Strike Warning #6

Strike Warning #6
October 3, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 460
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 30, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 14, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

Your GAU leadership team would like to thank everyone who showed up on Friday, sent emails or posted to Facebook with questions, and gave us the feedback we needed , and help us send a very strong message to the administration that graduate assistants want a contract that adequately addresses fees and health care. A 97 percent vote yes — along with the Association of Civil Service Employees and the Faculty Association which voted yes earlier in the week — is a sign that people are fed up and ready to fight for something better.

That’s what it will be — a fight.

We hope that we will not need to use our “weapon” of last resort — a strike. We hope the message we delivered on Friday through our vote is enough. But your GAU leadership is trying to be realistic about the situation and you should as well. A strike may be what it takes to get the administration to take graduate assistant needs seriously.

Whether we have to go on strike or not — it is going to take all of us working together to get a fair contract. GAU is going to need your help to succeed. What can you do?

1) Join GAU: the administration pays attention to numbers; the more of us there are, the more powerful we will be. Our voices are louder together.
2) Ask GAU to come talk to your department: we are always willing to set up meetings to try and explain the issues, what is going on, or just chat about working at SIUC; we just need to know you’d like to hear from us.
3) Volunteer with GAU: in the coming weeks, there will be calls for volunteers. If you want to get involved, we will have a job for you!

You can stay informed by reading our webpage (http://gaunited.org), joining our Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6789631853&ref=ts), following our brand new Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/#!/SIUCGAUnited), 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