Illinois Grad Employees Win Key Contract Demand, Return to Jobs
More than 1,100 graduate student employees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) won protection of their tuition waivers and other key improvements in a tentative deal reached with the university last night following a two-day strike.
The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO/UIUC), an AFT affiliate, says in a statement the three-year agreement secures the “four pillars” of the union’s contract demands and “represents a major victory for labor in the state of Illinois and the United States.”
Graduate student Sarah Hennebohl told the Daily Illini, the school newspaper:
Without a tuition waiver, I can’t pay for anything. I can’t even apply for a credit card. I don’t want to have to discontinue my education.
U. of Illinois Grad Employees Strike to Save Tuition Waivers
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More than 1,100 graduate student employees, who teach nearly a quarter of the undergraduate classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), went on strike today after the university refused to guarantee continuation of the teaching and grad assistants’ tuition waivers.
The members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO)/UIUC, an AFT affiliate, say the school’s refusal to include the waivers in bargaining agreement is a precursor to eliminating the tuition waivers that allow most teaching and grad assistants to afford a graduate education. In a statement, the GEO says:
The administration’s refusal to guarantee the continuation of its current tuition waiver practice not only means that the majority of graduate employees could be forced to pay thousands of dollars in additional tuition charges, but also indicates its plans to implement such a change.
By making graduate education untenable for all but the most affluent students, the administration is abandoning its responsibility to ensure access to the highest level of public education for all.
