GEO Reading Day Tutor-In and Bargaining Research Survey
Table of Contents:
Announcements
Take the Bargaining Research Survey
Join the Bargaining Team
GEO Fundraising Campaign
Events
Reading Day Tutor-In
Bargaining 2020 Rally
Ugly Sweater Skate Party
JOIN A GEO COMMITTEE!
CONNECT WITH GEO!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Take the Bargaining Research Survey to Help Us Bargain in 2020!
The Bargaining Research Team needs to hear from you!
The GEO will be bargaining over wages in Spring 2020. As part of our newest employee contract, we can, among other things, renegotiate our monthly pay with the university this spring. The wages we receive as TAs, RAs, GAs, and PGAs are all affected by both the minimum wage and reappointment increase that the GEO negotiates.
Throughout our history, our union has managed to secure pay increases for all graduate workers. After adjusting for inflation, our minimum pay has increased by 13.4%, and such increases also help improve the pay of grads who make more than the minimum. But these pay increases were only possible due to our combined efforts as graduate workers.
To prepare for bargaining, the Bargaining Research Team (BRT) needs to hear from you! The BRT is a group of fellow graduate workers, who are gathering data about graduate pay so that our Bargaining Team is better able to advocate for what we need as employees, as we enter wage negotiations.
Please take our 10-15-minute survey to let us know how far your wages go. This data will be stored anonymously, and can help us to better understand the breakdown of graduate wages.
Completing this survey will help us 1) understand the needs of the diverse graduate employees we represent, and 2) demonstrate our needs to the administration when we reach the bargaining table.
We need ALL graduate employees (TAs, GAs, RAs, PGAs, students on fellowship, and unemployed students) to take this survey, regardless of GEO membership status. Please share this email with fellow graduate workers you know who may not already be members. Let’s bargain a fair wage for our labor!
If you’re interested in the kind of research BRT is working on and would like to lend a helping hand, please feel free to email us at barg@uigeo.org!
Join the Bargaining Team
As we begin bargaining wages with the university administration in Spring 2020, we will need a bargaining team to act on the results of our wage survey.
Why join the Bargaining Team?
Make a difference in the lives of thousands of graduate employees on our campus
Represent your fellow employees in the fight to make higher education accessible for all
Gain valuable legal/negotiating experience
Relevant work experience to put on a resume
Potential responsibilities of a bargaining team member:
Examining results from the wage survey data
Comparing wages with other institutions
Developing bargaining proposals
Selecting bargaining dates and times with UIUC admin representatives
Presenting at GMMs and departmental events about bargaining
Attending bargaining sessions to bargain wages (half days initially, full days later)
Support you will receive:
2 members from the Stewards Council and both Co-Presidents will be on the team with you
Bargaining class with the UIUC Labor School
Additional training from the Illinois Federation of Teachers
Time commitment:
Beginning: 2-3 hours a week
Mid-bargaining: up to 10-20 hours a week
The larger the team, the easier we can distribute the workload!!!
If you are interested in joining the Bargaining Team, email us at barg@uigeo.org!
In honor of the Ten Year Anniversary of our 2009 Strike, the first official strike in GEO history, we have launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe! Our membership already supports GEO through monthly dues, so we ask that you send the campaign around to friends and family who might be interested in financially supporting GEO and the future of grad labor.
EVENTS
Annual GEO Reading Day Tutor-In
This Thursday, December 12th from 10AM to 10PM at the Illini Union Cafe and Lobby GEO will be hosting our annual Reading Day Tutor-In! This is a great opportunity to show what GEO members do for our students.
GEO's first tutor-in was a work action and occupation of the Illini Union during bargaining in 2017. This was meant to push UIUC admin to give in to our demands, while also emphasizing that our dedication to our students would not be at stake -- our working conditions are their learning conditions.
At the same time, our students are important to us at all times, bargaining session or not. This is why our Tutor-In is now an annual event. We come together every year to occupy the Illini Union to make our own work and care for our students visible.
We do not ask TAs to come here to work extra hours outside of their already very underpaid appointments. This is an opportunity to hold previously scheduled office hours, exam prep, or work on independent research together with other GEO members (TAs, GAs, RAs, and PGAs) to show that we have strength and determination in numbers.
We will be posting up in the Union ready to tutor students in a wide range of topics, set by you. You can come to help your own students by rescheduling office hours and review session times to be during and at the event, or come to help students in your discipline studying for classes in which you might have expertise, or you can simply come in a show of casual solidarity with your GEO comrades and work on your own projects, for finals or otherwise! For those of you with students, make sure to let them know of the event and your (and our) availability at it, as we will all be in and out of the event at different times: Nobody is expected to be there for the whole time or even most of it. You can share this spreadsheet with your students so they know exactly what subjects will be available at which times!
Please sign up here if you plan on dropping by and would like to help undergrads with your area of expertise! But feel free to come and hang out and show solidarity regardless!
Join us during the Tutor-In at 3PM for a good ol’ GEO rally to get us ready for 2020 Wage Bargaining! We’ll present a few updates from our finance survey, answer any burning questions about bargaining, and end with a special announcement!
Can’t finish out the semester with a GEO party? We feel the same way, so we’re inviting all GEO members out to Skateland Savoy this Friday, 7-11PM for an end of the year ugly sweater roller skate party!
JOIN A GEO COMMITTEE!
We are a member-run union; we depend on the commitment of our members to stay as strong as possible. You can find details about what each committee does and how to contact them on our website. No special knowledge is required. You can also follow the calendar of events on our website for the date and time of upcoming meetings: http://uiucgeo.org/calendar. Meetings are open to membership, and coming to a meeting does not commit you to joining a committee.
All committees have had their last meetings of the semester — stay tuned for the next GEO-L or check out our calendar linked above to find out about Spring meetings!
CONNECT WITH GEO!
Have comments about the GMM? Other kinds of feedback for us? We want to hear it! Reply to this email or use our anonymous google form. You can also get in touch through our website and social media:
Website: www.uiucgeo.org
Twitter: @geo_uiuc
Facebook: @uigeo @geosolcomm
Instagram: @geo_uiuc
In Solidarity,
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org