Save the Date!

GAU, along with the Faculty Association, Association of Civil Service Employees, and the Non-Tenure Track Faculty will be hosting a meeting together on Monday May 2nd with information on bargaining on campus. Be there to get the most up-to-date information on what’s going on.

WHEN: Monday May 2nd, 4:45pm-6:15pm
WHERE: Lawson Hall 141

GAU will see you there!

GAU Forum: GA United & the Right to Strike

Join GAU for a discussion of the state of the university, the state of the other unions, and where we will be going from here.

Time:Tuesday, April 5 · 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Location: Faner 1326 (In the middle of the building near COLA)

Get Informed About Contract Negotiations!

An Urgent Message for Saluki Grad Assistants, Fellows and Students:

On Tuesday March 8th at 8:27 the University bargaining team representing the Board of Trustees conveyed their “final offer” to the GA United bargaining team in the latest round of bargaining for the grad assistants’ union contract as SIUC.

By invoking the “final offer” they have expressed that they will not move on any of the substantive issues we have brought to the bargaining table to help graduate assistants. This is a brazen move by the administration because the board essentially wants the status quo: the ability to freeze our stipends, raise our fees, and keep our health coverage at a $1000 deductible with no option for dependent coverage. Even proposals that we have made that cost the University no money such as GAU access to orientation to present the contract to graduate students and a non-replacement clause to keep us from being used as replacements for furloughed, laid off, or striking workers (e.g. staff, instructors or faculty) have been flatly rejected.

What will our response be? It is time for grad assistants and others to stand and be heard: to become visible. GA United is holding bargaining update and organizing sessions to discuss where we are at and where we want to go:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 in the Student Center. You can come to either one of two meetings:

Will we leave this University better off or will grad assistants continue to be exploited more and more every year? Given that the civil service workers, non-tenure track faculty and tenure track faculty are all in negotiations, the University administration seems to be trying a power grab where the management can unilaterally decide on furloughs, layoffs or worse–we may have no other choice but to conclude the current administration is trying to bust the unions and destroy any shared governance on this campus. We have unions for a reason. Without unions we lose many rights such as the ability to negotiate our pay, conditions and file grievances. Unions are part of preserving democracy on campus. It is the way that grad assistants were able to win more rights and better stipend pay in our union drive five years ago. Those grad assistants left this campus better off. Now it’s our turn to fight for this University as well as our livelihood.

We have choices: accept the status quo and yield to the administration’s intent to control pay, fees and healthcare, try to reinstate negotiations giving up some of our key needs, file an intent to strike to show our commitment to our needs, or some other reaction that we decide.

In the bargaining update and organizing sessions we will discuss where we are at and where we want to go. It is up to you to make something happen collectively with all of us who are building this union and fighting for our rights.

Please join us and bring two other grad assistants. Looking to other grad assistants to save your interests is not resulting in the show of strength necessary for the administration to take us seriously: BECOME VISIBLE…and spread the word!

The Bargaining Team

Important Meeting

Fellow SIU GAs — are you struggling to pay rent and bills when your monthly stipend check arrives? You are not alone. We all share in working so hard for what seems like almost nothing because that’s where our bank accounts end up too quickly every month.

Join us this Monday, Jan 17 at 3 pm in the Mississippi River Room, SIUC Student Center.

Now is the time for us to BECOME VISIBLE. The University could not run without our teaching, research and other valuable work. However, despite our expertise, training and dedication, we do not receive a living wage. Our health benefits fall short for almost any illness beyond the common cold. Our spouses and children go without coverage.
AND graduate course fees eat our stipend and loans before we can even make it to the grocery store.

The fees increases have surpassed the gains we made with our last contract. Apparently the administration believes we DO NOT DESERVE more pay, better health coverage or frozen fees. The administration has offered no substantial improvement in any of these economic areas during negotiations last year.

In order to improve our pay and benefits we need to BECOME VISIBLE and convince the administration that it’s time to use the money set aside in reserve. It is also time to stop the expansion of administrative positions and pay until we have the modest increase that will we deserve. Really, it’s a small thing to ask of people who make such a big contribution to the University. We do not believe this is too much to ask, given the top twenty five salaries add up to more than $5 million a year.

Your help is needed if we are going to win some of what we deserve.  Come to the meeting on Martin Luther King Day to discuss how we can fight for better pay and benefits. We’ll honor the collective action that led to more equality in the U.S. during the civil rights struggle, its connection to organized labor, our pay rates and our health care coverage. Then, we’ll work together to come up with creative and effective ways to persuade the administration to listen to us better.

Agenda will include an update on GAU Contract Bargaining & Federal Mediation, and planning to demonstrate our solidarity and determination to achieve the equity and fair treatment we not only deserve – but that which we have earned.

Contact me directly at jimpodesva@gmail.com, or Dave Vitoff in any case to offer your help!

Thanks in advance and best wishes for a new year,

Jim Podesva
President, GAU

Enter the Mediator

No, it’s not the recently discovered Bruce Lee movie in which he renounces violence and takes up labor relations, it’s merely the administration’s latest ploy at the negotiation table.  GAU was notified this morning that in response to our proposals, namely a freeze on fees and a reduction in health insurance deductibles from $1000 to $250, that it thought little progress could be forthcoming as things stand now.  As is their right, they desire to employ the services of a mediator.  The mediator’s decisions will be non-binding, however.  By not even attempting to meet us halfway on any issues of importance, the administration’s illegal attempts to lay off or reduce the hours of non-tenure track faculty and now its threats to junior tenure-track faculty, the administration has revealed itself for what it is: a bully.

On January 17th at 3:00 p.m. in the Student Center’s Mississippi room  we’ll be discussing where we go from here.  Your feedback is essential, and it is definitely in your own self-interest to be there.

I’m sorry for not wishing you this sooner, but have a great break!

Jim P.