“Union power,” and “we love SIU,” were two of the many chants made by SIU Illinois Education Association union workers on Wednesday in front of Morris Library.

Almost 100 tenure and non-tenure-track employees, civil service workers and members of Graduate Assistants United were present at the noontime demonstration.

Signs reading, “SIU work with us for a fair contract,” were carried as they marched from Morris Library to Anthony Hall. Union officials delivered four letters – one from each union addressed to Chancellor Rita Cheng stating university union workers want to discuss their contracts up for negotiation June 30. The formal letters are required to begin negotiations under their current contracts.

George Boulukos, vice president of the Faculty Association and an associate professor in English, said the kick-off rally is to let people know new contract discussions have begun.

“This is the formal beginning where we formally request to bargain,” Boulukos said.

Jim Wall, a senior lecturer in radio, television and digital media, said working conditions, salary and terms and agreements are several of the areas addressed in the legal documents delivered Wednesday.

“This is essentially our way of suggesting – we now have a new president coming in to say look, let’s work together,” Wall said. “Everybody here has the same goals and rather than having an adversarial relationship, let’s have some constructive dialogue.”

Matt Ryg, a member of GAU, said the university has 45 days to hold the first meeting to initiate negotiations.

Boulukos said the proposals were in rally form to set a positive tone and show the unions have supporters.

The four unions represent more than 3,000 faculty and staff.

Boulukos said some faculty wants incoming SIU President Randy Dunn to use interest-based bargaining tactics to find equal ground. This strategy entails training each group to articulate their most important interests, and integrating their ideas into the bigger picture, although some have not enjoyed this technique in previous years, he said.

“We know Randy Dunn knows a lot about negotiation, he’s done it a lot on both sides,” he said. “So we’re really hoping that he will understand the value of the process and that he’ll be willing to take it in that spirit and possibly do this interest-based approach.”

Wall said the chancellor was not present in the office and the letters were left with the front desk staff. He said there is no way to predict when contracts will be complete and it depends on the interests being debated.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @lukenozicka, or 536-3311 ext. 282.