Labor Board, UI Administration Seek to Disenfranchise 95% of Graduate Employees

[To compare the UI administration's position to that of the GEO, see this summary.]

Today the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) approved preliminary guidelines for who will be allowed to vote in an upcoming union election for graduate employees at the University of Illinois. Their decision excluded virtually all of the Teaching, Research, and Graduate Assistants on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

The IELRB's decision denies the right to vote in a union election to all graduate students employed as teachers or researchers, as well as those assistants whose employment duties overlap with their academic "discipline"--a category suggested by the University of Illinois administration. Of the U of I's approximately 5,200 grad employees, some 95% would be denied the ability to vote in a union election.

"This decision was based entirely on the University administration's last minute brief to the Board, suggesting even more exclusions," said GEO Co-President Kate Bullard. "Throughout this process, the Administration has actively worked to thwart the democratic process."

"Our membership will decide what we do next," said Rob Henn, GEO Coordinating Committee Member who attended today's meeting. "But it's clear that this decision will be unacceptable to our members, and it's also clear that the IELRB and UI administration have left us with few options for gaining a voice for graduate employees on this campus."

This decision goes against overwhelming national precedent, according to which graduate teachers and researchers have been granted collective bargaining rights at nearly 30 public university campuses and recently at NYU--the first private university to have a recognized graduate employee union.

Background: In 1996, 3,226 graduate employees signed authorization cards calling for a union election. In 1997 the GEO won a community sponsored election by a 2:1 margin. In 1999 the Illinois House passed HB1208 that recognized graduate employees, but the bill never came to the Senate floor because of UI lobbying. In the spring of 1999, 3,665 undergraduates and graduates affirmed an Illinois Student Government referendum in favor of grad employees right to a union election. In 2000, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed that graduate employees have the right to a legally binding union election.