Strike Warning #3

Strike Warning #3
September 26, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 453
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 23, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 30, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

GAU leadership has been informed that Deans and others in supervisory/administrator positions have been instructed to poll faculty and staff as to an individual’s potential action or opinion about a strike. This is an illegal act! This approach is illegal surveillance of and interference with employees in the exercise of individual rights under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.

Our Uniserv Director, under advice from IEA Legal Counsel, has notified Associate Provost Susan Logue and SIU Associate General Counsel Deborah Nelson and demanded that they take immediate steps to stop this administrative activity and take measures to insure that SIU Board representatives cease and desist from similar conduct in the future. He also requested Logue, Nelson, and others to provide the IEA office with evidence of compliance by noon on Monday, September 26, 2011. If requested, we will provide you with information regarding the outcome of this.

Remember, you have the right to refuse to engage in conversations about GAU’s strike authorization vote or striking with administrators or supervisors. Please inform those that ask they are violating your rights under the Labor Act and contact GAU (gau.siuc@gmail.com) immediately if you experience this.

Our information on voting and voting procedures are available on our website (http://gaunited.org/strike-vote-procedures/). We will be having an informational meeting:

September 30, 3-4pm
Lawson Hall 141

This meeting will be followed by voting from 4-7pm for dues-paying members of GAU. If you are unable to vote during those hours, we are offering absentee and proxy balloting (http://gaunited.org/strike-vote-procedures/strike-vote-absentee-and-proxy-ballot-procedures/)

For more information on what a strike would mean, please visit the strike FAQ page GAU and our sister unions have put together: http://siucunions.wordpress.com/strike-faq/

GAU leadership will also be organizing department meetings to inform you of the status of bargaining and what a strike authorization vote means. If you are interested in setting up a meeting in your department, please email us at: gau.siuc@gmail.com

You can stay informed by reading our webpage (http://gaunited.org), joining our Facebook group, or subscribing to the blog for all four IEA-NEA unions on campus (http://siucunions.wordpress.com).

A “strike warning” means conditions are favorable for a strike for GAU and our sister unions, the Association of Civil Service Employees, the Faculty Association, and the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association. The administration can solve this crisis today by settling our contracts. Make your voice heard by joining GAU!

In solidarity,
Kristi Brownfield
Vice-President for Communications

http://gaunited.org