UI Non-Tenured Track Faculty Holding 2-Day Strike

Non-tenured track faculty at the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus will walk off the job starting Tuesday morning.  Union President Shawn Gilmore says the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Local 6546 is holding the two-day strike to prompt a response from administrators on how they plan to proceed in collective bargaining.

The union representing nearly 500 members wants guaranteed multi-year contracts for non-tenured faculty, but U of I administrators say those contracts should be handled by individual departments.

Gilmore says the NTFC will hold two rallies per day at the English building.

“We are not picketing the entire campus, nor are we picketing every building on the quad, we are selectively focusing it to make sure it’s clear what an organized event looks like, and that we’re not generally protesting, say, the entire educational apparatus of the campus," he said.  "We do want to make clear that withholding our labor is done to demonstrate what that actually looks like and means."

Gilmore says recent conversations with the U of I have only been about the union’s legal right to strike, and penalties for those who withhold their labor. 

He said the NTFC has been in touch with other unions about joining the rallies this week, but he says some unions, like the Graduate Employees Organization, are prohibited from striking.

U of I administration did not immediately respond to our newsroom's request for comment.

The two sides requested a federal mediator last month.