be on the picket-lines with them shoulder to shoulder until the workers win. Solidarity forever!
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.
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