After a 12-day strike beginning in February, the University of Illinois and graduate student employees settled on a new contract that includes pay raises and tuition waiver protections. Now lawmakers want to clarify who is eligible for those benefits. 

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Andreas Cangellaris apologized Monday after he said he received criticism of his actions during the recent strike by graduate student workers.

Hundreds of classes have been canceled and dozens more relocated as a strike by graduate employees at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign continues into a second week. On Tuesday night, graduate workers occupied the office of university president Tim Killeen. Strikers have a variety of demands, but one of the most contentious points focuses on the future of tuition waivers -- and whether some graduate workers will have to pay tuition while employed in academic positions on campus.

Monday marked the first day of a planned strike by graduate student workers at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus. On Monday afternoon, more than 400 graduate employees rallied on the campus’s main quad to call attention to the walk-out.

With Labor Day parades stepping off across Illinois today, Democratic politicians are thinking about how to win back the once-solid support of union members.