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January 8 Bargaining Blog

Submitted by Jason Leto on January 11, 2010 - 12:20pm
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"Because this is economic, it is something we're going to reject"..... This was one of the first things we heard from the University Bargaining Team today. They also decided that they want to table any discussions on Stipends and Tuition. Were we surprised? Absolutely not! This response to some of our economic proposals was expected. At the beginning of this session, the University Bargaining Team gave us hard copies of President Ikenberry’s statement concerning 2010, which was a doomsday, the University has no money, so quit whining email. The University Bargaining Team tried to hide behind that letter as to why they have rejected the economic proposals discussed today. Well, we had those proposals on the table since April. Why didn’t they bother addressing them then when the University was not in such an abysmal financial state? Or an even better question to be asking is why is the University in this condition? Part of the University’s economic woes are self-inflicted. They have neglected, for over a decade, to go to Springfield to fight for further funding for higher education. When groups such as the GEO have offered to partner with the University to lobby for higher education funding, they have shied away from the offer, claiming that is not how they operate. Well, they had no problem making sure the unqualified offspring of lawmakers and other financially influential people were admitted to our school. That was one way in which the University had no problem using its influence.

Today’s Bargaining Session was a reminder as to how the University views the GEO: we are not a priority for them.  This is certainly the case with what they are offering us in negotiations, but also in the fact we are not important enough to them for them to spare man-power to come to the bargaining table, and we are not important enough to bother to make employing units follow the GEO contract. The University’s Chief Negotiator, Tom Riley, was absent today and the session before that. We were not given a specific reason as to why he was not at the December Bargaining Session, but today we were told he thought his time was better spent fielding the questions flooding Human Resources regarding the furloughs being imposed. I don’t give a rat’s ass if HR had ten calls a minute coming in. Riley made an obligation to negotiate for the University, and because of this, the GEO Bargaining Session should have been his priority. As for the other example of lack of respect: why bother having a contract and doing this damned dance if the University is not bothering to make sure the contract is enforced? I am tired of the lack of respect the University shows us. The TAs teach 1/3 of the courses on this campus. How would UIC even be able to have enough English, History, Spanish or Psychology 101 courses without us? They need to treat us with the respect we are due!

Things are heating up. Even though the University has tabled the discussion on Stipends and Tuition, it does not necessarily mean what we already have is safe. For those of you who have not heard, one of the things UIUC tried with our sister union in Urbana-Champaign was to take away tuition waivers. While UIC has not said it is interested in doing this, there is nothing that can stop them from considering this as an offer to the GEO. Would we take the offer? Hell no! We know that we make peanuts with our salary and the University is lucky to have the brilliant graduate students it does have. But if they took away our tuition waivers, that would jeopardize graduate education. The point of having a graduate program is to attract the brightest students. If we do not have tuition waivers, who would bother to attend UIC? Our degrees would become a joke if this were to happen.  

Even though Stipends and Tuition were not discussed today, the University did discuss Healthcare for a bit. It was the Healthcare proposal which caused the University to state the quote at the beginning of this entry. They do not want to take responsibility to give us better healthcare coverage. Right now, they give us $100 towards the cost of healthcare for the entire academic year. Healthcare costs over $1000 if you also need it for the Summer session. And this is the cost if you have no spouse/partner or dependents. They pay less than 10% of our healthcare. Do you know how much UIUC’s GEO won for their new contract? They were able to get 75% coverage for their members. Why is it that I feel UIC thinks they can give us the shaft, even though they were able to give an amazing offer to UIUC GEO? Because The University thinks that our members don’t care and are not willing to stand up for what we deserve. If UIUC GEO did it, so can we! 

The University Bargaining Team also rejected our proposal to have housing rates stay at where they are for the life of the agreement. The University seemed to think it was an unreasonable request. It doesn’t sound like one to me. I have been living in the same apartment for the last five years, and my landlord has NEVER raised my rent. Even when he could have used the excuse of the recession, my landlord did not raise my rent. It is not unreasonable for the University to consider putting a similar plan in place. We all know that if they can’t erode our stipends directly, they will do it indirectly by raising fees and Tuition Differentials, imposing Tuition Differentials on departments which have so far done without them, and by raising the rates of housing and parking. We CANNOT let them get away with this. Many of the TAs and GAs make the minimum stipend per semester: $7000 for a 50% appointment. After taxes, this amount drops below what the University claims one needs to live in Chicago. Well, the amount the University claims one can live on in Chicago is below the poverty line. Add in paying anywhere from $1700 - $5700 in fees per semester (up front) and that is a recipe for disaster. No one can live, no matter how carefully they spend money, on these kinds of stipends.

While the GEO bargaining team is on the front lines for all of us at the Bargaining Table, there are things the rest of us can do to pressure the University to give us what is fair. Here are some things you can do:

  • Sign a membership card if you haven’t already
  • Come to the rally at the Board of Trustees Meeting – Jan. 21st, 11a-1p
  • Become a Steward for your department to help build our campaign and communicate important information to other grad employees in your department
  • Look for the next email which details the time and location of the next Bargaining Session, and then commit to coming to that session

Sarita