Hello Doug,
Thought you and yours on LBO-talk might find this of interest. Will keep you posted, but for now, people might go to the GEO site at http://www.shout.net/~geo/mainpage.html , print out the *.pdf letter there and *mail* it to Pres. Sturkel (c/o of the GEO).
So far, the Univ. has refrained from arresting anyone over this sit-in, but it is generating good press nonetheless. Hopefully today's action will help us move towards a strike by the end of this term.
Cheers, Dan
>Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 17:00:18 -0600 (CST)
>From: Graduate Employees Organization <xx820 at prairienet.org>
>X-Sender: xx820 at bluestem
>To: geo-l at prairienet.org
>Subject: Grad Employees Stage Sit-In
>Sender: owner-geo-l at prairienet.org
>
>
>UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS GRADUATE EMPLOYEES
>OCCUPY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
>Graduate Employees Organization Demands
>Recognition of the Right to Union Representation
>
>CHAMPAIGN/URBANA - - Demanding that university leaders meet with them,
>fifty graduate employees, along with supporters from the faculty, student
>government, local clergy and others from the Champaign-Urbana community
>occupied the offices of the Board of Trustees at 3pm today. Graduate
>employees and their supporters sat down on the floors of offices inside
>the building, while many others rallied outside the Henry Administration
>Building.
>
> Co-President of the Graduate Employees Organization Storm Heter
>said, "The University has left us with few options. Graduate employees
>have demonstrated time and again their desire to choose their own
>representatives. President Stukel and Chancellor Aiken refuse to meet
>with our union, and they have refused to allow union members to serve on
>university committees dealing with employment issues." Added Heter, "With
>this kind of record, it is no surprise that graduate employees feel they
>need a union."
>
> In 1996, over 3,200 graduate employees requested a union
>representation election. The following year, GEO won an election by a 64
>percent margin. In 1999, the Illinois House of Representatives passed a
>bill granting graduate employees union rights. The bill died in the
>Senate without a floor vote due to the vigorous opposition of the
>university administration. This month, a referendum sponsored by the
>Illinois Student Government supporting graduate employee unionization
>passed by a 77 percent margin.
>
> The University of Illinois employs 5,000 graduate employees who
>teach classes, perform administrative functions, advise students, grade
>papers and conduct research. Without a union, graduate employees have no
>input into university policies related to their employment and are unable
>to negotiate salaries and benefits. For most graduate employees, their
>university salary is their only source of income, many support families on
>their university paycheck, and most international graduate employees are
>barred by visa restrictions from taking on any other employment.
>
> Illinois labor law is ambiguous about the status of graduate
>employees. However, in most other states, graduate employees have the
>right to form unions. Graduate employees are represented by unions at the
>University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of Kansas,
>University of Oregon, Oregon State, University of California, Wayne State,
>State University of New York, City University of New York, University of
>Iowa and Rutgers, to name only a few. A decision yesterday by the
>National Labor Relations Board affirmed the right of Teaching Assistants
>to unionize in the private sector. There are organizing drives underway
>at Yale and New York University.
>
> GEO Spokesperson Theresa Ferguson said, "Some people will say a
>sit-in is a throwback to the 1960s. But they're wrong, this is
>reminiscent of the 1930s. Just as workers in the 1930s had to stage "sit
>down" strikes to get their employers to recognize the right to unionize,
>we find it necessary to occupy our employer's place of business to get
>their attention."
>
> GEO is an affiliate of the 80,000 -member Illinois Federation of
>Teachers and its national organization, the million-member American
>Federation of Teachers. AFT represents more higher education faculty and
>graduate employees than any other union.
------------------------------------------------------ Daniel F. Vukovich Dept. of English; The Unit for Criticism University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801 ------------------------------------------------------