Four unions to strike Nov. 3 if still without contracts
PDF Graduate Assistants will strike Nov. 3 if a contract settlement is not reached by then.
The Graduate Assistants United, which represents teaching graduate students as well as research and administrative assistants, is the last of the four Illinois Education Association unions in contract negotiations to set a strike date. The unions have been bargaining since June 2010.
The Departmental Representative Council for the Faculty Association voted Thursday 29-1 to strike, and both the Executive Council of the Association of Civil Service Employees and the House of Delegates for the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association voted unanimously Friday.
The union members said the two main issues they continue to bargain are to receive better health care and either receive a stipend increase or a fee freeze.
From Sept. 27 to Oct. 5, the unions voted to give their governing bodies the authorization to strike.
In a letter from Kristi Brownfield, vice president of communications for GAU, she said the vote to authorize a strike puts pressure on the administration to meet the demands.
“They haven’t (met demands),” the letter stated. “We need to increase that pressure to reach a fair contract, but if we can’t get a deal that keeps our money where it belongs, we will have to use our last option: a strike.”
