Strike Warning #14

November 1, 2011 by Leave a comment

Strike Warning #14
November 1, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 489
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 31, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration November 1, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

GAU met with the administration for bargaining yesterday afternoon and there was still not much movement on the issues that take money out of our pockets — fees, health care, and stipends.

Your GAU bargaining team is continuing to try and find a fair settlement that allows you to keep more than you have to give back in fees and medical expenses. We will be meeting with the administration daily to try and find an acceptable agreement without a strike.

That may not be possible.

What can you do?

If you haven’t already, JOIN! Each new union member is a message to the university administration to do better and to settle this in a fair and mutual manner.

If you have already joined (or even if you haven’t!), get in touch with your union leadership for more information on what you can do to volunteer and get active. There are a lot of jobs for people who are willing, from being on the front lines as picket captains to providing support for picketers at comfort stations or at the strike headquarters.

We’re also interested in what you have to say! We’ll be taking video testimonials – “I don’t want to strike but I will because…” – tomorrow at the strike headquarters from 12:30-2:30pm and 4:00-6:00pm. If you’re interested in having your two cents featured, join us!

There will also be a mass meeting Wednesday night at the strike headquarters at 8pm. While we all hope the news there will be “tentative agreements reached for all for unions!” this will be a last chance to get informed about strike plans and organization, in case the news isn’t so good.

You can (and should!) also contact members of the administration and tell them to settle:

Ms. Misty Whittington
Executive Secretary of the Board
Office of the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees
(618) 536-3357

Rita Cheng: rcheng@siu.edu
SIUC Chancellor
(618) 453-2341

Glenn Poshard: poshard@siu.edu
SIU President
(618) 536-3357

Communications will be more frequent as we countdown the days until the strike deadline.
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).

In solidarity,
Kristi Brownfield
Vice-President for Communications

Filed under bargaining, events, strike, strike watch

Strike Warning #13

October 31, 2011 by Leave a comment

Strike Warning #13
October 31, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 488
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 28, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 31, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

GAU has added a strike-specific FAQ to our website for international graduate assistants: http://wp.me/P15BvZ-9i.

The main information we want you to be aware of is that your visa WILL NOT be effected should you choose to strike. Any graduate assistant engaging in legal strike actions will not have their assistantship status changed! A striking employee is still considered an employee. The university has threatened this in previous communications simply to scare you out of exercising your legal rights to strike. There is nothing to be afraid of when we stand together.

Your GAU bargaining team did have sessions with the administration on both Thursday and Friday. We have managed to come close to agreements on most of our minor issues. However, we have made little or no progress on the issues most important to us: fees, stipend, or health care. The university is going to make us fight for every inch of movement on those three issues — all of which affect our livelihoods and take money out of our pockets. GAU is still fighting for fee payments by the university, more comprehensive health benefits including a written commitment to following the Affordable Care Act, and a stipend raise that keeps pace with the increasing cost of living.

But we need your help to do that. We need as many people as possible to participate in pre-strike activities and, should a strike become necessary, be on the picket lines demanding the university do better. You don’t have to be a member to participate in a strike though joining GAU now sends a strong signal to the university that GAs are tired of paying more and more every year in fees and being offered inadequate health insurance! If you are interested in joining or helping, contact us as soon as possible!

Communications will be more frequent as we countdown the days until the strike deadline.
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).

In solidarity,
Kristi Brownfield
Vice-President for Communications

Filed under bargaining, strike, strike watch

Strike Warning #11: STRIKE DATE SET FOR NOVEMBER 3

October 24, 2011 by Leave a comment

Strike Warning #11: STRIKE DATE SET FOR NOVEMBER 3, 2011
October 24, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 481
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 21, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 27, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

Three weeks ago, we voted to authorize a strike if no significant progress has been made at the bargaining table on the things that take money out of our pockets: high fees, a stipend that isn’t keeping pace with the cost of living, being forced to take and pay for classes we don’t need under the 8-credit hour rule, and health care that forces us to pay for any real help.

Three weeks later, the administration’s offer remains the same:

1 percent stipend increase beginning January 1, 2012
1 percent stipend increase for FY 2013
2 percent stipend increase for FY 2014
No new fee freeze or payment of fees by the administration
No contractual obligation to follow the guidelines of the Affordable Health Care Act

This is a plan that amounts to about a $15 a month stipend increase for this year and next year and about $25 a month in 2014. That doesn’t sound like much — especially when you realize there is no protection or help when dealing with current or future fees.

This is a plan that continues to take money from your pocket.

GAU membership voting to authorize a strike put pressure on the administration to do better. They haven’t. We need to increase that pressure to reach a fair contract but if we can’t get a deal that keeps our money where it belongs we will have to use our last option: a strike.

The GAU bargaining team has given the following resolution:

The Graduate Assistants United (GAU) bargaining team resolves that GAU set a strike date for 12:01 a.m., November 3, 2011 unless a tentative agreement is recommended by the GAU bargaining team before that time. The strike ends when the GAU bargaining Team recommends a tentative agreement or the membership of GAU votes to end the strike.

The Faculty Association, the Association for Civil Service Employees, and the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association have also set November 3rd as their strike date. We are not alone. Standing together we have the power to protect ourselves and gain a good contract.

Our contract is the policy for GAs; it protects our appointments, it covers our salaries, it covers our hours of work. The contract is our way of having control and power over our working conditions.

Our contract is our shared governance. Now is the time to exercise our voices and tell the administration we want something better.

You can contact the Board of Trustees, President Glenn Poshard, and Chancellor Rita Cheng directly to deliver that message:

Ms. Misty Whittington
Executive Secretary of the Board
Office of the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees
(618) 536-3357

Rita Cheng: rcheng@siu.edu
SIUC Chancellor
(618) 453-2341

Glenn Poshard: poshard@siu.edu
SIU President
(618) 536-3357

GAU will also be having an open meeting for international graduate assistants Thursday October 27, from 5-6pm in the Student Center Ballroom A. Please join us and get informed, share your concerns, and tell us what’s going on in your departments.

Communications will be more frequent as we countdown the ten days until the strike deadline.
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).

In solidarity,
Kristi Brownfield
Vice-President for Communications

Filed under strike, strike watch

Strike Warning #10

October 21, 2011 by 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

Filed under bargaining, strike watch

Strike Warning #8: Bargaining Update

October 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

Strike Warning #8
October 14, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 470
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 14, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 21, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

I wish to thank everyone who showed up outside of Anthony Hall today during our bargaining session. Your bargaining team heard the cries of “What do we want? A contract!” and “Settle!” The administration’s bargaining team certainly did as well. That pressure we all have been putting on the administration has finally got us to the point where we are having real conversations about our issues surrounding fees, stipends, and health care. We need to keep the pressure up to get what we want: a fair contract!

Today’s bargaining brought one gain we have been pushing for since 2010: the university administration now seems willing to make a commitment to follow the guidelines of the Patient Affordable Care Act.

This change comes from your hard work: your letters to the editor, calling the administration, calling the board, showing up for rallies, and everything else you have done up to this point.

But GAU needs to ask you to keep doing that — and more! We still have not heard any sort of concessions to changing and improving our health care benefit, freezing fees, or a change on their previous economic offer.

Your GAU bargaining team is putting together a comprehensive economic proposal we plan on delivering to the administration’s team at our next session. Once this proposal has been presented to their team, we will make the text publicly available on our website.

We are also going to be organizing another open meeting coming shortly to discuss this proposal, what it might mean to you, and what you can do to ensure we get it — including a strike and strike dates. More information on this meeting will be coming soon!

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

Filed under bargaining, strike watch

Strike Warning #7

October 10, 2011 by Leave a comment

Strike Warning #7
October 10, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 466
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 30, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: October 14, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

GAU leadership is getting ready for our next bargaining session on Friday. Our goals remain the same: a fee freeze or a stipend increase that compensates for current and future fees and health care change that begins with a university commitment to follow the Affordable Health Care Act.

Given the amount of communication coming from the Chancellor’s office in the past week, we can safely say the four successful strike authorizations votes are having an effect — in public. We have yet to see if there will be a substantive effect at the bargaining table. However, despite the intimidation and scare-tactics within those university communications, your GAU bargaining team has found something to be hopeful about:

“Any conversation about enhanced healthcare benefits and related costs must be considered in the context of compliance with federal health care reform (ACA) and affordability for all of our students.” (from Friday October 7)

Given that one of our goals is “university compliance with federal health care reform,” we believe this communication may be the first sign the university’s bargaining position of “no” is changing.

We will find out if there is any follow-through on Friday. I will provide a bargaining update Friday afternoon when our bargaining session concludes.

But please remember, this public statement – one of the first the Chancellor has ever made about graduate assistants, only came AFTER we voted to authorize a strike. The administration is feeling the effects of our pressure on them. We need to keep that pressure up!

There will a student organized solidarity action on Wednesday October 12 in front of Anthony Hall at 4:30

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256763871032702

We are also asking for your help in setting up department meetings! If GAU has not visited your department yet, or if we have and you’d like to come back and talk some more, please contact us!

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

Filed under bargaining, events, strike watch

Strike Warning #6

October 3, 2011 by Leave a comment

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

Filed under strike watch

Strike Warning #4: STRIKE AUTHORIZATION VOTE TODAY

September 30, 2011 by Leave a comment

Strike Warning #4
September 30, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 457
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 23, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 30, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

Unless you’ve been completely lost in your work, you know that today dues-paying members of Graduate Assistants United will vote whether or not to authorize the bargaining team to call for a strike on or after October 6 if no significant progress has been made in bargaining.
I want to reiterate to you two important points: first, a vote to authorize a strike does not mean there necessarily will be a strike, just that the union’s members reserve the right to strike as a last resort; second, we do not want to strike. Indeed, we want to avoid a strike, and that is why we have been negotiating with the Administration since April 2010. However, we must prepare for the worst.

After spending more than a year of my life negotiating with the Administration, I have doubts whether it was ever really committed to meaningful negotiations. The areas that we have reached tentative agreements on did not take 18 months to reach. At this point, I have to wonder if this whole process was designed to string GAU along until we just abandoned our positions out of a sense of sheer futility. If that is indeed the case, the Administration has made a serious mistake. If anything, the Administration’s delaying tactics have stiffened our resolve to achieve a fair and equitable contract for all Graduate Assistants, Teaching Assistants, and Research Assistants here at SIUC. I can speak for all the members of the Bargaining Team when I tell you that we will not come out of these negotiations without something to show for our time and effort. The exact nature of our what we bring back to our membership for approval is, in large part, up to the Administration.

They know we are fed up with a “health care plan” that they would not subscribe their own families to, but is somehow good enough for us. We are tired of having our fees rise 200 percent in the last few years. Furthermore, we are tired of an atmosphere where, according to the recent letter from Chancellor Cheng, we can be replaced by retired faculty and people off the street. If it was not happening at SIUC, I would love to see one of these people the Chancellor handily has in reserve attempt to lead the discussions in my three sections of History 101A. Apparently, all one needs is a textbook. If the Administration does not respect us now, perhaps they will find some when they face the possibility of not just GAU, but the Faculty Association, the Non Tenure-Track Faculty, and the Association of Civil Service Employees withholding their labor until a settlement that is fair to both sides in these negotiations.

Despite our legitimate frustration with the Administration, GAU remains committed to finding a fair agreement. We hope the Administration truly feels that way too, as opposed to paying lip-service to the idea. If it is at all possible, come to an open meeting Friday at 3:00 in Lawson 141. We will try to answer questions and tell you where we stand in negotiations, since they will have taken place earlier that day. From 4:00 until 7:00, dues-paying members only will cast their votes on the strike authorization. If you are not a member, you can join before you vote, we will have membership forms available. Our organization is democratic; our members tell us what to do. Join us, and make your voice heard. SIUC will be a better place because of your help.

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).

In solidarity,
Jim Podesva
President

Filed under events, strike, strike watch

Strike Warning #3

September 26, 2011 by Leave a comment

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

Filed under strike watch

Strike Warning #2

September 23, 2011 by Leave a comment

Strike Warning #2
September 23, 2011

Number of days without a contract: 450
Last bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 23, 2011
Next bargaining session with the SIUC administration: September 30, 2011

Fellow graduate assistants,

We have reached a mile stone today: 450 days since our previous contract expired on June 30, 2010. When GAU began bargaining our new contract in April 2010, we strongly wished to address the issues of fees and health care. Fees now account for almost 20 percent of our annual salary for PhD students working 20 hours a week — this is the higher end of the stipend scale. Our student health care offers no vision, no dental, no comprehensive coverage for partners, no coverage for dependents, no prescription drug benefit, no coverage for preexisting conditions for the first year, and even the assistant director of the student health insurance department, Jim Hunsaker, said in today’s Daily Egyptian “SIU’s goal is to always be the payor of last resort, not the primary source” (http://dailyegyptian.com/2011/09/22/students-speak-out-about-university-insurance-policy-2/).

When we presented those issues to the administration’s team at the bargaining table our proposals were a fee freeze, for the university to expand coverage options and, at a minimum, agree to follow the guidelines in the new Patient Affordable Health Care Act. We were met with a flat no.

Now, eighteen months later — we are still hearing no. The Board’s team presented us with an economic offer today in bargaining (the full text of the offer is available here: http://gaunited.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/stipend-and-benefits-article-13-board-offer-09-23-2011.pdf):

No increase for Fiscal Year 2011 (last year)
For Fiscal Year 2012 (this year): 1 percent beginning January 1, 2012
For Fiscal Year 2013: 1 percent
No change to health care
No change in fees

As you can see, this proposal does nothing to curb fees which have gone up two hundred percent in the last five years. It does nothing to change health care benefits which you are paying more for while the university has a 3 million dollar reserve fund according to a Board report presented in May 2011 (http://bot.siu.edu/meetings/2011/0511minutes.pdf). This proposal does not meet our needs.

Now is the time to make our choice. Do we continue to lose? Do we continue to drown in fees? Do we continue to have to choose between paying rent and paying for health care?

Or do we stand up? Do we want our needs met? Do we want to win?

That is what a strike authorization vote is for. GAU leadership asks you to vote yes and authorize a strike to meet our needs — to stop rising fees and to actually get the kind of health care plan we are already paying for.

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

Filed under bargaining, strike watch

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