Agreement reached, ending strike at UIC
After threeweeks, teaching and graduate assistants at the University of Illinois at Chicago have ended their strike after reaching a tentative agreement with the administration for a new contract, union leaders announced Friday afternoon.
Jeff Schuhrke and Anne Kirkner, co-presidents of the Graduate Employees Organization, said they have a three-year contract proposal to be reviewed and voted on by the union’s more than 1,500 members. The contract would secure pay raises, slash mandatory fees and reduce costs for university-provided health care.
Union members continued their strike Friday after the two sides could not immediately finalize an agreement allowing the graduate student workers, who had been on strike since March 19, to return to work without being docked pay.
The two sides settled that issue after another bargaining session Friday afternoon, according to union leaders, who said their members have agreed to return to work Monday.
“The settlement forbids retaliation for participation in the strike and it allows TAs and GAs the opportunity to make up any work hours they missed during the strike by May 3rd,” GEO leaders posted on Facebook.
“What this means is nobody will have pay docked in the April paycheck and everyone will have the right to make up lost hours between now and May 3rd to avoid having pay docked in May.”
UIC confirmed the end of the strike in a campus announcement from Chancellor Michael Amiridis, Provost Susan Poser and Vice Chancellor Robert Barish.
“We have always valued our graduate employees and their contributions to our academic mission,” the administrators said. “This agreement will help ensure a solid foundation for the future of our graduate workers while supporting all students as they pursue their educational goals at Chicago’s public research university.”
Union leaders said they will have a meeting Monday with members to discuss the terms of the contract and begin voting to ratify it. Administrators said details will be available once both parties approve it.
Graduate workers resumed picketing Friday morning and joined a rally organized by undergraduate students in the afternoon. About 200 students and faculty members — themselves in the midst of contract negotiations — gathered to criticize university leadership while also celebrating significant improvements in the proposed contract.
Ariana Antonelli, a junior studying English, said she has joined the graduate workers on the picket lines throughout the strike.
“Many classes have been thrown into a panic, trying to resume instruction without amajority of its instructors,” Antonelli said.
“The graduate students are the backbone of our university, and the administration has been treating them as if they were the appendix.”
After daylong sessions Wednesday and Thursday, the union says the two sides were prepared to agree to a $2,550 increase to minimum salaries over the three-year contract, equating to a 14% pay bump overall for those who are paid the minimum of $18,065, which is for 20 hours of work per week, nine months per year.