Grad Employees Strike University of Illinois, Talks Scheduled Today

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12370

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on November 16, 2009 - 5:20pm
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By Doug Cunningham

The Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) at the University of Illlinois Urbana-Champagne campus went on strike Monday to secure tuition waivers for graduate employees. The grad student employee bargaining unit of 2700 is represented by the American Federation of Teachers/Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 6300. Local 6300 spokesman Peter Campbell says a bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday morning and it’s possible a settlement could be reached in that session.

: “If the administration is willing to extend some protection to out of state tuition waivers as well and allow the GEO to bargain the impact of any changes, then I would be hopeful. If the administration is really unwilling to do that, then I would be less optimistic.”

The GEO says without both in-state and out of state tuition waivers diversity on campus will suffer and some out-of-state, minority and foreign students would see tuition absorb nearly all their wages. The GEO says giving in on tuition credits would transform the character of campus departments by hurting the diversity that it says is the lifeblood of campus intellectual life. The GEO says that, in turn, would allow the corporate university to trump the faculty’s role in shaping curriculum because departments able to get grants to fund tuition would draw maximum support while others would be downsized or eliminated.

[fishwax]

1. It's over now -- and it was a "Major Victory For Labor"

That's the title of the press release put out by the GEO after the initial straw poll on the contract proposal was met with overwhelming support and the strike was officially suspended.

I'm a member of the GEO and I participated in this strike. And I'm really thrilled today. But I especially want to say that the support we received from our brothers and sisters in the labor movement was really inspirational. We had supporters on the picket line from SEIU, AFSCME, and other campus/local unions; from unions in Chicago; and from graduate student organizations in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan (as well as elsewhere in Illinois). It was a great show of SOLIDARITY! Threats to labor anywhere are a threat to labor everywhere, and a victory for labor anywhere is a victory for labor everywhere.