Updates on the Healthcare Situation
Table of Contents:
Announcements
Faculty Support for Graduate Student Healthcare
Email Template for Contacting Faculty
Survey for All Grad Students: Healthcare & Impact Bargaining Items
Survey for Campus Workers: Mutual Aid Network
Events
Healthcare Call-In
JOIN A GEO COMMITTEE!
CONNECT WITH GEO!
Faculty Support for Graduate Student Healthcare
The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the GEO to revisualize and step up the pace on both our organizing and bargaining fronts. For the remaining few weeks of the academic year, GEO Committees and Working Groups are now coordinating our work around a central, 2-pronged project:
Secure healthcare coverage for ALL graduate students over the summer 2020
Revoke the healthcare fee hike for ALL students for AY 2020-21
GEO is approaching these goals from a number of fronts. In addition to Impact Bargaining the University’s response to COVID-19 (where summer health insurance is a line-item under negotiation), issuing a Joint-Statement with the Campus Labor Coalition (CLC), and conducting a call-out last month about the healthcare fee increase, GEO has been discussing the essential matter of healthcare with faculty and seeking to build solidarity for the long term. We are thrilled to announce that the Non-Tenured Faculty Coalition (NTFC) and the Campus Faculty Association (CFA), two other critical academic labor organizations at UIUC, have agreed to send this letter with us to the Provost, Chancellor, and Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. This letter has a chance at shaping Administration’s decisions -- if you circulate it!
Healthcare @UIUC: Open Letter to University Admin from Academic Labor Orgs
Share this letter with your professors, mentors, and colleagues, especially Heads of Department, Directors of Graduate Studies, Unit Executives, and other influential individuals (i.e. representatives of campus ministries)
Ask them to add their name and title if they support (letter is in a Google Form)
Email templates for contacting faculty
Feel free to use the email templates we have drafted in the body of your emails asking faculty and others to sign onto the Healthcare Open Letter
If you have any questions or concerns about writing to faculty or other individuals, contact geo@uigeo.org
Membership Surveys
GEO has put together two different surveys for membership:
Healthcare & Impact Bargaining Needs Survey
GEO needs to know what grads need in order to effectively bargain and organize for these needs.
For all graduate students on campus: you do not need to be a GEO member or a Bargaining Unit member (TA/GA) to submit responses.
COVID-19 Impact & Mutual Aid Survey
Please fill out this survey to help us get a sense of the issues, needs, and resources of campus workers and to join us in building a mutual aid network so we can come together to support each other's needs.
All campus workers are invited to participate in this survey. You do not need to be a GEO or union member to fill out the survey.
Healthcare Call-In
The university is currently refusing to cover summer health insurance costs for graduate students, despite the fact that we are living in a global pandemic, and every summer more than 2000 grads are forced to pay out of pocket for healthcare or risk going without. Join us for a call-in event to demand that the university cover the cost of health insurance for ALL graduate students, regardless of their appointment status or percentage, for summer 2020!
On Friday, April 24th at 10AM and 2PM CT, call Robb Craddock, the Assistant Director for Employee and Labor Relations, at (217)-333-3105 to express your support!
Check out the Facebook event and sample script!
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.
Upcoming meetings:
Healthcare Working Group (health@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more
Stewards’ Council (sc@uigeo.org) - Tuesday May 5, 5:30-6:30pm
Finance Committee (treasurer@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more
Solidarity Committee (solcomm@uigeo.org) - Friday April 24, 4:30-6pm
Grievance Committee (grievance@uigeo.org) - Thursday May 7, 9-10am
Communications Committee (commcomm@uigeo.org) - Thursday April 23, 5-6pm
Coordinating Committee (cc@uigeo.org) - Monday April 27, 4-5:30pm
RA/PGA Working Group (geo@uigeo.org) - Thursday April 30, 6-7pm
Bargaining Team (barg@uigeo.org) - Contact email for more
International Students Working Group (geo@uigeo.org ) - Wednesday April 29, 2-3pm
Work Action Group (uiucgeowat@gmail.com) - Friday April 24, 12:30-1:30pm
Note: Due to COVID-19, all meetings are now held online. Contact by email or check the calendar for more information on how to join remotely.
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