I’m reposting our press release regarding the administration’s contract proposal – as this is a press release, it has a bit less detail than some of our other internal communications. If you have any questions about details, please contact me at odell.campbell@gmail.com.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: GEO DISMAYED BY RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WITH UIUC ADMINISTRATION
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (August 14) – On August 11th, after four months of waiting, the negotiating team representing the administration of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign finally presented their contract proposal to the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO). Over fifty members of the GEO along with the GEO bargaining team were on hand to hear the administration’s proposal, and all GEO members were dismayed by the proposal’s contents. Not only does the administration proposal fail to respond to most of the GEO’s proposal, but it represents a significant regression from many areas of our current contract.
One of the planks of the administration proposal that GEO members and the bargaining team were particularly upset about was the extension of management rights to allow the University administration to lay-off or furlough graduate employees. The administration team claims that the GEO’s proposals are impossible in the current economic climate, but the total cost of the GEO’s proposal represents an extremely small portion of the University’s overall budget. The GEO believes that the administration’s proposal makes it clear that the UIUC’s leadership strategy in responding to the current economic crisis is to place the majority of the economic burden on the University’s lowest paid employees, which the GEO and many other campus organizations find unacceptable.
According to the “Grey Book” of University of Illinois salaries (available at the Main Information Desk of the UIUC library or online at http://www.archive.org/details/UniversityOfIllinoisSalaryList2008-2009), when in September 2008 UIUC service employees were asked to accept a 1-2% salary increase, UIUC administrators already making six figure salaries received 8-9% increases. For example, Chancellor Richard Herman’s salary for 2008-2009 was $395,500, an 8% raise from his 2007-08 salary of $362,500. Global Campus CEO Chet Gardner received $344,850 in 2008-2009, a 9% raise from his 2007-08 salary of $313,500. In 2008-2009, UIUC President B. Joseph White made $450,000, and according to the Collegiate Times’ Public University Salaries Database, the highest paid UIUC employee, Aerospace Engineering Professor Eric Loth, made $739,980. For comparison, the GEO’s proposed minimum TA/GA salary would be approximately %0.041 percent of Chancellor Herman’s current salary.
The GEO therefore believes that citing budget concerns as the reason for the severely regressive nature of the administration proposal is disingenuous, not only because there is no indication that the highest paid employees of the university will see any cuts in salaries or perks, but also because the administration’s contract proposal refuses to respond to any of the GEO’s zero-cost proposals, such as GEO representation in future negotiations with health insurance providers. In fact, upon questioning, it became clear that the administration simply wasn’t interested in discussing or responding to our zero-cost proposals at all.
Finally, while the administration team explained the delay by insisting that they needed time to understand and fully respond to the GEO’s proposal, the proposal the GEO was presented with on August 11th is not responsive to our contract proposal in any way. The GEO believes that the administration proposal could easily have been presented months ago, and is disappointed in the missed opportunity for bargaining in good faith before the end of our current contract. The GEO presented our contract proposal to the University administration at the very first bargaining meeting in April.
The Graduate Employee’s Organization, American Federation of Teachers/Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 6300, AFL-CIO, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a labor union representing teaching and graduate assistants (TAs and GAs) on the UIUC campus. The GEO is seeking a contract rooted in four ‘pillars:’ a living wage for all graduate employees, improved access to health care, working with the University to create a more family-friendly environment for graduate employee parents, and preserving the tuition waivers that allow graduate programs at UIUC to attract and retain the best graduate student employees available. The GEO believes that these proposals are not only reasonable, but necessary for a just and fair employment climate at UIUC. The University frequently speaks of the need for all employees and students of UIUC to work together to weather the budget crisis, and we believe that our proposal represents a fair and good faith effort to do just that.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Peter Campbell, GEO Communications Officer, odell.campbell@gmail.com, 253-222-5861, or the GEO office at geo@uigeo.org, 217-344-8283.
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