Strike Warning #10
October 21, 2011 2 Comments
Strike Warning #10
October 21, 2011
Number of days without a contract: 478
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 21, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 27, 2011
We did meet with the administration’s bargaining team this afternoon and discussed the proposal we gave them. Our proposal does include language for all open issues still on the table. Our proposal to the administration is available here in PDF format. This proposal covers a contract period that lasts from July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2014. Black text is language from our existing contract. Black underlined text is language that has been changed at the bargaining table and has received verbal agreements from both sides. Blue text is our language in this proposal.
If you are interested in hearing about the administration’s response to this proposal, I urge you to come to our upcoming meeting this Monday October 24th from 6-7pm in the Student Center Ballroom C. We will be giving a more comprehensive bargaining update and discussing a strike date.
GAU will also be doing some phone banking this weekend as part of our strike assessment. We need volunteers; we need your help. If you have a spare half hour, we’d love to see you there. We’ll be meeting behind Blimpie’s in the Student Center from 12pm-3pm both Saturday and Sunday and we hope you’ll join us.
I want you to remember our goal here is to get a fair contract we can live with. A strike is a tool we may have to use to get that contract — even though we all hope we don’t have to. However, given the situation at our bargaining table, we have to be prepared for that possibility. The Faculty Association, the Association of Civil Service Employees, and the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association and have already set their strike date as November 3rd. A successful strike will mean we get what we really want — a good contract that deals with our legitimate concerns around fees and health care. To have a successful strike, we have stand together — work together — to demand the respect we deserve as employees. We — all of us together — can do this. There is nothing to be scared of when you stand together — and that’s what a union is, people standing together and standing up for their rights.
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
About kabrownfield
In looking at your proposal, it seems that you intend to exclude law students and medical students. With respect to law students, you specifically mention JD students and LLM students. The law school also overs a Masters of Legal Studies. Is your failure to exclude MLS students intentional or an oversight?
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you on this; I wanted to double-check before I answered. In terms of the tuition scholarship, it’s probably an oversight but we will raise the issue at the table at the next meeting.