Funferal

GEO accepts pay offer

The Graduate Employees’ Organization at UIUC (of which I am a member) today decided to accept a pay increase offered by the university administration for the 2003/04 academic year. The offer will see increases for covered employees (TAs and GAs) increase by at least 3% a year, with a new minimum stipend (for those on a 50% 9 month appointment) of $11,518.
I had been in two minds as to whether the GEO should accept the offer. The means by which the university approached negotiation of this issue was seriously lacking. They only raised the issue last week, sought to close negotiations by last Friday, and refused to realistically engage with many of the related points raised by the GEO negotiator. It is a tribute to the GEO committee that they were able to bring such a level of democracy to the decision, given the constraints they were under.

This is a statement issued by the GEO today:
By a 2 to 1 margin, GEO members in a referendum directed the bargaining committee to accept a university pay offer covering the 2003-2004 academic year. The tally, taken from electronic and paper ballots, was 98 in favor – 53 against the measure. When the GEO and the university sign off on the proposal, the 3% increase will start in September. The agreement also boosts the base stipend for graduate employees from $11,100 to $11,518.
The election was significant as an exercise of the membership’s ability to shape the negotiations process. GEO co-president Allan Borst cited the union’s growing organizing power among graduate employees. “I was impressed that on incredibly short notice, the GEO was able to turn out so many people in July to vote.”
His comments also highlighted the controversy surrounding the university’s proposal. “The university’s lead negotiator made the offer to the GEO in a closed session last week and gave a deadline of Monday, July 14 to accept or reject it. “The U of I isn’t showing much respect for its employees with this kind of tactic,” said Borst. In addition, many GEO members argued that new minimum was still far below the $14,100 figure that the university calculates a graduate student needs to live in the Champaign-Urbana area.” See “Declaration and Certification of Finances Form” (pdf).
This election marked the first time that the GEO used e-mail balloting in a binding referendum. The Communications Committee of the GEO is soliciting feedback from members on the presentation of background on the referendum as well as the ease of the voting system. Comments can be placed with the GEO office (217) 344-8283 or at geo@shout.net.