The graduate workers’ strike on the University of Illinois Urbana campus enters its second week Monday, after talks with a federal mediator Sunday yielded no progress toward an agreement.

Graduate employees on the University of Illinois Urbana campus begin the second day of their strike Tuesday. A university spokesperson says that they know of 53 people who withheld their work in teaching or research Monday, and 27 classes that were cancelled because of the strike.

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.

The union representing graduate employees at the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus is going on strike. That announcement came Sunday from the Graduate Employees Organization, after a five-hour negotiating session with a federal mediator failed to produce a contract agreement.

The graduate employee union at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign filed intent to strike paperwork today. According to a press release from the Graduate Employees Organization, or GEO, the union filed its strike notice after the university administration failed to respond to their latest contract proposal.