Labor in Illinois

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), the union representing graduate student workers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, went on strike for two days November 16 and 17 over a lack of adequate contractual protections for tuition waivers. The strike led to the successful culmination of negotiations Tuesday, November 17, that produced a tentative agreement between the GEO and the University, which the GEO membership overwhelmingly ratified in a vote late last week.

While the two sides reach tentative agreements on most other issues by Saturday November 14 that brought pay raises, improved health care coverage, and benefits for parents, the two sides remained at odds over tuition waivers, which the GEO insisted on having in writing to ensure that they were protected. Kerry Pimblott, the GEO's head negotiator, said the union received more than it had initially asked through the strike.

"We were asking for a re-opener, the right to re-open the contract," Pimblott said. "We actually got more than that. We got contract language in there that allows us to grieve if they do change anything on campus in terms of waivers. The language basically says there will be no change to the ongoing tuition-waiver policy. If violated, we can grieve it."

Pimblott credited the strike, in which the GEO estimates that over 1,500 graduate student workers participated, for achieving these results. "We tried everything for seven months in a room, and we were unsuccessful until the workers threatened to go on strike," Pimblott said.

Despite rainy, cold weather on both days, hundreds of graduate students picketed several campus buildings. The GEO also received considerable and crucial support from the University's faculty, many of whom canceled classes or moved them off-campus in support of the GEO's demands for a living wage, tuition waiver protection, and health and child care improvements. Undergraduate students also contributed to the strike, forming the Undergraduate/Graduate Alliance that worked with the GEO to solicit support from the University's large undergraduate body.

The result, according to GEO spokesperson Peter Campbell, was a resounding win for graduate student workers. "Unquestionably, this is a win for the GEO," Campbell said. "The bargaining team was able to secure language that we believe significantly increases protection for tuition waivers at Urbana-Champaign. We won a significant wage increase, and we won increases in health care and child care benefits."--Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette; Daily Illini (24 November 2009)

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/u_of_i/2009/11/24/geo_members_vote_to_ratify_tentative_deal_with_ui

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/u_of_i/2009/11/18/tentative_deal_between_ui_geo_ends_two-day_strike

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/2009/11/11/undergrads-show-support-for-geo