Grad Student Workers Union at U of I Passes Intent to Strike Notice—Talks to Continue

Graduate student workers at the University of Illinois Urbana campus are not about to strike. But a vote that members of their union took Thursday night lays the groundwork for a walkout. Peter Campbell of the Graduate Employees Organization says the vote was unanimous to approve an intent to strike notice. He says the notice "gives our union the legal ability to prepare for a work action, if our membership decides that a work action would be necessary at some point in the future."

The GEO and the administration have been meeting since April over a new contract for about 25-hundred teaching and graduate assistants on the Urbana campus. The old contract ran out about seven weeks ago. And Campbell says the university has failed to respond to financial changes made in the union's latest proposal. He says the responding offer from the administration at a bargaining session Thursday failed to address the union proposals, and only offered "semantic" changes that were "virtually identical" to their previous positions.

The next bargaining session is set for October 23rd, and Campbell says he hopes a federal mediator will be able to attend. In the meantime, he says the GEO will try to increase pressure on the administration through rallies and demonstrations. Union members will hold office hours at the Illini Union on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week --- the "work-in" and "grade'in" is meant to draw attention to the amount of work graduate employees do for the university.

U of I spokeswoman Robin Kaler says they won't comment on ongoing labor negotiations with the GEO. But she says they always negotiate within the university's financial constraints.