UIC professors prime for their own walkout
On the heels of a threeweek strike by graduate student instructors, the University of Illinois at Chicago soon could face another walkout — this time from professors.
UIC United Faculty, the union representing 1,200 employees at the Near West Side campus, overwhelmingly voted last week to authorize a strike after months of unsuccessful contract negotiations with the administration.
More than 90 percent of faculty members who voted cast ballots in favor of a strike, said Janet Smith, president of the union that includes tenured and tenure-track professors and full-time instructors.
The vote does not necessarily mean faculty members will strike, but it enables the union’s bargaining team members to call a strike if they deem it necessary. State law requires 10 days’ notice be given before a walkout can occur.
But the move is noteworthy because the school is nearing the end of the spring term in May, and the campus just resumed normal operations with the return of striking graduate student employees last week.
Graduate and teaching assistants walked off the job March 19, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of classes, particularly in liberal arts subjects. The Graduate Employees Organization, representing nearly 1,600 people, reached a tentative agreement for a new contract earlier this month and formally called off the strike April 5.
The administration and faculty union have been in talks since last summer. The faculty’s last contract expired in August 2018.
“Authorizing a strike is one of the strongest tools union members have to exert pressure at the bargaining table, and unfortunately, the UI system’s recent history suggests that the administration won’t give us a fair contract without this escalation,” Smith wrote in a blog post this month announcing the vote.
“UIC is committed to negotiating a fair and reasonable contract with UIC United Faculty,” university spokeswoman Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez said in a statement. “Our negotiating teams are scheduled to meet for the 23rd time on Friday, April 12, and we remain hopeful that we can come to an agreement and avoid a faculty strike.”
Smith said the two sides have reached compromises in several areas, including increases in minimum salaries but remain gridlocked primarily on annual merit raises.
The administration has proposed a 2 percent raise for 2018-19, then 1.5 percent for each of the following two years, according to the union. Faculty members are seeking 3.5 percent, 4.5 percent and 4 percent raises in each year of their contract.
If faculty members follow through with a strike, it would be the second faculty walkout in UIC history.
The faculty union was formed in 2012, but before members could secure their first contract, they went on strike for two days in 2014. Faculty members planned a second walkout later that semester but that was called off when the group finalized its first three-year contract, covering 2012 through 2015.