IEA Legal Analysis of Chancellor Cheng’s FAQ

As you all know, the Chancellor sent out a FAQ a few weeks ago that GAU strongly disagreed with. I wanted to share with you the legal analysis from our IEA lawyer on this FAQ and the threats made within:

                                                IEA Legal Analysis of Chancellor Cheng’s FAQ

“Under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (115 ILCS 5/1 et seq.) (“Act”), Graduate Assistants (“GA’s”) are legally entitled to strike.  In fact, Section 3 affords GAs the right to “organize, form, join, or assist in employee organizations or engage in lawful concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection or bargain collectively through representatives of their own free choice …[and] have the right to refrain from any or all such activities.” 

According to the Act, SIUC would be guilty of an “unfair labor practice” for “interfering, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed under this Act.”  SIUC would also be guilty of an unfair labor practice for “discriminating in regard to hire or tenure or employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any employee organization.

With this legal backdrop, it is our belief that SIUC is in violation of the Labor Act when it:

• Threatened GA s that they were “[choosing] between participating in a strike or continuing [their] work/education.”
• As the University is aware, under the Act, GA’s have the legal right to strike without losing their employment or adversely affecting their student status.
• Threatened GA s that there were “consequences and risks that they will experience if they individually choose to strike.”
• As the University is well aware, under the Act, GA’s cannot be subject to “consequences and risks” affecting their employment or student status for engaging in a strike.
• Threatened all faculty with reprisals for engaging in a strike that results in the cancellation of classes.
• As the University is aware that under the Act, accusing faculty of cancelling classes and threatening to discipline those same faculty members simply because they voted to strike, is an illegal restraint on the faculty members’ Section 3 rights as stated above.
• Threatened GA s by stating, “Graduate Assistants who go on strike, rather than work, put at risk their eligibility for a waiver of tuition and partial payment of their Health Service fee, which may make them fully responsible for payment of tuition and fees.”
• Again, the University is well aware that, under the Act it cannot threaten, much less take putative action against GA s in the form of tuition waivers and/or Health Service fees simply because they engaged in a labor strike.
• Threatened that GAs who struck would not receive any of their compensation, including stipend, tuition or other forms of compensation.
• The University knows that you have the legal right to strike.  It knows that a strike can shift the power balance to you.  It has chosen to engage in scare campaign instead of putting their resources into a fair contract.

The University’s threat is illegal, as would its action to enforce the threat.”

The Facts about the Chancellor’s FAQ

October 4, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,
Today you received an email from Chancellor Cheng releasing her employee FAQ. This FAQ included questions specifically for graduate assistants surrounding pay, tuition waivers, and health insurance.

While there is no such thing as a risk-free strike, GAU wants to reassure our members. Her FAQ answers were deliberately vague so as to intimidate graduate assistants into not honoring a strike if a strike is called. GAU, and the leaders of the other campus unions engaged in bargaining, realized something like this would be released by the administration. This is why we prepared our own frequently asked questions well in advance:

http://siucunions.wordpress.com/strike-faqs/

However, we wish to address two of your specific concerns:

Docking stipends:
The university does have the right to dock pay for any hours they can prove you did not work but only those hours you did not work. For example, if you withhold your labor and walk the picket lines during one hour that you were scheduled to teach a class, the university may dock you for one hour of pay. The burden of proof is on the administration to show that you missed work or class.

Further, the university CANNOT unilaterally dock an entire month’s stipend, as the Chancellor’s FAQ seems to suggest.

Part of what happens as a strike ends is a bargaining proposal entitled “Back to Work Agreement” or “Strike Settlement Agreement.” This proposal would address all strike issues affecting your wages, hours or terms and conditions of employment — including addressing docked pay or make-up days for graduate assistants.

Removal of tuition waivers:
The tuition waiver you received when you accepted your GA appointment are provided as a scholarship to graduate assistants, not as part of your pay as the Chancellor suggested. According to our contract, if you are a graduate assistant and maintain eligibility to be a graduate assistant, you have a full tuition scholarship. A strike will not affect your status as a graduate assistant!

Also, keep in mind that the Chancellor was very careful in her language, using words such as “may,” “possibly,” “could,” and “can.” By doing so, the Chancellor has not committed the University to any particular course of action while still making you afraid. Once again, we see that the Chancellor is not averse to using fear and intimidation to get what they want. First, they engaged in illegal surveillance of employees and only stopped it when threatened with legal action. Now, the casual disregard for our livelihoods, and vague threats.

GAU has been and will continue to work for what you want: lower fees and better health care. These intimidation tactics are in response to our growing numbers. Now is the time to join GAU. Now is the time to get involved. Working together we will achieve our goal: a fair, equitable contract that benefits us all.

In solidarity,
Kristi Brownfield
Vice-President for Communications