GEO ratifies three-year contract
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu The Graduate Employees Organization, IFT-AFT Local 6300, recently ratified its second three-year contract with the university. The GEO represents about 2,800 of the 6,048 graduate assistants on the Urbana campus. Its members had been working without a contract since August, when the initial contract expired. For the first year of the contract, which will run retroactively from Aug. 16, 2006, to Aug. 15, 2007, teaching assistants and graduate assistants will be paid no less than the campus minimums for assistants –$12,586 per year. Additionally, the minimum percent increase for continuing assistants – those who held appointments during AY05-06 as well – will be 3 percent more than their AY05-06 stipends. For AY07-08, assistants will be paid a minimum of $13,002 or the campus minimums for assistants, whichever is greater. Continuing assistants – those who held assistantship appointments during AY06-07 – will receive minimum increases of 3 percent over their 06-07 stipends or the increase provided to non-represented graduate assistants by the campus salary program, whichever is greater. During AY08-09, assistants will be paid a minimum of $13,430 or the campus minimum for assistants, whichever is greater. Workers who held assistantship appointments during AY07-08 will receive increases of 2.75 percent over their AY07-08 stipend rates or the increase provided by the campus salary program for non-represented graduate assistants, whichever is greater. The campus minimums in all three of the contract years is based on appointments at 50 percent time and nine months’ service. “The university is happy to have reached a settlement with the GEO,” said Deb Stone, director of Academic Human Resources. “We are looking forward to utilizing a joint committee of GEO and university representatives to work collaboratively during the course of the agreement.” GEO members and their supporters held numerous rallies and other events around campus calling for resolution of the negotiations since the groups began bargaining in April. In December, the UI and the GEO agreed to meet with a federal mediator to help expedite the negotiations. In late January, the GEO’s membership also filed intent-to-strike paperwork, a legal requirement for the bargaining unit in advance of its membership voting for a general strike or partial work stoppage. The GEO and the UI reached a tentative agreement on Feb. 2. Wages and health care were among the GEO’s biggest concerns. The GEO had proposed a contract that included a 4.5 percent wage increase, full health coverage for GEO members and 50 percent coverage for their dependents. Under the new contract, the UI will pay 100 percent of GEO members’ premiums for their dental and vision plans as well as their Health Service fee, which provides coverage for all services at McKinley Health Center. Additionally, during the second and third years of the new contract the university will increase its subsidy of each member’s Health Insurance Fee, which is $512 for graduate students during AY2006-2007. The UI’s subsidy will increase from the current $100 per semester to $130 per semester effective Aug. 16, 2007, or 50 percent of the fee, whichever is greater; and to the greater of $140 per semester or 50 percent, as of Aug. 16, 2008. While declining to discuss specifics about voter turnout or the margin of approval, Andrew O’Baoill, co-president of the GEO and a member of the bargaining team, said the contract “was overwhelmingly ratified.” “We felt this was a very reasonable contract,” O’Baoill said. “I was happy to be able to recommend it to our membership. We were pleased with what we were able to accomplish.” The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board certified the GEO in December 2002 following an election by graduate teaching assistants and graduate assistants.
