[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [geo-comm] PRESS RELEASE: GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO) SIT-IN AND RALLY AT SWANLUND ADMIN BUILDING TO DEMAND FAIR CONTRACT

[Gus Wood]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The GEO <geo at uigeo.org>
Date: Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 10:13 AM
Subject: [geo-comm] PRESS RELEASE: GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO)
SIT-IN AND RALLY AT SWANLUND ADMIN BUILDING TO DEMAND FAIR CONTRACT
To: The GEO <geo at uigeo.org>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO) SIT-IN AND
RALLY AT SWANLUND ADMIN BUILDING TO DEMAND FAIR CONTRACT

Urbana-Champaign (October 25, 2017): Members of the Graduate Employees’
Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are
peacefully sitting in at the Swanlund Administration Building on October
26th to protest the Administration’s refusal to provide a fair contract
during the bargaining process. The sit-in will be accompanied by a rally
and mediation update from 11:30am-12:30pm with speakers from across the
campus and community. All supporters and media are invited to attend.

October 26th will mark the 72nd day that Teaching Assistants and Graduate
Assistants have worked without a new contract since the old contract
expired. The GEO has been negotiating with the Administration since March,
coming to the first bargaining session with a full, comprehensive contract
proposal, with data and narratives justifying the need for such proposals.
In return, the Administration has repeatedly stalled bargaining and put
forth regressive proposals which would negatively impact graduate
employees, particularly by reducing tuition waiver protections, increasing
healthcare costs, and refusing to offer wage increases. Many members’
testimonials and the data the GEO’s bargaining team presented in
negotiation sessions have demonstrated repeatedly that these are not only
reasonable components for a fair contract, but that they are crucial to the
livelihood, health, and productivity of graduate employees on this campus,
many of whom make thousands of dollars less than the University’s own
published cost of living.

In September, the parties requested a federal mediator to be brought in to
help expedite the bargaining process. After two mediation sessions, in
which the the GEO made substantial movements on its proposals, but saw
little movement from the Administration, GEO told the Administration that
if they did not come to the session on October 24th ready to work with them
and make substantial movement towards their proposals, they would have no
choice but to escalate their actions outside the room. At the session, they
gave GEO a disappointing economic proposal that fails to seriously address
the working conditions and financial reality that graduate employees face:
it does not guarantee tuition waiver protections, offers only a 1% raise in
the first year of the five year contract and no guaranteed raises after,
and leaves graduate employees paying more for their health care. It offers
no stipend for parents, no fee waiver or guarantee that the cost of fees
won’t go up, and allows the Administration to get away with not even trying
to send appointment letters on time. In response, the GEO will hold a
strike vote beginning this week.

GEO invites all supporters to sign its petition to the Board of Trustees
and the Administration to sign GEO’s proposals: https://actionnetwork.org/
petitions/fair-contract-now-for-the-graduate-employees-
organization-geo-at-the-university-of-illinois-at-urbana-champaign?source=
direct_link&

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, AFT/IFT Local 6300, celebrated its 20th birthday on May
1, 2017. After several years of collective organizing, UIUC graduate
employees voted to establish GEO as their official union representative in
the spring of 1997. The University of Illinois refused to recognize the
results of the election, but years of organizing and civil disobedience,
alongside a legal battle, culminated in an occupation of Swanlund
Administration Building in 2002 and subsequent negotiations with University
officials. The first contract was signed in 2003.

Since then, GEO has successfully bargained three additional contracts,
secured tuition waiver protections, won improved wages and more affordable
healthcare, established a grievance procedure to protect graduate employee
rights, and much more. In GEO’s official twenty-year history, it has become
famous among labor organizations nationwide for its strength and commitment
to democratic principles, and a November 2009 strike that brought more than
1,000 people to campus picket lines to secure a fair contract.

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, The
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, represents approximately 2,700
Teaching and Graduate Assistants on the 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’s Communications Officer at
commcomm at uigeo.org.

Website: uigeo.org <http://uiucgeo.org>

Twitter: @geo_uiuc <https://twitter.com/geo_uiuc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Facebook: @uigeo <https://www.facebook.com/uigeo/>

@geosolcomm <https://www.facebook.com/geosolcomm/>

Instagram: @geo_uiuc <https://www.instagram.com/geo_uiuc/>

###



-- 
Communications Committee List
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St
<https://maps.google.com/?q=809+S.+5th+St&entry=gmail&source=g>., Geneva
Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217-344-8283 <(217)%20344-8283>
Email: geo at uigeo.org
Website: https://www.uigeo.org
Twitter: @geo_uiuc
Facebook: @uigeo @geosolcomm
Instagram: @geo_uiuc
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