Third union votes yes

If the Graduate Assistants United’s bargaining team sees no further progress in negotiations, they can now set a date to strike on or after Oct. 6.

Kristi Brownfield, vice president of communications for GAU, said the bargaining team will continue to work with the administration to settle on a mutual agreement. But if the university’s position on fees and health care do not change, then the union will ask graduate…

Graduate Assistants United approves strike authorization vote

Graduate assistants can now strike on or after Oct. 6.

Of the 88 percent of eligible dues-paying members who voted whether or not to give authorization to the union’s bargaining team to set a strike date if no significant progress is made in bargaining, 97 percent voted yes.

Kristi Brownfield, vice president of communications for the GAU, said this is a message to the university that contract negotiations have gone too…

Unions express concerns, need for strike vote

The first of four unions without contracts is scheduled to vote today for employees’ authorization to strike.

Cyndi Kessler-Criswell, president of the Association of Civil Service and office manager for the Rehabilitation Institute, said the association will vote because employees are overworked and want a contract that will ensure fair working conditions.

The four Illinois Education Association unions have gone more than 450 days without contracts — dating back to when…

Campus, national unions struggle with similar issues

The Southern Illinois University Carbondale Labor Coalition — which represents the Faculty Association, the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association, Graduate Assistants United and the Association of Civil Service Employees — wrapped up a series of five film screenings at the Varsity Center of the Arts Sunday with “Struggles in Steel.” The 1996 film, based in Pittsburgh, was about racial challenges African-American steel mill workers have faced in the United States.

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