Full-Contract Bargaining Is On
Days Working Without Contract:
-- days
Demand A New Fair Contract Now
What happens now?
On Aug 15, our contract expired, but its conditions stay in effect as long as we are in negotiations over a new contract. This means that contract wages will not increase until a new contract is in place. The new contract will only apply once the entire contract is agreed upon and members vote to accept it.
Next (10th) Bargaining Session:
When: Thursday, September 24, 9 AM - 1 PM
Where: Illini Union, Room 314A, 1401 W Green St
Who can come: any GEO member! We encourage everyone to come (even for a brief period!) and invite your friends to see what happens in a bargaining session and stand up for your working conditions. Remember - our power is in numbers!
Our Bargaining Pillars
These core principles guide our upcoming negotiations and represent the priorities of graduate employees across campus. Together, we are fighting for a contract that ensures Dignity for all graduate workers through the means of:
Financial Wellbeing
Grad workers deserve to thrive, not just survive, at UIUC. We will bargain for financial conditions that allow us to perform our duties well without sacrificing our own wellbeing.
Protections
Grad workers deserve to feel safe and supported on campus. We will bargain for safer conditions for our international community, adequate support and resources for international workers, as well as academic protections.
Respect
Grad workers do most of the research and teaching labor at UIUC, and we deserve respect for our contributions. We will bargain for according conditions that ensure respectful treatment from our employer.
Meet Your Bargaining Team
The Bargaining Team (BT) represents graduate students’ interests and demands at the bargaining table with the university administration. Members of the BT include at least one of the Co-Presidents, two representatives chosen by Stewards’ Council, the Secretary, and one member-at-large chosen by membership at a general membership meeting. BT also includes members appointed by other committees. You can learn more about the BT here.
You can still join to support the Bargaining Team! Email your interest to barg@uigeo.org.
Aaron Councilman
Computer Science, 6th year PhD student
(they/them)
I have been deeply involved in GEO throughout my time here, including as co-president and a member of four prior bargaining teams: the 2022-2023 full contract team, the RA and PGA incorporation teams, and the 2024-2025 healthcare impact bargaining team, and I’m currently I'm currently working to finish my PhD. With the current state of the world, bargaining is a powerful opportunity for us to voice and win what we need to protect and improve our working, learning, and living conditions for years to come.
Allison
Psychology, 4th year PhD student
(they/them)
I have been involved with GEO over the past 2 years, primarily as a member of the Grievance Committee. Through working with Grievance I have gained an appreciation for the nuances of contract language and understanding where our current contract fails graduate workers. I am also passionate about advocating for graduate workers' rights and fighting for the working conditions that they deserve.
Anthony Pineci
Computer Science, 2nd year PhD student
(he/him)
I serve as one of the Co-chairs of GEO's Grievance Committee, where I am able to advocate for graduate workers through the enforcement of our existing contract. Through this process, I have learned about the road blocks and inadequacies we face under our current agreement. As a member of the Bargaining Team, I aim to use my experience with the existing contract to help overcome the barriers it faces so that we can protect and improve the working conditions for all of us at UIUC.
Arthur Paganini
Mechanical Science & Engineering, 5th year PhD student
(he/him)
I’m a PhD student and a steward. I was on the full contract BT in 2022-2023 as a caucus facilitator and a volunteer coordinator. I was also one of the lead negotiators on the RA Inclusion BT in 2025. Later as a co-chair of the Stewards Council, I served in the leadership of the RA unionization campaign. I’m honored to serve on this next BT because this is the most active and important time in our union. At a time of great uncertainty and fear, our union must exercise and show discipline and enthusiasm.
Brooke Kadel
Psychology, 4th year PhD student
(she/they)
I serve as one of the Co-Presidents of GEO, a member of the Secretary and Grievance Committees, and one of the many Psychology Department Stewards. I was a member of the Bargaining Teams for Healthcare Impact Bargaining (2024-2025) and Research Assistant Incorporation (2025). Through my work on the Bargaining Team, I continue to appreciate the value of working collectively with my fellow graduate workers to fight for better working conditions and empower one another to stand up for our rights. We all deserve dignity!
Cyrus Murray
English, 1st year PhD student
(he/him)
Although I am a 1st year PhD student, I have been at the University of Illinois since 2021. During that time I developed a deep appreciation for the labor educators put into this campus, and the diversity that exists here. I was encouraged to join BT by a fellow steward who believed my hobby of debating problematic people would enable me to effectively engage with the University at the bargaining table. As I watch the world around me seem to get worse and worse, I can confidently say that my involvement in BT and GEO more broadly has been one of the most fulfilling things I have done during my educational career. As an English educator I am especially interested in issues that TAs face, along with ways that teaching could be improved for graduate workers. However, my time in BT has allowed me to better understand and appreciate the other kinds of that labor thousands of graduate workers engage in each day. I get to enjoy working with graduate workers from all across the university with the shared mission to improve the lives of all graduate workers.
Dahyun
Sociology, 2nd year PhD student
(she/they)
I am an international student from South Korea. I have seen how the lack of strong labor protections and collective representation can leave graduate students vulnerable to difficult working conditions, and I would like to take part in supporting the rights of graduate student workers. In particular, I hope to work with others to better understand and address the experiences and concerns of international graduate students through an intersectional perspective.
Daniel Rodriguez
History, 6th year PhD candidate
Over many years in GEO, I have been a steward and a part of many groups including the Personnel, Grievance, and Communications committees, the International Student Working Group, the Black and Latinx Caucus, and more. I was also a co-president in 2023-2024. I enjoy going on office visits to talk with grad workers about how we can win a better contract. Before coming to UIUC, I was an organizer in the 2019-2020 UCSC Wildcat strike and was one of 80 workers reinstated after being unfairly terminated for their involvement. I'm interested in building our capacity during this round of full contract bargaining and working towards winning a historic contract!
Elliott Fluty
Social Psychology, 3rd year PhD student
(he/they)
I like to joke that I got involved with BT because, frankly, the contract is my contract, and therefore I wanted to be involved in negotiating my contract with my employer. However, it is a little more complicated than that. I have worked in retail for 12 years, and never with a union. The first time I set foot in the GEO office, I realized that this was an opportunity to actually fight for the dignity of myself and my incredible peers, to do more than take whatever scraps the big box store wants to give me. I’m so grateful to get to be a part of a team that is dedicated to making sure that every graduate worker sets foot on this campus feeling respected and supported by the institution we work for. We all came here because our work was important enough for us to uproot our lives, and we deserve to be compensated appropriately. Bargaining through a union is a way to do just that.
Grace Garmire
Physics, 4th year PhD student
(she/they)
I am a physics steward and an Officer at Large for GEO. In summer 2025, I was also a lead negotiator in our RA inclusion bargaining.
The current bargaining cycle is critical to protect the wellbeing and security of graduate workers at UIUC. Given the current political climate, the state of research funding, and shifting attitudes toward higher education, we must use our collective power to win better protections, fairer wages, and safer working conditions for everyone on campus. Having worked as both a TA and an RA, I know that graduate workers are essential to the high quality of teaching and research this university provides, and we deserve to be fairly compensated for it. I am on the bargaining team because we all deserve better, and a strong contract is worth fighting for. UIUC works because we do, and it is time we demand to be recognized for the value we produce.
James Tallman
Materials Science and Engineering, 4th year PhD student
I first joined the bargaining research team after the Union, not the University, was able to help provide legal resources for someone in my department whose visa got revoked. For over a year, I have been working on supporting the process of bargaining, because through collective bargaining, we are able to get graduate workers dignity. I have been proud to be on the bargaining team, I trust our team, and I look forward to continuing fighting for a fair contract this fall.
Lily
English, 5th year PhD student
(she/they)
I am a former factory seamstress. After several years of atrocious working conditions and meager pay, I went back to school and earned my bachelor’s degree at 29. I signed a GEO membership card the first time I was handed one, because the wages and healthcare they had fought for and won were some of my main reasons for choosing UIUC for graduate school. I joined the bargaining team because it’s important to me that workers are treated with respect, have safe and dignified working conditions, and earn the wages we deserve.
Milo Ono
Information Science, 2nd year PhD student
(they/them)
I am currently a co-officer of Communications Committee, and a TA. Through BT, my goal is to prioritize grad workers' needs and preferences based on conversations and feedback from them. Bargaining is an iterative process that requires back-and-forth discussion between BT and membership. I also aim to strengthen the collaboration between Comms and BT, to educate and involve members in bargaining.
Spencer Hall
Communication, 2nd year PhD student
(he/him)
The university doesn’t work unless we do. We need a contract that represents the role that grad workers play at this institution and the value that we produce. We also need this contract to address the shifts in the academic climate as well as updating it to capture things that are long overdue. International workers, parents, and groups of people that are more susceptible to workplace discrimination and bullying need a contract that lets them work and feel safe and protected at the same time. Grad workers deserve dignity, and that’s exactly what we’re going to get in this contract and why I joined BT.