PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 22, No. 11, Dec. 6, 2002

Graduate students OK unionization

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
(217) 244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu

In a landmark election, eligible graduate assistants and graduate teaching assistants on the Urbana campus voted in favor of union representation.

In a 1,188-347 decision, graduate students elected the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO/IFT/AFT/AFL-CIO) as their collective bargaining representative.

An additional 85 votes were cast that were excluded from the final tally because the voters’ names were not on the eligible voters list composed of graduate assistants and graduate teaching assistants for the fall 2002 semester.
Approximately 2,800 graduate assistants and graduate teaching assistants were eligible to cast ballots in the election, which was run by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) and was held Dec. 3 at the Illini Union and Dec. 4 at Assembly Hall.

"I am glad that so many graduate assistants chose to vote in such an important election," Chancellor Nancy Cantor said. "The completion of this election is an important step. We look forward to working with our students through their elected bargaining agent to move forward in our common effort to enhance the graduate experience at Illinois."
Although GEO President Rosemary Braun said the timing of the election was not optimal for many students, the GEO was pleased with voter turnout, the running of the election and its outcome.

The GEO had requested that the IELRB postpone the election until the spring semester on the premise that some graduate students might be too busy preparing for the end of the semester to take time to vote.

Braun said, however, that the union supporters made a "very hard, concerted effort" to contact all eligible voters in order to answer their questions and help voters make informed choices.

The next step will be for the university and the GEO to develop proposals and begin contract negotiations.
The GEO is surveying grads to determine the fundamental issues affecting their constituents as they formulate contract proposals, Braun said. Preliminary results, however, indicate that among graduate students’ chief concerns are compensation, class sizes and health-care benefits with coverage for dependents and prescription drugs.

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